I feel as though I have just read someone's brilliant thesis. This is so well plotted, delineated, and erudite in detail that I am going to save it for my own edification going forward. There's such wisdom and clarity in pursuing what lies ahead for us if we want to remain viscerally connected to Israel. This is some quality piece of writing. When the mind and heart come together, this can be the result. Bravo!
Hmmm. I'm starting this next week. Our local county fair, a slightly right of center county outside of an extremely liberal metro area, happens next weekend. This year, we elect a new governor (the current one is not seeking reelection) as well as all of our representatives to Congress (no Senators on the ballot. The primaries are in August. I will go to the state Democrat information booth and ask them a simple question. "Since the continued existence of Israel, or at a minimum our support for it, seems to be the new litmus test for many Democrats, what is your position regarding the solution to the Israeli question." I have already asked a couple of good friends with means to set aside some bail money for me. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Another great essay. The haters are aware, but choose to ignore facts and morality in their deranged justification for Jew hate . My only response: “It’s our land. Done explaining . “
This is indeed brilliant work and so true‼️It’s so crazy how many different ways there are to Try to disparage the people, and Israel 🇮🇱 It’s Awful 😢 I Stand With ISRAEL and All Jewish People WORLDWIDE‼️💯❤️💕❤️🩹🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇺🇸😻
A new generation is growing up without a clear understanding of our history. We are only now recovering from the choices made by our parents' and grandparents' generations, many of whom distanced themselves from Zionism in favor of the Bund ideology. This includes my own family.
At the time, the Bund was the most popular movement, fueled by the belief that Jewish communities could safely coexist with non-Jewish populations across Europe. We all know the tragic outcome of that perspective.
The second skill in Joshua’s article, mastering our reactions, is the foundational one!
On October 7, Hamas offered the world atrocity as an outstanding moral achievement. That was the first inversion.
The inversion infected Western discourse. Jewish self-defence equalled genocide, and the attempt to recover the hostages was an obstacle to peace. The Western ideological mind was scrambled and what it could not contain, it displaced onto Jews as accusation. The accusation becomes the means by which that disorganisation is passed on.
That is why the effect is so disorientating. The accusations attack the elementary structures through which the mind establishes reality: causation, sequence, agency, responsibility, victim and perpetrator. You have A; you are then told with enormous confidence that not-A occurred, and finally accused of moral corruption for remembering A. This is new and nothing in the existing repertoire of normal discourse was equipped for this type of psychic mugging.
The pressure generates anger and a powerful compulsion to restore reality. The mind races to correct because it experiences the inversion as an attack upon its own coherence. You think: If I explain this clearly enough, then reality will return.
But the attempt draws you into the structure of the attack. The Jew is placed in the dock and required to defend reality to people participating in its destruction.
Observe what inversion does internally when it is directed at you. Does it create urgency, rage or bewilderment? An almost unbearable need to make the other person see? Does it make the grotesque accusation feel like an emergency that must immediately be solved?
The skill is epistemic self-possession: holding your perception and judgement steady, without being flooded, when another person or group is trying to hijack them.
It is the capacity to see the inversion, notice what it does to the mind and then to refuse its logic by not entering into the mental structure it is imposing.
The mind must become capable of refusing the inversion without entering into it and therefore reproducing its disorder within itself.
That, I think, is the new Zionist skill Hoffman has identified. The contemporary attack derives much of its power from its ability to scramble thought. The antidote is to hold the mind steady enough to recognise the inversion, neutralise its internal effects, refuse its imposed terms, and decide freely whether and how to respond.
What a brilliant piece!!
I particularly like this quote. “But anger is a signal. It cannot become a home.”
Anger and hate are very addictive emotions.
Agree 100%
I feel as though I have just read someone's brilliant thesis. This is so well plotted, delineated, and erudite in detail that I am going to save it for my own edification going forward. There's such wisdom and clarity in pursuing what lies ahead for us if we want to remain viscerally connected to Israel. This is some quality piece of writing. When the mind and heart come together, this can be the result. Bravo!
