War is hell genocide next level horror. My family is Jewish and Ukrainian on my mother’s side . Grandfather born in Kiev 1892. His family story accurately depicted in fiddler on the roof . My mom’s mother born on a train leaving the Ukraine in 1907 her mom died not surprisingly in child birth. My horror the last two years has been the systematic destruction of a once beautiful country people murdered children sent to Russia. The pain and horror continues. I hate war and all it is . Keep writing Sarah we need your voice. We must end both of these conflicts I wish I knew how . Thank you for all you do . I’m from new jersey still there Whitney is a local celebrity for me and a real tragedy .
One of my favorite bands was (and is) King Crimson. A song called "Epitaph" from their 1st album is one of my favorites. It gives me chills to hear it now. Some of the lyrics go like this-
"The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
When silence drowns the screams
Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back and laugh
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Between the iron gates of fate
The seeds of time were sown
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known
Knowledge is a deadly friend
If no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools"
Sorry for the long comment but this pretty much sums it up for me.
Israeli propaganda is everywhere. I am acquainted with a NYS Assemblymen who comes into my restaurant. I was sitting at a table in the restaurant with my high school American History teacher and his wife. My American History teacher is so respected in my hometown. You mention him in a hometown Facebook group and people on both sides of the political spectrum have the utmost respect for him.. He taught us to look at current events and see them from a historical context. He taught us to think critically, to debate the issues of the day and to love our country for all it could be.
Sitting next to me, my history teacher and his wife was my NYS Assemblymen friend. I introduced my history teacher to him. The assemblyman told me I hadn't seen him in a while because he just got back from Isreal. This was around the middle of December. A group of NYS Assemblymen went to Isreal on an all expenses paid junket, paid for by some Isreali lobby group. My history teacher asked if that was fair, since the Palestinians weren't able to influence NYS Assemblymen in the same way.
Seems to me we hit a new level of media sensationalism with “ Shock and Awe “ and too many Americans watched cable with pride that we were bombing our “foes”. Rarely if ever was it said that those who died,those who lived and suffered from the ravages of war , were innocent victims.
Your memories of your youth, your feelings at those times seamlessly woven into today’s tragedies make your writings even more powerful for all who are brave enough to read think about them
Too many of my Boomer friends would rather discuss the stock market, Biden’s age, Trump’s “ ignorance” etc . Talking about how we are aiding in the “ eye for an eye” becoming the slaughter of thousands of women and children for the death of a few. How can we fund this inhuman behavior and pretend that we just do not see?
Thanks for helping us better understand the silent cruelty of our government
I just let out a sob like you did when you heard that Whitney died. (Whitney Houston’s was the first concert I ever attended. I was 14.) Yesterday I cried on FaceTime with my daughter, a college student in California. She is the only one in my sphere who will talk about this genocide. I stood in my college library in 1991 watching bombs drop on a small tv meant for VHS tapes. Now my neighbors and friends literally avert their eyes and nod sadly whenever I mention Israel or Biden. So I thank you for your completely unstoppable voice. If L’Engele could read your work, she’d thank you for it, too, especially this Whitney Houston-Charles Wallace mashup.
The NFL and the US military joined forces many years ago for jingoistic advertising and propaganda purposes. The uniformed soldiers and all the military pomp before the games is a straight attempt at further numbing the critical faculties of the football loving public. Propaganda and advertising work simply - you highlight some really good points of your product, whether true or false, and nothing bad, in tandem with associating positive desires or emotions with the thing being promoted. It could be a thing or product, or a group of people. The reverse is true when demonizing an enemy or enemy product, highlight bad points, true or false, and associate negative emotions, contempt, etc., with the "enemy." There is never any reason to have sympathy or consider the circumstances of the enemy being reviled. Things are either good, or bad, no in between topics are allowed. You will never see much at all, if anything, in mainstream media that suggests there is anything fundamentally bad or wrong with the military, or football, or being super rich, or spending lavishly, or "American values," etc. You will also never hear that there is anything good about Palestinians. These ideas will soak in. These are not values or judgements that people have without being indoctrinated through constant messaging that seeps into their minds. This is all Public Relations 101, and the public is robbed of a critical understanding of just about everything because of the ubiquitous prevalence of propaganda. When I watch things like the Superbowl, this becomes kind of all I can think about. It was once just a game - football - but now, everything surrounding it has become a flagrant celebration of some of the worst aspects of our culture, and perhaps our species.
