A few years ago, I offended a friend from the UK when I gave my two cents about the monarchy. And that was two cents more than my opinion was worth.
The friendship soured and we are no longer in touch.
And you all know the old saying about opinions. If you don’t, they say: “Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.”
An article in today’s New York Times shined a light on something those outside of Israel don’t know….We don’t know what’s going on in Israel.
In that piece, Israelis showed a side of anger, hate, fear and loathing we cannot understand.
Granted, we all have feelings, concerns etc. for people around the world but when we comment as outsiders, we don’t have the history or background or daily look at life that those in the thick of things do.
Let’s take illness, financial woes, relationships, and even death. We can use our best therapeutic ideas and they come from the heart, but if they do not come from first-hand experience, something is lost in the perspective. Unless you had cancer or loved someone who did, lost someone you love, lost all your money, you can be the greatest source of support. No, you don’t have to have been that person, as love does count for a lot.
But unless you are African-American, Jewish, Catholic, Irish, Hispanic, Muslim, French (they always pick on the French!), Italian, or any other culture or race that has been marginalized, we CANNOT understand.
For those outside of Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Korea, Taiwan, or insert any country here, we mostly rely on pundits, since the news has become opinion or selective, and unless we hear from people ‘on the ground,’ and even then, we don’t always get the entire story.
We can empathize and 99% of the time, that comes from our compassion as human beings. Unless we experienced the epithets, the attacks, the discrimination, the stream of false facts and false narratives, we don’t know.
It is easy to be an arm-chair quarterback or in the case of my British friend, an arm-chair scrum half.
In the play, “Will Roger’s Follies,” the star, who is part Cherokee said: “I guess I met a whole lot of people in my lifetime, and I always tried to approach ‘em the same way my Indian ancestors would. … you must never judge a man while you’re facing him. You’ve got to go around behind him … and look at what he’s looking at. Then go back and face him and you’ll have a totally different idea of who he is. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to get along with everybody.”
Sure, I’ve got an opinion on just about everything but this asshole has learned something. And I’m hoping many of you will have as well.
Hi Barry, thanks for this thoughtful column. I have several friends who make Israel their home. They've expressed every type of emotion, opinion, and thought you can imagine. Mostly, they are disappointed with the response from the rest of the world. But they are used to this, they are strong and they will go on.
Have you ever listened to Al Jazerra news? It’s quite interesting and a totally different perspective on what’s happening around the world than you get from any Western media outlet. Btw…great article Barry!