"That's the crisis." So well said. Living through it all, choosing to be aware instead of in denial, and slowly and then rapidly coming to the realization that family and friends and society will not tolerate reality any longer and so we are alone. With truths that are unfathomable and soul-crushing and unable to be shared. All the while trying to make the most of what may be the last best days. Thank you, Jessica, for being brave enough to share and support those of us unwilling to look away.
Thank you for this Jessica. I struggle with talking about anything serious to anyone these days.
Among the things making people not believe is lack of coverage by the main stream media (people saying "if that were true, why haven't I heard it in the news"). Just before I read your peace I read an article about the risk of heart disease, stoke and death being 2 to 3 times higher in people who ave had covid, for a 2 year period after. The study was out of USC. I found 4 news articles on the subject. None of them were from the msm. I feel the battle is lost. I feel that "the powers that be" only cover things up when they fear global panic. Just one man's opinion.
When Ronny Raygun put the kabosh on funding for mental health facilities, the die was cast. Jails and prisons would now be almost the sole recipients of those committed for mental health issues. No medical care. Just bars and a cot.
The private prison industrial complex is born. Let’s make some money off of these poor suckers!
Anyone who has tried to find adequate mental health care for a loved one in need has felt the results of this horrific decision. There needs to be major investment into our mental health care systems.
Last weekend I attended a football party. In the small city of Buffalo, the Bills are part of the cultural identity. My sister cooked up a storm, her way of taking care of people. I grew up a fan of the game, but now find it repetitious and knowing the players all retire with brain damage appalling. I find the repetition of most things in popular culture dull.
Of course, a football game involves a blitz of advertising. The advertising promotes what's killing us, consumption. Many of the ads feature people acting like idiots. I guess everything is funny.
Many people are 100 percent brainwashed. Others have a sense we're on the wrong track, but don't possess the facts or tools to fight. Some know we're screwed and don't see the point of trying. Some of course have been so skillfully brainwashed they believe you and I are the problem.
There are few opportunities and people to talk to. I discarded a friend recently because she wouldn't raise her game. After three years of writing about climate change, not once did she give me a like or restack my articles. It's not a matter of liking, it's a mater of respect for those of us working for the truth. I finally got fed up, realizing this long relationship was no longer meaningful for me. Those of us able to see truth and call out evil are a rare breed. So are the readers that stick with us.
Just to understand your perspective on time, which time frame do you see when you write this?
"Our daughter probably won’t go to college.
She’ll need a different skill set.
Neither I nor my spouse nor any of our friends will get to retire. We’ll count ourselves lucky if we even make it to our 60s, provided disaster and disease don’t take us out first."
Is the time frame something like 10, 20 or 25 years?
Been following you for a long time, Jessica. Since your early Medium days. I really enjoy your writing and appreciate your hard-fought lessons and agree with many things you discuss. I admit I've probably not followed as closely recently, however, and this article today has piqued my curiosity about one of your "conversations". Please forgive me if you've discussed the following issues in other articles.
Like you, I feel the need to address elephants in the room. I expect that my opinions are probably not popular in your universe, but I guess that's why I feel compelled to share them. So, let's have one of these conversations :)
My questions for you:
In what way do you think it would be better for the world to have a terrorist organization / terrorist country destroy the only people/nation in the middle east that promotes Western values of democracy, tolerance, equality, etc.?
Do you believe that the goals of Hamas / Iran are simply a free Palestinian state (if so, why haven't they accepted terms that would give them that in the past)?
Are you as outraged about the elderly, families, babies, peace activist casualties from October 7 as you are about the Palestinians (in your article, you only mentioned Palestinian children)?
Do you know about the sexual brutalization (the word rape doesn't cover shooting off breasts and vaginas, etc., imo) and torture (you know, forcing parents to watch their kids being tortured and killed before being tortured and killed) that occurred on October 7? (a lot was filmed and live streamed by the perps, so I'm sure you can find out about it if you're curious).
Do you trust the statistics and news coming from Gaza, when they come through an organization--(Hamas--a terrorist organization founded on the goal to destroy Israel at all costs)--that benefits when other people around the world hear about the 'atrocities' at the hands of Israelis?
What do you think about Hamas using the civilian Palestinian population--particularly children--as human shields in the conflict, then holding up the casualties as evidence of Israel's brutality?
