Can we finally drop the idea that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has anything to do with peace in the Middle-East? The events of the last few months have thoroughly destroyed the notion that it is anything but an excuse to avoid realities.
Sigh. But I'll bet the idea comes back, zombie-like, unkillable. People want it to be true, so it will persist. Everyone left of center in the West has now forgotten that they were absolutely, 100% wrong about the USSR, while the right-wing nutcases, if anything, underestimated its evil. Yet Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" is still taught in schools as if it contains wisdom, and 60's retro style, music, and appeal includes a warm appreciation for precisely those political values that have proven vacuous.
I think in my life I've met far more people who have a "please don't confuse me with the facts" outlook than anything else. It's come to be expected.
ReplyDeleteI don't think those who hold this view will let anything shake them in it.
ReplyDeleteIt is a convenient fiction, and thus oh-so-necessary.