The Pro-Palestinian Movement Should Dump Alice Walker Immediately
[21 Dec: Walker’s doubled down: NYT and the post on her blog/site. One line in her blog post I definitely agree with: “The ignorance of many humans, especially in our country, is abysmal.” Correct, and she's a prime example of that.]
They won't. But they should.
By the way, a few months ago, working for #MeTooGaza, I actually talked to Walker on the phone, as she was having trouble uploading a video. She's a nice and funny person, in an interpersonal sense. I didn't know about this lunacy, though.
Here's the poem noted in the link above (original here):
It Is Our (Frightful) Duty
To Study The Talmud
©2017 by Alice Walker
The first time I was accused
Of appearing to be anti-Semitic
The shock did not wear off
For days.
The man who charged me
Was a friend.
A Jewish Soul
Who I thought understood
Or could learn to understand
Almost anything.
For days.
The man who charged me
Was a friend.
A Jewish Soul
Who I thought understood
Or could learn to understand
Almost anything.
He could not understand
However
Why I thought Israel should give back
The land it took
From a poorly defended
People in a war that lasted
Six days. I cringed
About our small house
In Mississippi (where black people
Often assumed he was a racist)
Deeply offended by his attempt
To insult my character
And spoke to him
Earnestly of “dignity” “justice”
“honor” and “peace.”
However
Why I thought Israel should give back
The land it took
From a poorly defended
People in a war that lasted
Six days. I cringed
About our small house
In Mississippi (where black people
Often assumed he was a racist)
Deeply offended by his attempt
To insult my character
And spoke to him
Earnestly of “dignity” “justice”
“honor” and “peace.”
Sometimes, later in life,
You do laugh at yourself.
You understand, finally,
That you’ve understood
Nothing. Nothing at all.
That in this case, for instance,
That of the famed Six Day War,
It was all a show,
A true “Theatre” war;
The battlefield a stage,
Though bombs and bullets were real.
Only the people who lost the battle
Got a close-up
Of the set.
And the set-up.
You do laugh at yourself.
You understand, finally,
That you’ve understood
Nothing. Nothing at all.
That in this case, for instance,
That of the famed Six Day War,
It was all a show,
A true “Theatre” war;
The battlefield a stage,
Though bombs and bullets were real.
Only the people who lost the battle
Got a close-up
Of the set.
And the set-up.
Later I would march
Or be arrested
Protesting this war and that
And marvel how it never mattered.
On days we marched in our tens of thousands
The people we hoped to influence
Were taking a holiday. Bush was
good at this. He let the media
Spread the word he was chillin’ on his
12,000 or is it 20,000
Acre ranch.
Bill and Barack made themselves
Scarce.
Or be arrested
Protesting this war and that
And marvel how it never mattered.
On days we marched in our tens of thousands
The people we hoped to influence
Were taking a holiday. Bush was
good at this. He let the media
Spread the word he was chillin’ on his
12,000 or is it 20,000
Acre ranch.
Bill and Barack made themselves
Scarce.
When I was in Palestine
As an elder
Doing my job
Of keeping tabs
On Earth’s children
I remembered my concern
And how my friend
Had brushed it off.
As an elder
Doing my job
Of keeping tabs
On Earth’s children
I remembered my concern
And how my friend
Had brushed it off.
“Israel needs that land to protect itself.”
He said. As though this should be
Self- evident. It wasn’t then;
It isn’t now.
He said. As though this should be
Self- evident. It wasn’t then;
It isn’t now.
The land taken
Has never been returned.
In fact, more stolen land
Has followed the first assaults
And thefts.
Palestinian children, after years
Of throwing stones
At grown up assassins
In helmets and armored tanks
Are killing themselves
These days
To save their murderers
The trouble.
Has never been returned.
In fact, more stolen land
Has followed the first assaults
And thefts.
Palestinian children, after years
Of throwing stones
At grown up assassins
In helmets and armored tanks
Are killing themselves
These days
To save their murderers
The trouble.
Unlike most Americans
I have witnessed Palestine
Under Israeli rule. It is demonic
To the core. But where to look
For the inspiration
For so much evil? Where
To find the teachings that influence
And sanction such limitless cruel behavior?
I have witnessed Palestine
Under Israeli rule. It is demonic
To the core. But where to look
For the inspiration
For so much evil? Where
To find the teachings that influence
And sanction such limitless cruel behavior?
Where to find that part
Of the puzzle that is missing?
We’ve intuited there must be one.
And we were right.
Of the puzzle that is missing?
We’ve intuited there must be one.
And we were right.
*
We must go back
As grown ups, now,
Not as the gullible children we once were,
And study our programming,
From the beginning.
All of it: The Christian, the Jewish,
The Muslim; even the Buddhist. All of it, without exception,
At the root.
As grown ups, now,
Not as the gullible children we once were,
And study our programming,
From the beginning.
All of it: The Christian, the Jewish,
The Muslim; even the Buddhist. All of it, without exception,
At the root.