This piece is breathtaking...To me, you write like Whitney sang...You make me proud to be an American where, at least for awhile yet, one can speak the truth loudly and clearly and not be put in jail...Thank you Sarah for giving words to my feelings, for speaking to my barely bearable agonizing witness of the daily massacre of all those precious Palestinian fellow human beings...
The only other Super Bowl anthem I ever watched was Renee Fleming. After that I was watching an old movie in another room. Even she could not match Whitney! At 81 I am so tired of endless wars and have little hope for change, certainly not in my lifetime😥 Bob Dylan wrote it years ago, "The Answer is Blowing In The Wind". I love hearing your voice. Your writing is brilliant! Never stop protesting!
During the Civil War, the Lieber Code was developed by the Lincoln Administration to bring some measure of (my words to my students) civilized conduct to the most uncivilized acts of war. It was the forerunner of the concepts of the Geneva Convention: protection of non combatants, no attacks on schools or hospitals, humane treatment of POWs' etc. The code was only as effective as the willingness of local commanders and troops to abide by it. While every war is horrific, these inhumane and immoral acts against innocent civilians leaves the ideals of the Geneva Convention a sad, hollow joke. Bombing unseen civilians, reducing serious issues such as how to supply real humanitarian assistance to 30 second evening news clips, watching both parties play so many games with peoples lives to play gotcha before the next election...reduces men, women and children to abstract numbers.
You better bet that I am angry about Gaza and the horrific atrocities committed against humanity there. I am also furious about the misery of our own citizens here in America who are still being besieged by a level three biohazard that has a death toll of 2500 a week. I am a retired psychiatric nurse practitioner who has seen the complete collapse of our public health system. Our medical system is in crisis and people are not being correctly informed about the long term consequences of Covid. The situation is bad. It is dangerous and it is up to individuals to keep themselves and their families safe because nobody is coming to save us. Get current on vaccinations and wear good N95 mask. Do your research and trust science. Please take care people. Clean the air in your homes and insist that schools protect your children.
When Elise Stefanik introduced Mike Johnson with the Book of Esther, I knew it was going to be bad. Like when Netanyahu gave his full address to Congress in 2015 bringing in the same Book.
Though I am one of the opinion that WWIII started in 2014 with the invasion of Ukraine. It is good Trump confirmed his part with both Russia and Israel over this particular weekend as well regarding those who do not pay their debts and what happens to them.
The pile of natural gas that sits off the Palestinian coast is as large as the one in Ukraine. There is a reason why the genocidal settlers and company seminars envisioning settlement infrastructure want that coastline.
All of that new infrastructure that was to be built with the liquified natural gas revenue belongs to Palestine. This is the horror and cynicism of preaching the Book of Esther from the floor of our Congress.
I cherish everything you write, Sarah, and I also find the community that has gathered around your brilliant, powerful, compassionate, and humane writing to be one of the few points of light in the heavy, terrifying darkness of our times. So thank you for your thoughts, your words, and your beautiful heart, and thank you for bringing us together to be with you.
Cordelia is not a child, of course, when Lear offers his poignant invitation to hide away with him in prison in the midst of war and horror and death. But she is *his* child, the one he wronged and the one whose unexpected return at the end of the play restores him to his senses and a possibility of joy, however brief and arrested. And it's her cruel death just a little later that inspires Lear to utter what has been described as the most perfect line Shakespeare ever wrote, a universal outcry for parents who have to mourn their murdered children: "Never never never never never."
Thank you, Sarah, for finding yet another artful way to inspire resistance to the murderous horrors that should never never never be normalized.
War is hell genocide next level horror. My family is Jewish and Ukrainian on my mother’s side . Grandfather born in Kiev 1892. His family story accurately depicted in fiddler on the roof . My mom’s mother born on a train leaving the Ukraine in 1907 her mom died not surprisingly in child birth. My horror the last two years has been the systematic destruction of a once beautiful country people murdered children sent to Russia. The pain and horror continues. I hate war and all it is . Keep writing Sarah we need your voice. We must end both of these conflicts I wish I knew how . Thank you for all you do . I’m from new jersey still there Whitney is a local celebrity for me and a real tragedy .
