I Believe In Regina
This is from the Myspace journal post of Miss Regina Spektor
While i think that the Israeli and Palestinian issues is a tough one and that problem is far bigger then
any one side or issues, i feel that her statement is intelligent and impressive and it portrays the way i
feel about this world situation!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Eretz Yisrael
Israel
When i realize how many times i decided not to, before i decided to, write this - i see why this is such a frightening time.When a Jew who loves Israel, who has been there, has played shows there, has visited there with family, with friends, feels this way, you know the fear is in you . As if Israel- the word itself, is so igniting, so dangerous, that it is better held inside.
There have been times like this before. Roughly 60 years before. And if people think that now is any different, they are mistaken. It's just that enough time has passed. And it seems it is our turn again. But when hasn't it been our turn...
Israel has been shelled. It has been hit with rockets for years. Years. Manchester, St. Louis, Leon, Munich, Copenhagen, Detroit, Madrid, Brisbane, Leeds, LA, Tokyo, these cities are not. But if they were, God forbid, their governments would be completely authorized and in the right to fight back.There is no government in the world that would not protect its citizens from attack. That's unlawful. And it's not sticks and stones, as many of my friends and relatives who live in Israel know. It's rockets. Is one of these things not like the other? Are there different laws and rules for a Jewish government? If you prick us do we not bleed?
And it is a nightmare. There are refugees. Casualties. A nightmare that happens over and over in this world. Those poor Palestinian people are being used as shields, and killed by extremists of their own government. And it is horrible and sad for the Israelis to see these people not be able to speak out against Hamas, whom they elected out of fear, because if they do, they will be killed. They are getting killed from both sides. Hamas shoots rockets out of schools and hospitals at Israel, and hopes for retaliation. Because it's not those Palestinian civilians that matter to them. It's the cause. The story. It's the propaganda machine that needs oiling with human shield blood.
To me it seems that the Palestinians and the Israelis are both being used by the World. They are both simultaneously scapegoats and decoys. And the World needs them that way. Because if they were gone, and the conflict was over, who would be the next target of the extremists.
I imagine this is the scenario that the World has in its sleepy mind: The World has just left the office. The World is walking home and taking its usual short cut. The alley it cuts through always makes its heart pound a little faster, but time saved is time saved, so it takes the shortcut every night on the way home to dinner. Over the course of its many walks home through the alley, the World has seen all kinds of muggings...The World has seen Israel get mugged, too. Sometimes harder, sometimes less. When this happens the World chooses one of three options... Option 1. Cross the street, pick up the pace, don't make eye contact, and get out of range of danger... Option 2. Go over to Israel and help fight the mugger off. But no. Those options are not what the World is choosing.
It's time for Option 3. Go over to Israel, and hold its arms back, hold it steady in place, and let the mugger beat it up good. Because the World thinks, innocently, of course, and full of fear in its beating heart, that if the mugger beats up Israel real good, good enough for a last breath, good enough so that when the World is making a short cut from the office, back home for dinner, there is no more Israel, and the mugger won't be there anymore, and the shortcut will be safe, and save time, and all will be great. So this is what happens. And the World walks home again. This time more relaxed, more at ease... A spring in its step.
And then the World feels a hand on its shoulder. Its the mugger. The World smiles. It makes a little bow. It tips its hat. Then the mugger starts mugging the World. "But I'm your friend, remember? I was the loudest denouncing Israel in public, remember? I helped you hold its arms back a little while ago, remember? Many times i helped you holding its arms back?..."
"But I'm a mugger." the mugger says."And I mug." the mugger says. "And you are next." the mugger says. And the mugger waits for someone else to take a short cut, to help out with the mugging in the hopes that they will be spared, and then they will be next... and so on, and so forth, and that's how it works.
But everyone is afraid. They are afraid of extremists in their midst. And i am too. We all should be. There is something terrifying about people who hate you more than they love themselves. People who would cover themselves with children, in order to kill and not be killed. And just because we have become allergic to "The War on Terror" and all those other co-opted expressions that were used to drag us, against our will, against our millions of people around the world peace protests, into a horrible war in Iraq, in the name of oil; doesn't mean there aren't terrorists in the world.
