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Thanks for the full context. Much of the reaction here is due to his mistake of placing 'If I were a Jew' when based on the rest of the essay I'd estimate he me

Thanks for the full context. Much of the reaction here is due to his mistake of placing 'If I were a Jew' when based on the rest of the essay I'd estimate he meant to say 'If I were Israeli'. Had he done so the tea shop would still have all its crockery intact.

old_fart_dev 5y ago
Absolutely on the nose. I'd go a step further - if he had said "If I were Isreael", then he's imagining being policy maker directly responsible, instead of merely being a citizen. It's not empathy to put one's self in someone else's shoes, but then dismiss the viewpoint that comes with wearing those shoes. This is simply another version of the "No true Scotsman" fallacy. Moreover, using collective guilt as an underpinning of any political stance is garbage. It's not enough to say racists and racist policies are bad - white people are collectively guilty, regardless of their own personal behavior and history. It's not enough to say Israel's out of line with their policies - all Jews are collectively guilty. So on and so forth. And it's alienating and insulting to anyone sympathetic policy-wise, but don't want to be lumped in with bad actors.
shagmin 5y ago
After reading the post this is the same impression I get. His views don't seem that different from someone like Noam Chomsky, just not articulated as well.