One of my favorite bands was (and is) King Crimson. A song called "Epitaph" from their 1st album is one of my favorites. It gives me chills to hear it now. Some of the lyrics go like this-
"The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
When silence drowns the screams
Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl a cracked and broken path
If we make it we can all sit back and laugh
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Between the iron gates of fate
The seeds of time were sown
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known
Knowledge is a deadly friend
If no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind I see
Is in the hands of fools"
Sorry for the long comment but this pretty much sums it up for me.
Israeli propaganda is everywhere. I am acquainted with a NYS Assemblymen who comes into my restaurant. I was sitting at a table in the restaurant with my high school American History teacher and his wife. My American History teacher is so respected in my hometown. You mention him in a hometown Facebook group and people on both sides of the political spectrum have the utmost respect for him.. He taught us to look at current events and see them from a historical context. He taught us to think critically, to debate the issues of the day and to love our country for all it could be.
Sitting next to me, my history teacher and his wife was my NYS Assemblymen friend. I introduced my history teacher to him. The assemblyman told me I hadn't seen him in a while because he just got back from Isreal. This was around the middle of December. A group of NYS Assemblymen went to Isreal on an all expenses paid junket, paid for by some Isreali lobby group. My history teacher asked if that was fair, since the Palestinians weren't able to influence NYS Assemblymen in the same way.
Thank you.
Sarah dammit You are on fire! and I am totally triggered with the “Dark Brandon” bullshit storm.
Yes! Thankyou! It is so stupid.
But actually Why is every fucking thing so fucking stupid in America now?
Bad lawyers and bad police running rampant without the slightest consequences.
Bad political arguments.
Bad representatives and bad, psychotic attention -demanding clowns all over the TV — everywhere.
And all of this while we
CASUALLY CONTRIBUTE TO MASS SLAUGHTER
IN GAZA!?
Not one goddam voice of passion calling for decency and RULE OF LAW!
Where are the decent Americans?
Did they die of Covid?
Seems to me we hit a new level of media sensationalism with “ Shock and Awe “ and too many Americans watched cable with pride that we were bombing our “foes”. Rarely if ever was it said that those who died,those who lived and suffered from the ravages of war , were innocent victims.
Your memories of your youth, your feelings at those times seamlessly woven into today’s tragedies make your writings even more powerful for all who are brave enough to read think about them
Too many of my Boomer friends would rather discuss the stock market, Biden’s age, Trump’s “ ignorance” etc . Talking about how we are aiding in the “ eye for an eye” becoming the slaughter of thousands of women and children for the death of a few. How can we fund this inhuman behavior and pretend that we just do not see?
Thanks for helping us better understand the silent cruelty of our government
I just let out a sob like you did when you heard that Whitney died. (Whitney Houston’s was the first concert I ever attended. I was 14.) Yesterday I cried on FaceTime with my daughter, a college student in California. She is the only one in my sphere who will talk about this genocide. I stood in my college library in 1991 watching bombs drop on a small tv meant for VHS tapes. Now my neighbors and friends literally avert their eyes and nod sadly whenever I mention Israel or Biden. So I thank you for your completely unstoppable voice. If L’Engele could read your work, she’d thank you for it, too, especially this Whitney Houston-Charles Wallace mashup.
The NFL and the US military joined forces many years ago for jingoistic advertising and propaganda purposes. The uniformed soldiers and all the military pomp before the games is a straight attempt at further numbing the critical faculties of the football loving public. Propaganda and advertising work simply - you highlight some really good points of your product, whether true or false, and nothing bad, in tandem with associating positive desires or emotions with the thing being promoted. It could be a thing or product, or a group of people. The reverse is true when demonizing an enemy or enemy product, highlight bad points, true or false, and associate negative emotions, contempt, etc., with the "enemy." There is never any reason to have sympathy or consider the circumstances of the enemy being reviled. Things are either good, or bad, no in between topics are allowed. You will never see much at all, if anything, in mainstream media that suggests there is anything fundamentally bad or wrong with the military, or football, or being super rich, or spending lavishly, or "American values," etc. You will also never hear that there is anything good about Palestinians. These ideas will soak in. These are not values or judgements that people have without being indoctrinated through constant messaging that seeps into their minds. This is all Public Relations 101, and the public is robbed of a critical understanding of just about everything because of the ubiquitous prevalence of propaganda. When I watch things like the Superbowl, this becomes kind of all I can think about. It was once just a game - football - but now, everything surrounding it has become a flagrant celebration of some of the worst aspects of our culture, and perhaps our species.