Our media is full of propaganda on all sides. Every side is skewed. There is no unbiased news. Its like fast food. There are so many choices, but an illusion of choices. There is McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's. There's even Taco Bell if you really want to branch out. And so i choose. I choose the media that seems to reflect more of who i am. And I tend to choose the more liberal news. I am a Liberal in almost every sense of the word. I believe in protecting Civil Liberties as carefully as we protect the dearest things to us, but not with guns. I think guns are the cause of countless preventable tragedies in the households of Americans. I believe in Equality. In ending all Racism, Homophobia, and Sexism. I believe that government has a duty to help its citizens grow through education, help the elderly, have health care, and that it's not "each for himself". But I don't believe they have a right to spy on me. I believe in the freedom of Choice. I support a woman's right to have an abortion if she feels it necessary in her life. I believe in Barack Obama. I supported him with all my heart. I have never felt as strongly about a politician in my life. And in a few days he will be our president. This is a short list of my left, my Liberal, my closest media self.
I do not agree with the Liberal Media when it comes to Israel. I have never seen such one sided reporting in my life. And I've seen some amazing propaganda growing up in the Soviet Union. I have never seen a group of people so determined to portray Israeli people, Israeli soldiers, as blood thirsty, inhumane monsters. I am not a politician. I am sure there's a great political reason for this kind of reporting. For this kind of misrepresentation. I am sure there's a great reason for my hearing on a UK television set, while getting ready to play one of the festivals a couple of years back, a reporter saying, in a tragic voice with a tragic face "At this moment Hezbollah is fighting for its very existence." As if Hezbollah was a kitten that fell down a well, and not a terrorizing organization, and that Israel was the one who threw it down there. I'm sure there's a reason. And i think the reason is fear. And i think the reason is the same reason i was deciding and undeciding and deciding and undeciding whether to write this.
But this is the world we live in. We should not deny that we are all scared. We are scared of planes, of crowds, of everything. We are so scared. Sometimes it feels that if there were no more Jews, or Israel (for the two are synonymous- Israel is the geographic embodiment of the nation) all of this would stop. Even some Jews feel that way. Many of us try to un-Jew ourselves all the time. It comes from a mixture of fear, guilt of surviving while others didn't, and embarrassment. We are the root of our and the World's problems, it seems. It is the Jews themselves that you will hear speak out most strongly against Israel. The instinct that drives them is the same instinct that drove them to blend in, and then be very surprised when they were put in the ghetto, too. The were surprised when they were put on the train, too. They were surprised when they were put in the gas chamber, too. They were surprised all the way till Death. Because "they weren't like those OTHER Jews"... Well. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.
And if anyone thinks that speaking out against Israel is anything other than thinly veiled anti-semitism, they are deeply mistaken.
"Maybe if i am quiet and at the back of the class and look down they won't notice." That should not be the motto of the World. Nor should "Maybe if I'm the loudest to condemn Israel, they'll remember me as a friend later." Because eventually, when there is only you left in the class, you will get noticed. We all will.
And I don't believe in good and evil. I believe that we cultivate fractions of qualities within ourselves like a delicate chemistry experiment, with droppers of human traits into a beaker or a test tube. And all those properties are ever changing. And the good ones stem from our love of self, and understanding of self. And the bad ones stem from fear. There is nothing that makes one a better person than realizing what you fear, why you fear it, and how that makes you closed off to others, and blame others...
I believe in God, and am a Jew, and yet i love all people of other faiths, and people of no faith, with my whole heart, so i know that it is possible. I love America, and Israel, and my mother country Russia, and all the countries i have had the honor and privilege to visit, and the countries that i have yet to visit in the future, and the countries i will never have the chance to visit in my lifetime, and so i know that it is possible. I love Humans and I love Nature, though from the beginning of time they have been destroying each other, and i love them both, and so i know that it is possible. And I feel that love without paradox. Without feeling for one at the expense of another. And so i know that it is possible.
I wish for peace in Israel. I wish for as many people on all sides of the conflict to survive in a healthy and safe way. I wish for us all to find our inner and outer and every type of peace we can muster... I wish for peace in the world. And my thoughts are with Israel... and with all of you.
Shabbat Shalom
regina
P.S. i understand that this is a very sensitive subject and i write this as a letter... a letter to which i am not seeking responses (i will not post comments because that's not what this is about, to me...) this is my own comment to myself, but out loud. a way of expressing thoughts and feelings about what i have heard and witnessed thus far... this is not meant to hurt anyone, and it is meant for me, as much as for anyone else...
i send you all good wishes and lots of love, wherever, and whomever you are...
