At first glance at these polling numbers, my knee-jerk response is that it proves the younger you are, the dumber you are.
That may come from me being in the 65+ group, so let me take a step back and be kind.
Instead of dumb, let’s say the younger you are, the less experience you have — with life, with politics, with reality.
The 65+ people lived through the 1967 Six Day war and the 1972 Yom Kippur war in which Israel fought for its right to exist, as it did in 1948 when it declared independence and was immediately attacked by five Arab nations vowing to drive the Jews into the sea. It was stated explicitly: “The Jews Into the sea.”
The 65+ people lived through the protests against the Vietnam war that racked America, masses fighting for “peace.”
The older people in the 65+ cohort lived through, or took part in, the civil rights revolution to extinguish racism.
These were real protest movements of real injustices.
What does Gen Z have to protest? The environment? Yes, sure, but it lacks the cachet of, say, George Floyd, which turned millions of Americans into the streets.
And good for them.
But how many issues have that kind of emotional impact?
It is a given that “the youth” are idealistic and want to protect the underdog.
And here is where ignorance comes into play:
They have bought into the idea that Israel is the bully simply because it successfully has protected its right to exist.
In a stunning demonstration of moral blindness, seen on college campuses, many students were celebrating the monstrous, deliberate, planned slaughter of unarmed men, women, children, and elders, plus the rape, brutalization, and kidnapping of others.
In their blissful immaturity they were able to concoct some kind of a weird moral equivalency between acts of war and indiscriminate acts of slaughter.
Imagine the ignorance of the Harvard students who had to recant their support for Hamas because they claim they didn’t bother to read the statements of support they signed. Why? Because shouting “oppression” always sounds good.
They chant slogans with no idea what they mean.
Or do they? How radicalized are they?
When they chant, “Free Palestine, from the river to the sea,” do they understand that means the destruction of Israel, which is located between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea? It reflects the Hamas charter that explicitly calls for the destruction of Israel, a democracy.
Do they understand they are calling for the destruction of a liberal democracy in which freedom of religion, speech, and movement is guaranteed for its Arab citizens, a country in which LGBT people are cherished and protected?
Do they understand when they scream “By any means necessary” they are explicitly endorsing the atrocities of Oct. 7? “Any” excludes nothing.
Do they understand when they parrot the far Left talking point of “colonizers,” that it is a lie, so easily disproved it’s almost laughable.
The Jews are the indigenous people. The proof?
Jesus was Jewish. Where did he live? In occupied (by the Romans) Israel. The only people possibly displaced by Jews were the long-gone Canaanites.
Apartheid? Another lie. 20% of the population of Israel are Arabs, and are the most free Arabs in the Middle East. They can vote, they can go to any school, any hospital, live where they want, and be elected to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Does this sound like the “apartheid” in, say, the former South Africa?
The Arabs in Gaza and in the West Bank are not Israeli citizens and don’t have the rights of Arab citizens.In the same way Mexicans don’t have rights in the U.S. They are “apart” from Israel in the way Mexicans are “apart” from the U.S.
Occupation? Israel had taken Gaza from Egypt in the Six Day war, then left in 2005, giving the Gazans their own land to govern. They chose Hamas in 2006 with 44% of the vote, and there has not been an election since. Instead of nation-building, Hamas chose unrelenting attacks on Israel.
The West Bank was liberated from Jordan, also in the Six Day war. Jordan had been the “occupier” since 1948, but no one complained about that.
So that is how Israel came to be the “next” occupier of the West Bank, after Jordan, and Great Britain.
After a peace is signed, Israel will leave the West Bank, as it had left Gaza.
Blockade? Israel has blockaded Gaza since Hamas started attacking Israel. It is a defensive measure. Egypt also blockades Gaza, for the same reason — self defense. When was the last time you saw a poster accusing Egypt of blockading Gaza?
You have not because the outrage is directed only against Jews.
So, the youth, which is so famously protective of so many minorities — Blacks, browns, gays, fat, trans — are curiously blind to only one minority: Jews.
What do you say to that, Gen Z?
Are you that radicalized, or that dumb?
Dumb, Mr. Bykofsky. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And indoctrinated, though too dumb to realize it.
In their defense, there are vast amounts of misinformation, much of it by a mainstream media that shamelessly pushes warped narratives, not news, and far more misinformation being consumed via smartphones the indoctrinated simply cannot pull away from their faces at all hour
Blame goes to the schools for teaching everything but basics and, further, blame goes to the parents for not ensuring their kids are properly schooled. Then again, most parents (and youths) would be hard pressed to look at an unlabeled map of the U.S. and be able to name the states — never mind where in the world Israel and Gaza might be found. These are the same scholars who delight in admitting they get their current event news from late night TV comedians. But you want the latest minute details on a particular celebrity, actor, or athlete? They got ’em all.