Hmmm. I'm starting this next week. Our local county fair, a slightly right of center county outside of an extremely liberal metro area, happens next weekend. This year, we elect a new governor (the current one is not seeking reelection) as well as all of our representatives to Congress (no Senators on the ballot. The primaries are in August. I will go to the state Democrat information booth and ask them a simple question. "Since the continued existence of Israel, or at a minimum our support for it, seems to be the new litmus test for many Democrats, what is your position regarding the solution to the Israeli question." I have already asked a couple of good friends with means to set aside some bail money for me. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Another great essay. The haters are aware, but choose to ignore facts and morality in their deranged justification for Jew hate . My only response: “It’s our land. Done explaining . “
Excellent.! The nuance of when to argue, when to let it go it's such an important skill.
This is indeed brilliant work and so true‼️It’s so crazy how many different ways there are to Try to disparage the people, and Israel 🇮🇱 It’s Awful 😢 I Stand With ISRAEL and All Jewish People WORLDWIDE‼️💯❤️💕❤️🩹🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇺🇸😻
Great piece!!!
WOW! Very well written and inspiring.
I can only echo the above... however at some point even calibration fails and the fight must be taken "to the streets" as it were.
The tsunami of jew hate is upon us although many inside and outside the camp do not fully appreciate it...
Great piece, Joshua!
A new generation is growing up without a clear understanding of our history. We are only now recovering from the choices made by our parents' and grandparents' generations, many of whom distanced themselves from Zionism in favor of the Bund ideology. This includes my own family.
At the time, the Bund was the most popular movement, fueled by the belief that Jewish communities could safely coexist with non-Jewish populations across Europe. We all know the tragic outcome of that perspective.
Outstanding essay, Joshua. Will incorporate your suggestions starting today!!
Excellent advice Joshua 👌
Understanding the world around us requires unity and coping with the challenges.
Just in the USA 🇺🇸 and Canada 🇨🇦 there are over 14,000 different Jewish ✡️ organizations.
Maybe it's time to send them a copy of your essay so that they may be persuaded to join hans and heads to deal with our changing world.
Great insight. You should be a rabbi, Joshua!
The second skill in Joshua’s article, mastering our reactions, is the foundational one!
On October 7, Hamas offered the world atrocity as an outstanding moral achievement. That was the first inversion.
The inversion infected Western discourse. Jewish self-defence equalled genocide, and the attempt to recover the hostages was an obstacle to peace. The Western ideological mind was scrambled and what it could not contain, it displaced onto Jews as accusation. The accusation becomes the means by which that disorganisation is passed on.
That is why the effect is so disorientating. The accusations attack the elementary structures through which the mind establishes reality: causation, sequence, agency, responsibility, victim and perpetrator. You have A; you are then told with enormous confidence that not-A occurred, and finally accused of moral corruption for remembering A. This is new and nothing in the existing repertoire of normal discourse was equipped for this type of psychic mugging.
The pressure generates anger and a powerful compulsion to restore reality. The mind races to correct because it experiences the inversion as an attack upon its own coherence. You think: If I explain this clearly enough, then reality will return.
But the attempt draws you into the structure of the attack. The Jew is placed in the dock and required to defend reality to people participating in its destruction.
Observe what inversion does internally when it is directed at you. Does it create urgency, rage or bewilderment? An almost unbearable need to make the other person see? Does it make the grotesque accusation feel like an emergency that must immediately be solved?
The skill is epistemic self-possession: holding your perception and judgement steady, without being flooded, when another person or group is trying to hijack them.
It is the capacity to see the inversion, notice what it does to the mind and then to refuse its logic by not entering into the mental structure it is imposing.
The mind must become capable of refusing the inversion without entering into it and therefore reproducing its disorder within itself.
That, I think, is the new Zionist skill Hoffman has identified. The contemporary attack derives much of its power from its ability to scramble thought. The antidote is to hold the mind steady enough to recognise the inversion, neutralise its internal effects, refuse its imposed terms, and decide freely whether and how to respond.