While i think that the Israeli and Palestinian issues is a tough one and that problem is far bigger then
any one side or issues, i feel that her statement is intelligent and impressive and it portrays the way i
feel about this world situation!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Eretz Yisrael
Israel
When i realize how many times i decided not to, before i decided to, write this - i see why this is such a frightening time.When a Jew who loves Israel, who has been there, has played shows there, has visited there with family, with friends, feels this way, you know the fear is in you . As if Israel- the word itself, is so igniting, so dangerous, that it is better held inside.
There have been times like this before. Roughly 60 years before. And if people think that now is any different, they are mistaken. It's just that enough time has passed. And it seems it is our turn again. But when hasn't it been our turn...
Israel has been shelled. It has been hit with rockets for years. Years. Manchester, St. Louis, Leon, Munich, Copenhagen, Detroit, Madrid, Brisbane, Leeds, LA, Tokyo, these cities are not. But if they were, God forbid, their governments would be completely authorized and in the right to fight back.There is no government in the world that would not protect its citizens from attack. That's unlawful. And it's not sticks and stones, as many of my friends and relatives who live in Israel know. It's rockets. Is one of these things not like the other? Are there different laws and rules for a Jewish government? If you prick us do we not bleed?
And it is a nightmare. There are refugees. Casualties. A nightmare that happens over and over in this world. Those poor Palestinian people are being used as shields, and killed by extremists of their own government. And it is horrible and sad for the Israelis to see these people not be able to speak out against Hamas, whom they elected out of fear, because if they do, they will be killed. They are getting killed from both sides. Hamas shoots rockets out of schools and hospitals at Israel, and hopes for retaliation. Because it's not those Palestinian civilians that matter to them. It's the cause. The story. It's the propaganda machine that needs oiling with human shield blood.
To me it seems that the Palestinians and the Israelis are both being used by the World. They are both simultaneously scapegoats and decoys. And the World needs them that way. Because if they were gone, and the conflict was over, who would be the next target of the extremists.
I imagine this is the scenario that the World has in its sleepy mind: The World has just left the office. The World is walking home and taking its usual short cut. The alley it cuts through always makes its heart pound a little faster, but time saved is time saved, so it takes the shortcut every night on the way home to dinner. Over the course of its many walks home through the alley, the World has seen all kinds of muggings...The World has seen Israel get mugged, too. Sometimes harder, sometimes less. When this happens the World chooses one of three options... Option 1. Cross the street, pick up the pace, don't make eye contact, and get out of range of danger... Option 2. Go over to Israel and help fight the mugger off. But no. Those options are not what the World is choosing.
It's time for Option 3. Go over to Israel, and hold its arms back, hold it steady in place, and let the mugger beat it up good. Because the World thinks, innocently, of course, and full of fear in its beating heart, that if the mugger beats up Israel real good, good enough for a last breath, good enough so that when the World is making a short cut from the office, back home for dinner, there is no more Israel, and the mugger won't be there anymore, and the shortcut will be safe, and save time, and all will be great. So this is what happens. And the World walks home again. This time more relaxed, more at ease... A spring in its step.
And then the World feels a hand on its shoulder. Its the mugger. The World smiles. It makes a little bow. It tips its hat. Then the mugger starts mugging the World. "But I'm your friend, remember? I was the loudest denouncing Israel in public, remember? I helped you hold its arms back a little while ago, remember? Many times i helped you holding its arms back?..."
"But I'm a mugger." the mugger says."And I mug." the mugger says. "And you are next." the mugger says. And the mugger waits for someone else to take a short cut, to help out with the mugging in the hopes that they will be spared, and then they will be next... and so on, and so forth, and that's how it works.
But everyone is afraid. They are afraid of extremists in their midst. And i am too. We all should be. There is something terrifying about people who hate you more than they love themselves. People who would cover themselves with children, in order to kill and not be killed. And just because we have become allergic to "The War on Terror" and all those other co-opted expressions that were used to drag us, against our will, against our millions of people around the world peace protests, into a horrible war in Iraq, in the name of oil; doesn't mean there aren't terrorists in the world.
