Acts and Actors in the Lands of Make Believe
essay/satire
From the root Š-L-M “whole, safe, intact, unharmed, to go free, without blemish.”
It is ironic and/or predictable that the same people – in other words the government-corporate-personhoods – who want to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the same people that "removed federal protection [for] gray wolves across the lower 48"(Center for Biological Diversity email 5/7/24) so as to protect the ironically named livestock industry have recently passed (specifically the House) the Antisemitism Awareness Act. By the way, "The last time wolves lost federal protection, they were hunted down in places like Wisconsin with devastating results: More than 200 were killed in just 72 hours." Anti-antiwolves Act, anyone?
Antisemitism is a concern yet pardon my Macron but the dumb as dumb-fuck thing about the "Antisemitism Awareness Act" is that Arabs and other peoples are Semitic, thus the Act should protect both sides of the current wave of campus and street protests regarding the atrocities or genocide-as-usual – depending on your stance – in Gaza and vicinity, against Palestinians.
In the binary, sports-mentality news world it's the anti-Israelites (according to the in bed with Israel, Murdoch-owned NY Post) battling the anti-genociders. In Orwellian times, love becomes anti-hatred. Yet where are the meeting places, the discussions, the debates. the dialogues, the test your collegiate rhetoric skills with the powers that do too much?
In my elementary school auditorium there was and probably still is the following quote: “The Place Where People Meet to Seek the Highest is Holy Ground.” ~Felix Adler.
Ironically, Adler was a graduate of Columbia University, prominent in the recent protest news.
“In 1902 Adler was given the chair of political and social ethics at Columbia University, where he taught until his death in 1933. There he opposed the formation of a Zionist student club, considering it to be a ‘divisive force’. … Adler talked about ‘deed, not creed’; his belief was that good works were the basis of ethical culture. In 1877 the Society founded the District Nursing Department, which organized a team of nurses who
visited the homebound sick in poor districts. A year later, in 1878, the Society established a Free Kindergarten for working people's children. Because it served the working poor, the kindergarten provided basic necessities for the children when needed, such as clothing and hot meals. It evolved over time into the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.”
A far cry from the bombing of hospitals, starving of masses of Palestinians, and killing of women and children, the root of any genocide.
”…as of 29 April 2024, of 34,488 Palestinians killed in Gaza, 14,500 have been children and 9,500 women.”
(Shakespearian soliloquy aside to readers: As a person of Jewish heritage with a sense of humor and who does bleed, herein I am deliberately using some flippant language so as to cope with the absurdities and atrocities of the situation; psychologically speaking, my method is called a "defense mechanism", not to be confused with the IDF (Israeli Defense Force).)
By the way, have you noticed the rather extreme reaction to peaceful protestors? As Reinette Senum explains in her recent Substack post:
"For over two decades, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been training U.S. police departments, sharing tactics and strategies that have been honed in the context of Israel's military occupation of Palestinian territories. This training often includes techniques for crowd control, surveillance, and the use of force, which human rights organizations have criticized as being excessively brutal and violating civil liberties.”
Or when it comes to the way the NYPD manhandled (no offense to female police) students on campuses, maybe “defense force” is too wimpy a term, as I’m reminded of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg back in 2011 saying, “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh largest army in the world.”
As for the AntiJews&Arabs Awareness Act, let’s take a gander at the Karl Rovian fine print, including my parentheticals. From the NBC news article, "House passes antisemitism bill with broad bipartisan support amid campus arrests":
"The bill, title Antisemitism Awareness Act, would mandate that the Education Department adopt the broad definition of antisemitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance [there goes the inclusion of Arabs], an intergovernmental group, to enforce [with teargas?] anti-discrimination laws. The international group [and here's the Rovian part] defines antisemitism as a ‘certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.’ The group adds that ‘rhetorical and physical manifestations’ of antisemitism include such things as calling for the killing or harming of Jews or holding Jews collectively responsible for actions taken by Israel." I saw no mention of the distinction between Zionists and Jews.
To cite the former so-called Bush's brain, Karl Rove, of whom the following is infamously attributed:
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
Akin to the current wave of gender self-definitions based on inner feelings regardless of actual genitalia, the Antisemitism Awareness Act makes up its own definition.
So I wondered . . . if I make self-effacing Jewish jokes, do I have to turn myself in? Or would that be considered acceptable selfie-antisemitism? Or would I only need to feel guilty if I didn’t turn myself in? According to the above "rhetorical" along with my affinity for ahimsa, the answer is decidedly 'no.' Ahimsa "is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to actions towards all living beings. It is a key virtue in Indian religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism." (I try to avoid but on occasion, unlike Jains, kill insects.)
