A wee bit more on Helen Thomas

I’d really rather stop writing about this – I have a post about compost (a com-post?) that’s been sitting on the backburner for about two weeks now – but I’ve been absolutely gobsmacked by the tropes people are pulling out to defend Helen Thomas’s statement, and I’ve noticed that they fit into an exhaustingly familiar pattern, so I want to say one more thing.

If you’re a blogger and you find yourself writing anything even remotely resembling the following:

“We must allow groups to define their own oppression! We must listen to and respect the lived experiences of everyone! Except Jews/the disabled/trans folk/this group/that group/whoever’s in my blind spot today. They don’t know what they’re talking about and they need me to tell them what should and shouldn’t offend them.”

…then please stop typing, dunk your head in some ice water, get out of the house for a bit, and try again.

Trust me, it’ll be better for everyone.

It is completely, 100% possible to talk about Palestine/Israel while ignoring the lived experiences of neither Jews nor non-Jewish Arabs. Not only is it possible, it’s quite easy. So what does it say about us as activists, radical or liberal or anything in between, that we still can’t get the hang of it?

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4 Responses to A wee bit more on Helen Thomas

  1. 1
    Rarian Rakista says:

    Quite frankly, I don’t care what she said. We have heard far worse about the Palestinians from right wingers in Israel and the American South for 40 years when it was considered quite fashionable to suggest another Arab nation take all the Palestinians and let Israel have all the land of former British Palestine.

    Its hypocritical to react so strongly to her comment about the legitimacy of Israel, whcih is a valid question to ask since they unilaterally declared their existence while the Palestinians were waiting for the UN to declare the legitimacy of both Israeli and Palestinian nationhood. A year after they declared the state of Israel they killed the first UN mediator whose intention was to pretty much tell the Israelis to stop using terrorism against the Palestinians and the remaining British folk.

    http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0995/9509083.htm

  2. 2
    Julie says:

    1. You’re right that people have said far worse about Palestinians. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever suggested otherwise.

    2. Since I’ve never defended any similar rhetoric about Palestinians – fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve written corresponding criticism in the past – I’m not sure how I’m being hypocritical, but okay.

  3. 3
    Shoshie says:

    Oh for goodness sake, Rarian Rakista. Way to read the post and then TOTALLY ignore it. And then do what it says not to.

  4. 4
    mythago says:

    Quite frankly, I don’t care what she said.

    This is the only accurate thing in Rarian’s comment.