Why do you think the war in Gaza is worse than other wars happening elsewhere? Did you feel as strongly about the civil war in Syria? About Iraq / Afghanistan / etc? How about Africa? Ukraine? Myanmar?
There have been atrocities on both sides of the Middle East conflict. By definition, war is an atrocity, and the conditions of this conflict are particularly bad. However, I simply don't see how supporting Hamas leads to better long-term outcomes for the Palestinian people or the world (particularly for Western liberal values). Perhaps you've given up on the future, so you think we might as well all die in a fundamentalist holy war rather than from environmental disasters?
Sarah, having “the conversation” moves us away from a limited, binary good/bad frozen mindset into one where hellish impasses start to break down and compassionate common ground surfaces. As you rightly mention, there are no winners when the evil side of human souls is opened up full throttle; holding back the facts of a 75 year pattern of willful abuse and denigration doesn’t help. I hope you’re having those kinds of conversations as well.
Can you tell me more about this pattern of willful abuse and denigration, and how that fits here?
Are you referring to the way terrorist groups have used their power to sacrifice the well-being of their own people to strive to achieve their goals of genocide? (Hint: that isn’t Israel)
How else can you explain Palestinian leadership’s refusal to negotiate over those 75 years? Are you familiar with the history of the region? It’s quite complex, actually.
How would you propose Israel should negotiate with elected leaders whose stated purpose is their own (Israel’s) annihilation?
Do you realize that Hamas chose to attack the people who were most friendly to the Palestinian cause? Why might they have done so?
Believe me, I’ve spent a lot of time on these conversations, and so far no one has offered me any satisfactory answers. I believe the answers are unfortunately much more complicated than “ceasefire now” and “stop Israel”.
The way I see it, Israel is fighting an existential war, and it happens to be fighting for my personal interests (against tyranny, against terrorism, against intolerance).
Until we address the true problem (terrorist groups masking as government and oppressing their own people to achieve their fundamentalist goals) I hope Israel can continue to survive.
"That's the crisis." So well said. Living through it all, choosing to be aware instead of in denial, and slowly and then rapidly coming to the realization that family and friends and society will not tolerate reality any longer and so we are alone. With truths that are unfathomable and soul-crushing and unable to be shared. All the while trying to make the most of what may be the last best days. Thank you, Jessica, for being brave enough to share and support those of us unwilling to look away.
Thank you for this Jessica. I struggle with talking about anything serious to anyone these days.
Among the things making people not believe is lack of coverage by the main stream media (people saying "if that were true, why haven't I heard it in the news"). Just before I read your peace I read an article about the risk of heart disease, stoke and death being 2 to 3 times higher in people who ave had covid, for a 2 year period after. The study was out of USC. I found 4 news articles on the subject. None of them were from the msm. I feel the battle is lost. I feel that "the powers that be" only cover things up when they fear global panic. Just one man's opinion.
When Ronny Raygun put the kabosh on funding for mental health facilities, the die was cast. Jails and prisons would now be almost the sole recipients of those committed for mental health issues. No medical care. Just bars and a cot.
The private prison industrial complex is born. Let’s make some money off of these poor suckers!
Anyone who has tried to find adequate mental health care for a loved one in need has felt the results of this horrific decision. There needs to be major investment into our mental health care systems.
Ignoring it, the Republicon way, ain’t working.
Last weekend I attended a football party. In the small city of Buffalo, the Bills are part of the cultural identity. My sister cooked up a storm, her way of taking care of people. I grew up a fan of the game, but now find it repetitious and knowing the players all retire with brain damage appalling. I find the repetition of most things in popular culture dull.
Of course, a football game involves a blitz of advertising. The advertising promotes what's killing us, consumption. Many of the ads feature people acting like idiots. I guess everything is funny.
Many people are 100 percent brainwashed. Others have a sense we're on the wrong track, but don't possess the facts or tools to fight. Some know we're screwed and don't see the point of trying. Some of course have been so skillfully brainwashed they believe you and I are the problem.
There are few opportunities and people to talk to. I discarded a friend recently because she wouldn't raise her game. After three years of writing about climate change, not once did she give me a like or restack my articles. It's not a matter of liking, it's a mater of respect for those of us working for the truth. I finally got fed up, realizing this long relationship was no longer meaningful for me. Those of us able to see truth and call out evil are a rare breed. So are the readers that stick with us.
That's just how it is. I appreciate your work.