This piece is breathtaking...To me, you write like Whitney sang...You make me proud to be an American where, at least for awhile yet, one can speak the truth loudly and clearly and not be put in jail...Thank you Sarah for giving words to my feelings, for speaking to my barely bearable agonizing witness of the daily massacre of all those precious Palestinian fellow human beings...
The only other Super Bowl anthem I ever watched was Renee Fleming. After that I was watching an old movie in another room. Even she could not match Whitney! At 81 I am so tired of endless wars and have little hope for change, certainly not in my lifetime😥 Bob Dylan wrote it years ago, "The Answer is Blowing In The Wind". I love hearing your voice. Your writing is brilliant! Never stop protesting!
"It was 1991, and this was my first war."
Nothing but war or rumors of war since I was born... 75 years ago...
I can't believe I lived through them...
still expecting an end to it...
Again, you have deftly weaved a tapestry that leaves me torn within my mind scattering thoughts in so many directions. Thank you.
During the Civil War, the Lieber Code was developed by the Lincoln Administration to bring some measure of (my words to my students) civilized conduct to the most uncivilized acts of war. It was the forerunner of the concepts of the Geneva Convention: protection of non combatants, no attacks on schools or hospitals, humane treatment of POWs' etc. The code was only as effective as the willingness of local commanders and troops to abide by it. While every war is horrific, these inhumane and immoral acts against innocent civilians leaves the ideals of the Geneva Convention a sad, hollow joke. Bombing unseen civilians, reducing serious issues such as how to supply real humanitarian assistance to 30 second evening news clips, watching both parties play so many games with peoples lives to play gotcha before the next election...reduces men, women and children to abstract numbers.
You better bet that I am angry about Gaza and the horrific atrocities committed against humanity there. I am also furious about the misery of our own citizens here in America who are still being besieged by a level three biohazard that has a death toll of 2500 a week. I am a retired psychiatric nurse practitioner who has seen the complete collapse of our public health system. Our medical system is in crisis and people are not being correctly informed about the long term consequences of Covid. The situation is bad. It is dangerous and it is up to individuals to keep themselves and their families safe because nobody is coming to save us. Get current on vaccinations and wear good N95 mask. Do your research and trust science. Please take care people. Clean the air in your homes and insist that schools protect your children.
When Elise Stefanik introduced Mike Johnson with the Book of Esther, I knew it was going to be bad. Like when Netanyahu gave his full address to Congress in 2015 bringing in the same Book.
Though I am one of the opinion that WWIII started in 2014 with the invasion of Ukraine. It is good Trump confirmed his part with both Russia and Israel over this particular weekend as well regarding those who do not pay their debts and what happens to them.
The pile of natural gas that sits off the Palestinian coast is as large as the one in Ukraine. There is a reason why the genocidal settlers and company seminars envisioning settlement infrastructure want that coastline.
All of that new infrastructure that was to be built with the liquified natural gas revenue belongs to Palestine. This is the horror and cynicism of preaching the Book of Esther from the floor of our Congress.
I cherish everything you write, Sarah, and I also find the community that has gathered around your brilliant, powerful, compassionate, and humane writing to be one of the few points of light in the heavy, terrifying darkness of our times. So thank you for your thoughts, your words, and your beautiful heart, and thank you for bringing us together to be with you.
"Come, let’s away to prison.
We two alone will sing like birds i’ th’ cage.
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness . . . "
Cordelia is not a child, of course, when Lear offers his poignant invitation to hide away with him in prison in the midst of war and horror and death. But she is *his* child, the one he wronged and the one whose unexpected return at the end of the play restores him to his senses and a possibility of joy, however brief and arrested. And it's her cruel death just a little later that inspires Lear to utter what has been described as the most perfect line Shakespeare ever wrote, a universal outcry for parents who have to mourn their murdered children: "Never never never never never."
Thank you, Sarah, for finding yet another artful way to inspire resistance to the murderous horrors that should never never never be normalized.