Today's Monday Media Review is a rough one.
In it, we discuss a recent incident at an Israeli school, and a recent documentary about a settler youth cult in the West Bank.
It should be much easier to talk about how young people have been victimized by this war, but because propaganda has trained people to rationalize the deaths of "enemy" children, it's harder than ever to talk about how this war poisons everyone involved.
And yet, that's precisely what we need to do.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/what-we-have-done-to-our-children
It's hard because a lot of these NGOs can no longer access the sites they need to - the same thing happened during Ethiopia's war in Tigray - but we can rest assured that some outfits will set up camp nearby, and help where they can.
Our support of international doctors is just about the only/best thing we can do right now. That, and having care with how we speak about the loss of life in general.
Thanks for sitting with this piece, HopeSeeker. 🫂 May the day ahead be gentler.
This is heartbreaking.Nothing has rattled me more these past months than the systematic dehumanization. Thank you for this.
I thought 9/11 had prepared me for Jingoism, but I was *not* prepared for how many were eager to take up the mantle of keyboard warrior, reading each new story of human atrocity solely in terms of how it would help or hinder the cause, then leaping right onto multiple forums to spin the cycle however they felt it needed to go.
It's cold-blooded, but also represents a body of people who truly think that this is the best way to "win the peace". We're all just manifesting our trauma here.
This is not the path to peace. This is the path to unending war. You're 100% on the mark about this being an expression of trauma. How do we heal?
@MLClark This is superb. I have extended family in the very area that you are writing about. Most people have no clue what is going on.
Oh, I hope your extended family is safe.
There are *so* many folks who have been underserved by local laws restricting media access and discourse, and who are just trying to raise their families as best they can.
It must be so frightening to catch hate from others for things you don't even know are happening around you.
We all need *so* much more empathy with one another, if we're to get through this with our humanity intact.
Best wishes to you all in the fray. 🫂
@MLClark We are hoping their flights here aren't cancelled this week. With the escalations we are seeing we are extremely concerned.
What an anxiety you must be living with, while waiting to see them safely landed!
May everything go as smoothly as possible with those flight plans - and may there be just the most wonderful of reunions, once everyone's close at hand.
Take good care of your heart while waiting for that moment - and thank you for sharing the stress you're moving through right now.
You and yours deserve a better world.
@MLClark Unfortunately, after flight cancellations, airline changes, and delays, their flights were cancelled. Thanks again for your excellent article. The death toll in Gaza yesterday is not getting much coverage with the debate, Lebanon, Iran, and the aftermath of Helene.
Oh, what a heartbreak for you and yours.
This next week is going to be filled with memorial news that could go either way when it comes to recognizing the ongoing nightmare in Gaza. Chances are, many folks are going to use this time to tune out all other suffering, because our world is very bad at holding trauma in tension.
I hope you and yours have the resources to endure the coming days.
I wish you all the reunion soon that you deserve, & great strength in the interim.
🫂
@MLClark one chromosome difference between chimpanzees and humans; sometimes it shows, sometimes not. See: the Gombe Chimpanzee War, a four year cycle of retribution.
I am still SO on Team Bonobo.
Equal-opportunity sex and (literal) nit-picking, instead of the use of violence, to maintain group cohesion?
Don't mind if I do~!
@MLClark paint me like one of your Haplorhini girls.
The Bonobo Lisa:
@MLClark Well now *you've* come out, I think a lot of us can publicly announce that we're on your team too 🤣 💜
My dear jellyspoons, please enjoy this article in thanks for your support for our great cause. :)
@MLClark @BillyBones are you outing the Three Percenters; an organization for white men who are 3% bisexual? How do we make that an Urban Dictionary entry?
How we talk about and treat children says more about us as people than anything.
I don't even *like* kids, generally... but I will turn full on papa bear in their defense. And when someone starts using the behavior of kids as a justification for the dehumanization of an entire group, that's the biggest red flag that exists.
@MLClark
In my view, today’s Monday Media Review is an excellent one. I like the link inviting us to support Doctors Without Borders too. ☮️