I know you don’t like me and my opinions on this topic, but here’s the thing: I support this student’s right to express his opinion, despite the fact that I disagree with him. In an ideal world, he should be able to freely exercise his freedom of speech whenever and wherever he so chooses, but this world clearly isn’t close to ideal. Once again, I’m not supporting what the university his trying to do to him, I’m merely stating that he’s not smart about his activism, because like many other idealists, he fails to realize that he can only make this world the way he wants to a relatively limited degree at once. I don’t think he’s picking his battles all that wisely.
especially for unambiguously morally correct causes
Here’s where we disagree, but you are a moderator who unironically likes to do what this university is doing without even a hint of self-awareness, by temporarily banning me from one of your other communities, because I was a bit too disruptive for your taste on this highly political and contentious topic, one that very much isn’t as unambiguous as you’re trying to portray it as or have been led to believe through your little filter bubble (at least according to my little filter bubble - opinions, opinions, opinions). Like I said in my annoying message to you, I’m just as guest here though, just like this student is at Cornell, so we are both at the mercy of those in charge. The main difference is that my career doesn’t depend on you, of course. The other is that the appeal process here is even worse than Cornell’s… ;)
i’m very uninterested in relitigating your temporary silencing for getting into aimless slapfights with people on here on this subject. don’t bother bringing it up again. strictly speaking the silencing should probably also apply to this thread and just result in me deleting your comments without even responding to them like i am now–but i’m being generous in not doing that here and just calling them a cringe opinion you have the right to express. please do not make me regret that and start enforcing your temporary silencing elsewhere too.
one that very much isn’t as unambiguous as you’re trying to portray it as or have been led to believe through your little filter bubble (at least according to my little filter bubble - opinions, opinions, opinions).
no, it’s pretty unambiguous both internationally (where Israel has been rebuked time and time again for its apartheid system and systemic discrimination and abuse against Palestinians) and morally (Israel’s current conduct toward people in the West Bank in Gaza is almost one-to-one analogous to Jim Crow and apartheid, even ignoring Zionism and its contribution to the subject)–most people just don’t care that much about a foreign conflict that doesn’t affect them and a foreign ethnic group they can’t directly do much to alleviate the plight of.
fundamentally, though, this is an “i can see discrimination with my own eyes, and settlers from Israel will literally admit to doing the discrimination in casual interviews” and an “i don’t think 40,000 Palestinians[1] are all Hamas militants who should be annihilated with indiscriminate bombing that has leveled the vast majority of Gaza’s already crippled infrastructure, i think that is very obviously morally wrong” thing.
or many more. some of the more extreme estimates now have the death toll potentially as high as 300,000 ↩︎
“If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” - (not) Abraham Lincoln
Pretentious quote out of the way, I’m both disappointed and not disappointed. Exactly the answer I was expecting from you, especially this:
but i’m being generous […] please do not make me regret
I know, it’s a serious and in many ways sad topic, but there is some unintentional humor to be found in a queen of her little domain playing the merciful ruler, because otherwise, the comparison I made between you and Cornell’s leadership would have become impossible to ignore. If you’re feeling that announced regret while reading this tame banter, then I apologize - but I would loved to have seen you in some of the larger forums I’ve moderated in the past - and they weren’t even about politics. The users there would have eaten you alive on the first day.
The sad thing is, our opinions on the West Bank aren’t even that far apart (relative to each of our views on Gaza and Lebanon at least). We could have talked about this like human beings, but I get the distinct feeling that you’re more interested in uncompromising grandstanding and cleaning your little domain of anyone who isn’t covering their face with a keffiyeh than anything resembling nuance or civilized discourse. It’s either 100% your way or no way, which is a problem I’ve noticed with many self-proclaimed pro-Palestinians and much of the movement as a whole. The funny thing is that this isn’t even close the main reason why this movement is so ineffective. No amount of conviction and catchy slogans, no campus protests and sit-ins can overcome the maddening complexity of a conflict that has been stumping minds far smarter than that of anyone on this forum for many decades.
If you’re feeling that announced regret while reading this tame banter, then I apologize - but I would loved to have seen you in some of the larger forums I’ve moderated in the past - and they weren’t even about politics. The users there would have eaten you alive on the first day.
i’m… sorry that we generally like to treat our userbase as adults capable of basic introspection when they do something wrong or sanctionable, instead of immediately telling them to fuck off? but again this is way besides the point–which is, don’t relitigate this, and stop going into every thread even remotely adjacent to Israel/Palestine and causing problems. your opinions are simply not important enough (or, in my opinion, well reasoned enough) to hear them out for an additional ten months beyond the ten months you’ve already been an issue.
removed by mod