For the study of Israel, of Gaza, of Palestine,
Of the bombed out cities of the Middle East,
Of the creeping Palestination
Of our police, streets, and prisons
In America,
Of war in general,
It is our duty, I believe, to study The Talmud.
It is within this book that,
I believe, we will find answers
To some of the questions
That most perplex us.
Of the bombed out cities of the Middle East,
Of the creeping Palestination
Of our police, streets, and prisons
In America,
Of war in general,
It is our duty, I believe, to study The Talmud.
It is within this book that,
I believe, we will find answers
To some of the questions
That most perplex us.
Where to start?
You will find some information,
Slanted, unfortunately,
By Googling. For a more in depth study
I recommend starting with YouTube. Simply follow the trail of “The
Talmud” as its poison belatedly winds its way
Into our collective consciousness.
Slanted, unfortunately,
By Googling. For a more in depth study
I recommend starting with YouTube. Simply follow the trail of “The
Talmud” as its poison belatedly winds its way
Into our collective consciousness.
Some of what you find will sound
Too crazy to be true. Unfortunately those bits are likely
To be true. Some of the more evasive studies
Will exhibit unbelievable attempts
At sugar coating extremely disagreeable pills.
But hang in there, checking
And double checking, listening to everybody,
Even the teachers with the twisted pasts
That scare you the most,
And the taped rants of outraged citizens that sound
Like madcap characters on Car Talk
Except they are not laughing
But are righteously outraged.
Too crazy to be true. Unfortunately those bits are likely
To be true. Some of the more evasive studies
Will exhibit unbelievable attempts
At sugar coating extremely disagreeable pills.
But hang in there, checking
And double checking, listening to everybody,
Even the teachers with the twisted pasts
That scare you the most,
And the taped rants of outraged citizens that sound
Like madcap characters on Car Talk
Except they are not laughing
But are righteously outraged.
Study hard, with an open
If deeply offended mind,
Until you can sift the false
From the true.
If deeply offended mind,
Until you can sift the false
From the true.
Is Jesus boiling eternally in hot excrement,
For his “crime” of throwing the bankers
Out of the Temple? For loving, standing with,
And defending
The poor? Was his mother, Mary,
A whore?
For his “crime” of throwing the bankers
Out of the Temple? For loving, standing with,
And defending
The poor? Was his mother, Mary,
A whore?
Are Goyim (us) meant to be slaves of Jews, and not only
That, but to enjoy it?
Are three year old (and a day) girls eligible for marriage and intercourse?
Are young boys fair game for rape?
Must even the best of the Goyim (us, again) be killed?
Pause a moment and think what this could mean
Or already has meant
In our own lifetime.
That, but to enjoy it?
Are three year old (and a day) girls eligible for marriage and intercourse?
Are young boys fair game for rape?
Must even the best of the Goyim (us, again) be killed?
Pause a moment and think what this could mean
Or already has meant
In our own lifetime.
You may find that as the cattle
We have begun to feel we are
We have an ancient history of oppression
Of which most of us have not been even vaguely
Aware. You will find that we, Goyim, sub-humans, animals
-The Palestinians of Gaza
The most obvious representatives of us
At the present time – are a cruel example of what may be done
With impunity, and without conscience,
By a Chosen people,
To the vast majority of the people
On the planet
Who were not Chosen.
Not chosen to receive the same dubious
“Blessing” of
Supremacy over the Earth,
Humans, and Beasts of this realm. As is
Stated plainly in the first chapter
Of the Bible we all read.
The Unchosen who, until now,
Were too scared of being
Called names
To demand to know why.
We have begun to feel we are
We have an ancient history of oppression
Of which most of us have not been even vaguely
Aware. You will find that we, Goyim, sub-humans, animals
-The Palestinians of Gaza
The most obvious representatives of us
At the present time – are a cruel example of what may be done
With impunity, and without conscience,
By a Chosen people,
To the vast majority of the people
On the planet
Who were not Chosen.
Not chosen to receive the same dubious
“Blessing” of
Supremacy over the Earth,
Humans, and Beasts of this realm. As is
Stated plainly in the first chapter
Of the Bible we all read.
The Unchosen who, until now,
Were too scared of being
Called names
To demand to know why.
It is a “Blessing” Jesus did not want.
One that, risking crucifixion, he refused.
One reason he is loved
By those who recognize a good
And righteous person
When they encounter one.
Seen in this light he wasn’t even
A spiritual progressive, but a committed
Revolutionary: a Che Guevara
Of the ancient past.
One that, risking crucifixion, he refused.
One reason he is loved
By those who recognize a good
And righteous person
When they encounter one.
Seen in this light he wasn’t even
A spiritual progressive, but a committed
Revolutionary: a Che Guevara
Of the ancient past.
A past as scary, if not scarier, than
Our own time: A past that,
Unfortunately, is not even past (quoting
Faulkner).
Our own time: A past that,
Unfortunately, is not even past (quoting
Faulkner).
