Editor's Note: Annelle Sheline, PhD, served for a year as a foreign affairs officer at the Office of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The views expressed here are her own.
The final two paragraphs
I am haunted by the final social media post of Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Air Force serviceman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington on February 25: "Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now."
I can no longer continue what I was doing. I hope that my resignation can contribute to the many efforts to push the administration to withdraw support for Israel's war, for the sake of the 2 million Palestinians whose lives are at risk and for the sake of America's moral standing in the world.
It is so weird to watch libs and whoever else, the ones who realise that it's a genocide, be like "I'm so betrayed!! America isn't like this! The mission statement!!" Yes it fucking is lmao, do you have any amount of pattern recognition or a memory of longer than five years ago?
People operate on vibes and idealism, that's the whole point of pushing Materialism. Bourgois ideology permeates culture to the point that people legitimately believe ideas shape reality, rather than the inverse.
It's sad, but understanding this distinction helps clarify our goals.
Believing that ideas shape reality is so fucking naive and provably, obviously not the case... I do not get these people.
I agree! They don't realize they do it either, idealism and moralism are pervasive ideologies because they feel good to believe. "Of course the Capitalists will treat us better if we just explain to them that exploitation is wrong!"
Libs are Utopians, first and foremost.
Idealistic grand narratives of history are taught as established fact in schools and universities.
Only clowns trust western "education"!
Aren't mission statements for corporations? Oh wait...