I’ve been somewhat surprised at the gap between media + politicians and what real opinions I’ve heard here. I haven’t heard or seen anything except pro-Palestine opinions (albeit tepid) from my social group, it seems like people needed a few days to realise that it was acceptable to voice support for Palestine and they weren’t going to be called terrorist supporters.
I can't recall the term for it, but I remember reading about this idea of a sort of pseudo belief system we all subscribe to simply because we think everyone else does. We don't know how many other people are faking it, and certain things that seem ingrained in society, like support for Israel or capitalism, might actually be much less supported than we think, but everyone is afraid to come out about it because of the risks on certain topics like that.
I recall that concept from the time of the Obergefell decision. Everyone seemed to think that there was a majority consensus against gay marriage. But once it was actually a reality nationwide, it was surprising to see how shallow that opposition was, and that actually most people were just fine with it. I wonder if there is any possibility of a flip/flop in support for Zionism vs Palestinian liberation... does the average American really care all that much about supporting Zionist colonialism? Or, if presented with minimal pushback, might they just flop over and basically just say "oh, I guess maybe the Palestinians deserve some political rights"
my guess is the average (non-evangelical, non-zionist) american gives exactly 0 shits about what happens in israel but finds the treatment of palestinians distasteful so they would be willing to support palestine if they didn't think they were going to be labelled anti-semites for the trouble.
I've seen support for Israel among the mainstream political sphere throughout my life, but I think you're right in that even people with support for Israel aren't extremely invested in it aside from radical Evangelicals. It was easier for the propaganda machine to discredit Palestinians and minimize the horror of Israeli attacks in the past, I don't know how a reasonable person could see any coverage going on today and think the IDF are the good guys. Even if they were right overall in their claims to the land their actions are clearly horrific.
I’ve been somewhat surprised at the gap between media + politicians and what real opinions I’ve heard here. I haven’t heard or seen anything except pro-Palestine opinions (albeit tepid) from my social group, it seems like people needed a few days to realise that it was acceptable to voice support for Palestine and they weren’t going to be called terrorist supporters.
I can't recall the term for it, but I remember reading about this idea of a sort of pseudo belief system we all subscribe to simply because we think everyone else does. We don't know how many other people are faking it, and certain things that seem ingrained in society, like support for Israel or capitalism, might actually be much less supported than we think, but everyone is afraid to come out about it because of the risks on certain topics like that.
I recall that concept from the time of the Obergefell decision. Everyone seemed to think that there was a majority consensus against gay marriage. But once it was actually a reality nationwide, it was surprising to see how shallow that opposition was, and that actually most people were just fine with it. I wonder if there is any possibility of a flip/flop in support for Zionism vs Palestinian liberation... does the average American really care all that much about supporting Zionist colonialism? Or, if presented with minimal pushback, might they just flop over and basically just say "oh, I guess maybe the Palestinians deserve some political rights"
my guess is the average (non-evangelical, non-zionist) american gives exactly 0 shits about what happens in israel but finds the treatment of palestinians distasteful so they would be willing to support palestine if they didn't think they were going to be labelled anti-semites for the trouble.
I've seen support for Israel among the mainstream political sphere throughout my life, but I think you're right in that even people with support for Israel aren't extremely invested in it aside from radical Evangelicals. It was easier for the propaganda machine to discredit Palestinians and minimize the horror of Israeli attacks in the past, I don't know how a reasonable person could see any coverage going on today and think the IDF are the good guys. Even if they were right overall in their claims to the land their actions are clearly horrific.