A societal-theatrical question arises: Will gentile and/or Jewish comedians who make Jewish jokes now run the risk of arrest? Part of the reason comedians nowadays can say pretty much whatever they want is because of Lenny Bruce who was arrested for obscenity, among other things, in the 1960s.
“One of the most influential stand-ups in history, Lenny Bruce burst onto the stage in the 1950s, forever changing comedy with his free-form, no-holds-barred performances. His caustic social commentary made him a legend. But it also made him a target for his critics and law enforcement, leading to an infamous 1964 arrest that put both Bruce and free speech on trial.
“Dozens of notable artists signed a petition denouncing Bruce’s arrest, including actors Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, writers Susan Sontag, Norman Mailer and James Baldwin, singer Bob Dylan, and fellow comedians, including Woody Allen. It read, in part, ‘Whether we regard Bruce as a moral spokesman or simply as an entertainer, we believe he should be allowed to perform free from censorship or harassment.’”
By the way, Bruce was Jewish; come to think of it, aren’t all comedians? (That’s a Prosemitism Awareness Joke.)
And if you really think about it, a lot of stuff is just make believe. One whopper is the Doctrine of Christian Discovery and Domination based on a claim of the right of domination. There are a variety of legal and scholarly interpretations worth learning of (see Original Free Nations and “Federal Anti-Indian Law”), but in the vernacular it's simply make believe bullshit . . . that has spawned and condoned horrid treatment of Original Peoples, the overtaking of their lands, and rapings of Mother Earth.
Borders are just made-up lines in the sand, but they have shaped and misshaped consciousnesses, lives, and the way one can travel or one is not allowed to travel.
"In God We Trust" is just a made-up phrase to rally the nation to go shopping during hard times.
Nonetheless, in big picture this made-up stuff is no joke. But one thing I know, if the Antisemitism Awareness Act takes effect, there's one group whose professional services will be in greater demand, Jewish lawyers. (That’s another Prosemitism Awareness Joke.)
In an interview with a college student, the word "grief" was mentioned, which reminded me of what gets overlooked with all the vitriolic rhetoric, the teargas, the bulldozing of peaceful encampments, the talking heartless heads, the illegal legalities, the shell game posturings . . . is time to grieve for the massive loss of lives, which is a main reason for the protest encampments in the first place.
Also, divestment, which cuts to one of the biggest make-believes going, that human beings have a natural inclination to fight and make war; IF funded and divided by ideologies and religions, yes, many do, but that’s not natural. See "Worldwide Military Spending Reaches $2400 Billion. Plenty of Money for Weapons. Shortfall in Funds for United Nations (OCHA) Humanitarian Endeavours" from which the following:
In Afghanistan 10 million people lost access to food assistance between May 2023 and November 2023;
In Myanmar, more than half a million people were left in desperate living conditions;
In Yemen more than 80% targeted for assistance could not get proper water and sanitation;
In Nigeria only 2% of the women expecting sexual and reproductive services and gender-based violence protection received it.
Since consciousness guides the choices one makes with regard to money, and Acts, and who can roam free and who gets locked up, who eats&drinks and who scrapes by, it is crucial to keep chipping away at the consciousnesses still stuck in a Crusades, Holocaust, Manifest Destiny, Biblically smiting, pick your cultural, historical, domination, genocidal reference, mentality. And considering the “$2400 billion” military spending, what we truly need is an Antismiting Awareness Act.
Is antisemitism a real issue of concern? Yes. But so is an Act aiming to squelch criticism of a nation-state in the Middle East whose name must not be spoken.
Also from the NBC article": “Lawler's [Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y] bill faced opposition from some progressive and far-right lawmakers, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, which called the bill's definition of antisemitism ‘overbroad.’
"Speech that is critical of Israel or any other government cannot, alone, constitute harassment," ACLU leaders wrote in a letter last week urging lawmakers to oppose the measure.”
Salaam . . . Shalom . . .
“Arabic or Muslim greeting, 1610s, from Arabic salam (also in Urdu, Persian), literally "peace" (compare Hebrew shalom); in full, (as)salam 'alaikum "peace be upon you," from base of salima "he was safe.” Formerly used generically of ceremonious salutations in India and elsewhere in Asia. As a verb, ‘to salute with a 'salaam,’’ by 1690s.”
שָׁלוֹם šālóm, “peace, well-being; hello, good-bye,” plus other words such as “sound, good health.”
Etymologically related to שָׁלָה (šālâ, “to be quiet, tranquil”). Compare also שָׁלַו (šālaw, “to be quiet, at ease”)
Š-L-M “Shin-Lamedh-Mem is a triconsonantal root of many Semitic words (many of which are used as names). The root meaning translates to ‘whole, safe, intact, unharmed, to go free, without blemish’.”
PS
For those wishing to read the texts in full:
”H.R.6090 - Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023”
&
At the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance website:
“Working definition of antisemitism”