I’ve yearned for a venue where we could speak openly about what’s happening in one of the world’s most contentious regions. My background is German, so you can probably anticipate where the topic ends up when I bring up Israeli politics. That has gotten old for me, and I won’t put up with it in any of the conversations going on here. My people committed terrible crimes, and ever since then, we have been working to make amends. I’ve already seen a description of the Holocaust on Wikipedia that, depending on how you define it, could relate to the deaths of anywhere between 2 million and 30 million people. Never in my life will I debate about math. It doesn’t matter to me if it was 100 or 100 million. It was wrong to murder people, and it shouldn’t happen again anywhere. Story over.
This community must continue to be a place for open discussions; however, I would prefer not to intervene harshly in any conversations that get improper. Unlike the Palestine community on Lemmygrad, this community is different. I won’t favor one side over the others. I like having spirited talks, which is why I started this community. Such talks ought to be educational rather than propagandistic or meant to belittle. I hope to learn more about the situation and hope others do as well.
I expect heated discussions. After all, it wouldn’t be a proper Irish wedding without a small brawl or two. As long as the participants can agree afterward that the choice of whiskey was good, and a good time was had by all.
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The desire for knowledge, and an open, honest discussion. This is something that I’ve found lacking in many public forums. Most often, a conversation gets shutdown when either it becomes “too heated” according to some mod, or it ventures too far against someone’s bias.
I’ve always been told that if you want to know what’s going on in your country, read a foreign newspaper. The problem, in this case, is that there are too many biases or the fear of stepping on somebody’s toes. In the US, if you too loudly take Palestine’s side, you risk being called an antisemite. Together with anti-BDS legislation going through various states outlawing essentially free speech, this throttles fair discussion. Now, I’m not saying Palestinians are free of guilt either, but this endless game of tit-for-tat must be called out at least in an open dialog.
I am hoping to provide a place where toe stepping and heated discussions are not just tolerated, but encouraged. This is a contentious topic, and I expect some discussions to become heated, but better a heated voice, than a heated barrel.
As for guilt, I have none personally, as I was born decades after the war ended. This does not mean that I feel what my countrymen did should not be paid for, though. Those who would consider that the sins of the father should be visited upon their sons, should be careful that the skeletons in their own closets not be rattled.