We discover this
To our enlightened grief
As we study
The Talmud,
Our own ignorance,
And the devastating impact of both
On our abandoned world.
To our enlightened grief
As we study
The Talmud,
Our own ignorance,
And the devastating impact of both
On our abandoned world.
###
Not to belabor the point because I’m sure you don't need much "interpretation" here, including of the footnote pointing to the “very informative and clarifying” source by David Icke, and a documentary about how three people left the Hasidic cult. I agree: good for them—but what does that cult have to do with modern-day Judaism? Aren’t those people more likely to be against not only the occupation but the state of Israel? Icke, I think we can agree, won’t be either informative or clarifying, not by a long shot, and without reading it.
But that poem is pretty fucked up and truly antisemitic.
First, seriously—you go to YouTube to do your research? Because Googling is slanted, but YouTube (owned by Google, no less) isn’t?
Second, if the teachers you find there are hideous and shocking, with “twisted pasts” (what kind of past could that possibly be?), don’t let that stop you believing them? Even if you’re offended? The rants she finds are both righteous and right?
Well, if she’s fallen for Icke, there’s no bar. That’s the problem with conspiracy theories of any kind: totally sealed off from reality, immune to any critique, whose true believers spend a lot of effort trying to prove they have the "disease" of reason by loudly displaying its "symptoms."
And the at best excessive naivety that documents from late antiquity somehow "control" the daily political behavior of a nation-state or even of an ethno-religious group in the 21st century? C’mon—at best that’s New Atheist/Islamophobic cherry picking, mistaking Texts for Why Things Happen in the Real World. At best it’s a seriously blinkered framework for understanding why things happen out there in the real extra-textual world.
And I mean, that’s at best. The situation is not "at best": I think her Jewish friend was right, myself, if that friend exists and isn’t just a literary trope or device (doesn’t really matter). But, yeah, I’m pretty sure the Talmud isn’t the reason for the occupation. Or for feelings of Jewish supremacy, whoever has them—as do many, if not most, members of any ethnic group, religion, nation-state, what-have-you. Like, um, 19th-century nationalism, and general European racism, is a better place to find "the source" of today's troubles, if not what sustains it and has done for over a century. And, uh, no, the fucking Talmud is not the reason for America’s ills, either—or why the world is in such trouble. Really, that’s just Walker channeling Icke channeling the Protocols.
But what you get here is that all Jews follow the worst bits of the “poisonous" Talmud (granting that she’s even correct about the list of horrors supposedly therefrom; I’m sure the Talmud is full of insane garbage, and I'm equally sure that is not the full story).
Let's review. All Jews:
(1) want Jesus buried in feces for protecting bankers--bankers;
(2) think all non-Jews are subhuman cattle fit only for genocide, apparently after the slavery part;
(3) want three-year-olds to get married;
(4) are all for raping little boys;
(5) think that Jesus was crucified because he rebelled against (1)-(4) (which is totally ridiculous: the Talmud post-dates Christ by at least three centuries); and
(6) that this whole past is not even past.
Did I leave anything out?
Totally insane. And I really can’t come up with a term to describe it other than antisemitic, complete with the usual "I don’t care if they call me antisemitic/racist/misogynist/whatever—that’s just a way to keep us wonderful, enlightened people down!"
And note the photo on the original page: little kids need to start studying up on this stuff so they'll arrive at Walker's conclusions. Nice.
Really fucked up. Miko Peled cannot be happy that she wrote the preface to his book, at least once he finds all this out. One would think.
If I were still working with #MeTooGaza, I'd urge them to dump her video right now, and if they didn't, I'd quit. Too bad I already quit; yes, I notified them. They'll do whatever they do.
Anyway, you can't actually be impressed by David fucking Icke and not be at a bare minimum a total fool, if not also an antisemite. And I'm perfectly comfortable calling Walker an antisemite. That's poem is pure antisemitism.
The pro-Palestinian movement cannot afford this kind of negative publicity, and that's aside from the fact that as a matter of principle alone it should dump anyone who promulgates this kind of craziness. Don't misunderstand me: principle alone is all you need. But, that said, insane bullshit like this going unremarked-upon, let alone un-acted-upon in any sane way, is a literal gift to the pro-Israeli types. Watch how many people will defend Walker--defend or simply stay silent. Wrongly, on both counts.
But Gilad Atzmon was rightly banished, or, if you like, disowned. Properly. So maybe Walker will be, too.
PS: Yes, kids, all kinds of possibilities exist, and they're sometimes fulfilled. Here's a quick primer:
(1) Antisemitism exists.
(2) Pro-Israeli hacks will scream "antisemitism-wolf" every time anyone says anything that isn't straight out of Likud propaganda. That, too. exists.
(3) Despite that, every so often, the hacks (and not just them) will be right about the charge of antisemitism. As they are here.
I'm very sorry, but you'll actually have to use your brain to figure out which charges are bullshit and which are not. And then act on it.