Now this - THIS - is how Noah, Utnapishtim and other similar mythic/historical figures must have felt.
Wise thoughts and well written.
Just to understand your perspective on time, which time frame do you see when you write this?
"Our daughter probably won’t go to college.
She’ll need a different skill set.
Neither I nor my spouse nor any of our friends will get to retire. We’ll count ourselves lucky if we even make it to our 60s, provided disaster and disease don’t take us out first."
Is the time frame something like 10, 20 or 25 years?
Been following you for a long time, Jessica. Since your early Medium days. I really enjoy your writing and appreciate your hard-fought lessons and agree with many things you discuss. I admit I've probably not followed as closely recently, however, and this article today has piqued my curiosity about one of your "conversations". Please forgive me if you've discussed the following issues in other articles.
Like you, I feel the need to address elephants in the room. I expect that my opinions are probably not popular in your universe, but I guess that's why I feel compelled to share them. So, let's have one of these conversations :)
My questions for you:
In what way do you think it would be better for the world to have a terrorist organization / terrorist country destroy the only people/nation in the middle east that promotes Western values of democracy, tolerance, equality, etc.?
Do you believe that the goals of Hamas / Iran are simply a free Palestinian state (if so, why haven't they accepted terms that would give them that in the past)?
Are you as outraged about the elderly, families, babies, peace activist casualties from October 7 as you are about the Palestinians (in your article, you only mentioned Palestinian children)?
Do you know about the sexual brutalization (the word rape doesn't cover shooting off breasts and vaginas, etc., imo) and torture (you know, forcing parents to watch their kids being tortured and killed before being tortured and killed) that occurred on October 7? (a lot was filmed and live streamed by the perps, so I'm sure you can find out about it if you're curious).
Do you trust the statistics and news coming from Gaza, when they come through an organization--(Hamas--a terrorist organization founded on the goal to destroy Israel at all costs)--that benefits when other people around the world hear about the 'atrocities' at the hands of Israelis?
What do you think about Hamas using the civilian Palestinian population--particularly children--as human shields in the conflict, then holding up the casualties as evidence of Israel's brutality?
Why do you think the war in Gaza is worse than other wars happening elsewhere? Did you feel as strongly about the civil war in Syria? About Iraq / Afghanistan / etc? How about Africa? Ukraine? Myanmar?
There have been atrocities on both sides of the Middle East conflict. By definition, war is an atrocity, and the conditions of this conflict are particularly bad. However, I simply don't see how supporting Hamas leads to better long-term outcomes for the Palestinian people or the world (particularly for Western liberal values). Perhaps you've given up on the future, so you think we might as well all die in a fundamentalist holy war rather than from environmental disasters?
Sarah, having “the conversation” moves us away from a limited, binary good/bad frozen mindset into one where hellish impasses start to break down and compassionate common ground surfaces. As you rightly mention, there are no winners when the evil side of human souls is opened up full throttle; holding back the facts of a 75 year pattern of willful abuse and denigration doesn’t help. I hope you’re having those kinds of conversations as well.
Can you tell me more about this pattern of willful abuse and denigration, and how that fits here?
Are you referring to the way terrorist groups have used their power to sacrifice the well-being of their own people to strive to achieve their goals of genocide? (Hint: that isn’t Israel)
How else can you explain Palestinian leadership’s refusal to negotiate over those 75 years? Are you familiar with the history of the region? It’s quite complex, actually.
How would you propose Israel should negotiate with elected leaders whose stated purpose is their own (Israel’s) annihilation?
Do you realize that Hamas chose to attack the people who were most friendly to the Palestinian cause? Why might they have done so?
Believe me, I’ve spent a lot of time on these conversations, and so far no one has offered me any satisfactory answers. I believe the answers are unfortunately much more complicated than “ceasefire now” and “stop Israel”.
The way I see it, Israel is fighting an existential war, and it happens to be fighting for my personal interests (against tyranny, against terrorism, against intolerance).
Until we address the true problem (terrorist groups masking as government and oppressing their own people to achieve their fundamentalist goals) I hope Israel can continue to survive.
Thank you, Ines, for engaging in conversation with me and thank you for taking the time on this holy day. I’m looking forward to reading.
I wish you an easy fast
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/10/16/no-more-texts-from-my-sister/
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-16/rafah-gaza-hospitals-surgery-israel-bombing-ground-offensive-children
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/10/16/gaza_doctor
How to engage the abyss?