Our media is full of propaganda on all sides. Every side is skewed. There is no unbiased news. Its like fast food. There are so many choices, but an illusion of choices. There is McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's. There's even Taco Bell if you really want to branch out. And so i choose. I choose the media that seems to reflect more of who i am. And I tend to choose the more liberal news. I am a Liberal in almost every sense of the word. I believe in protecting Civil Liberties as carefully as we protect the dearest things to us, but not with guns. I think guns are the cause of countless preventable tragedies in the households of Americans. I believe in Equality. In ending all Racism, Homophobia, and Sexism. I believe that government has a duty to help its citizens grow through education, help the elderly, have health care, and that it's not "each for himself". But I don't believe they have a right to spy on me. I believe in the freedom of Choice. I support a woman's right to have an abortion if she feels it necessary in her life. I believe in Barack Obama. I supported him with all my heart. I have never felt as strongly about a politician in my life. And in a few days he will be our president. This is a short list of my left, my Liberal, my closest media self.
I do not agree with the Liberal Media when it comes to Israel. I have never seen such one sided reporting in my life. And I've seen some amazing propaganda growing up in the Soviet Union. I have never seen a group of people so determined to portray Israeli people, Israeli soldiers, as blood thirsty, inhumane monsters. I am not a politician. I am sure there's a great political reason for this kind of reporting. For this kind of misrepresentation. I am sure there's a great reason for my hearing on a UK television set, while getting ready to play one of the festivals a couple of years back, a reporter saying, in a tragic voice with a tragic face "At this moment Hezbollah is fighting for its very existence." As if Hezbollah was a kitten that fell down a well, and not a terrorizing organization, and that Israel was the one who threw it down there. I'm sure there's a reason. And i think the reason is fear. And i think the reason is the same reason i was deciding and undeciding and deciding and undeciding whether to write this.
But this is the world we live in. We should not deny that we are all scared. We are scared of planes, of crowds, of everything. We are so scared. Sometimes it feels that if there were no more Jews, or Israel (for the two are synonymous- Israel is the geographic embodiment of the nation) all of this would stop. Even some Jews feel that way. Many of us try to un-Jew ourselves all the time. It comes from a mixture of fear, guilt of surviving while others didn't, and embarrassment. We are the root of our and the World's problems, it seems. It is the Jews themselves that you will hear speak out most strongly against Israel. The instinct that drives them is the same instinct that drove them to blend in, and then be very surprised when they were put in the ghetto, too. The were surprised when they were put on the train, too. They were surprised when they were put in the gas chamber, too. They were surprised all the way till Death. Because "they weren't like those OTHER Jews"... Well. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew is a Jew.
And if anyone thinks that speaking out against Israel is anything other than thinly veiled anti-semitism, they are deeply mistaken.
"Maybe if i am quiet and at the back of the class and look down they won't notice." That should not be the motto of the World. Nor should "Maybe if I'm the loudest to condemn Israel, they'll remember me as a friend later." Because eventually, when there is only you left in the class, you will get noticed. We all will.
And I don't believe in good and evil. I believe that we cultivate fractions of qualities within ourselves like a delicate chemistry experiment, with droppers of human traits into a beaker or a test tube. And all those properties are ever changing. And the good ones stem from our love of self, and understanding of self. And the bad ones stem from fear. There is nothing that makes one a better person than realizing what you fear, why you fear it, and how that makes you closed off to others, and blame others...
I believe in God, and am a Jew, and yet i love all people of other faiths, and people of no faith, with my whole heart, so i know that it is possible. I love America, and Israel, and my mother country Russia, and all the countries i have had the honor and privilege to visit, and the countries that i have yet to visit in the future, and the countries i will never have the chance to visit in my lifetime, and so i know that it is possible. I love Humans and I love Nature, though from the beginning of time they have been destroying each other, and i love them both, and so i know that it is possible. And I feel that love without paradox. Without feeling for one at the expense of another. And so i know that it is possible.
I wish for peace in Israel. I wish for as many people on all sides of the conflict to survive in a healthy and safe way. I wish for us all to find our inner and outer and every type of peace we can muster... I wish for peace in the world. And my thoughts are with Israel... and with all of you.
Shabbat Shalom
regina
P.S. i understand that this is a very sensitive subject and i write this as a letter... a letter to which i am not seeking responses (i will not post comments because that's not what this is about, to me...) this is my own comment to myself, but out loud. a way of expressing thoughts and feelings about what i have heard and witnessed thus far... this is not meant to hurt anyone, and it is meant for me, as much as for anyone else...
i send you all good wishes and lots of love, wherever, and whomever you are...