And our enemies are even more delighted at the country’s dumbness.
I hate to say I agree with almost everything you say.
Radical professors = radicalized (and ignorant) students. Quick! Run to a safe space!
In my circle of Jewish friends only 1 is outraged.The rest have all equivicated with a look at both sides kinda had it coming point of view.My friend J in his 60s is the son of a holocaust survivor.Your left wing credentials clearly outweigh your religion culture and commonsense.
Your circle must be mostly progressives, and probably Reform, non-shul attending Jews.
The Left HATES Netanyahu and has allowed that to color their views of Israel.
Interesting.. you must have a very small circle .They probably have their calculators out to inform them what is a proportionate response by Israel to the most hateful and barbaric crime against Jews since the holocaust. I am a Jew .My friends, many of whom are not Jewish, grieve for innocent civilians who as a result of Hamas using them as human shields, will die by telling them to stay instead of flee to make Israel look like butchers. There are no 2 sides to this attack..
Stu, Yes, the young, (we were all there once), are often gullible, inexperienced and far too accepting of the propaganda and inaccurate reporting in the main media to be responsible voters, if our goal in elections is better government.
I am not saying that anyones right to vote ought to be rescinded; I will say that if we really want to elect better politicians to enact smarter and wiser legislation, we need better informed and more mature voters.
How many 18, 21 or even 25 year olds are informed about much of anything, or even interested enough, to vote wisely?
My contemporaries were not at that stage until about 35 years old. ( We were the Vietnam era voters for whom the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, which was a sap to activists who argued that it was unfair to draft us but not allow us to vote.)
By 35 years old, we had been paying taxes, school taxes, too!!, seen one cycle at least of how politicians say one thing and do another, married, had children and a mortgage, had tried hard to find a safe and competent public school for which we are required to pay taxes for all the crappy ones, maybe had been in the military and combat, too, had traveled abroad to see and learn, had a real job maybe even a profession, and all the aspects of life that teach us what sort of leaders one actually wants and needs for a better city, state and nation.
Yet, remember how it was as an 18, 21 or even a 25 year old? What did we know then?
Probably not going to happen, but my recommendation is to not “encourage” anyone to vote, (especially irresponsible are the drives on college campuses to get naive and misguided and dreamy college students to vote,) until he/she is 35 years old so we have a much better chance of electing better politicians.
All the best,
Gardner A. Cadwalader
Philadelphia
I can’t in good conscience urge people NOT to vote, but I remind politicians they would be better off campaigning in old age homes than college campuses because old people vote.
Me? I was not the typical 21-year-old. My parents were political activists, as socialists, and I was working full-time, a father, and going to college at night. I have never missed coring in an election, and never will.
I am not a socialist. I have found other ways to help people.
For some stupid is a religion and they are the pope. If they were in Palestine they would be executed, just for who they are. The propagada hardly even exists, the claim that Israel has no right to exisist. I believe that Hamas needs to be wiped out like a Cancer. Stop all of the diplomatic crap and fight this war ,like a war. Hamas needs to be shown there is no place for them in this world,murder and genocide is not acceptable,and must be stopped in its tracks.
The old adage ” Ignorance is bliss” rings true. Ignorance is neither good nor bad, but just the absence of awareness. I tell my kids not to form opinions, but to form well-thought-out ideas devoid of emotion first. Opinions take much more time than a fleeting minute.
I see far too many people lumping Hamas and the Palestinian people together, and this is a part of the problem. Hamas is an insane, hate-filled, terrorist group who seeks to destroy Israel and murder all Jews. That is their stated goal. The Palestinian people are innocent victims who have been placed in the middle of a horrible, disgusting situation. And Hamas is SOLELY to blame for this. It pains me greatly to see innocent men, women and children being slaughtered in Gaza just as it pained me to see innocent men, women and children being slaughtered in Israel. I have no answers on how the former can easily be prevented because Israel has an absolute right to seek out and destroy Hamas with impunity. And Hamas has unfortunately shown no concern whatsoever for the fate of their own people — they knew what was coming BEFORE the initiated the attack. But they did it anyway. If Hamas was not filled with complete hatred for the Jewish state, and if they had not poured into Israel and committed murder, we would not be having this conversation in the first place. I stand with Israel AND I stand with the Palestinian people. The innocent always suffer when hatred brings us to things like this. And that is very, very sad.
Right on. You know what I would like? Instead of telling Israel to slow down, the world ought to demand that Hamas surrender and leave Gaza. But that will never happen because their hate for Jews is much larger than their love for Palestinians. They are nihilistic.
Mr. Bykofsky:
You give us the facts and the truth. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome. Tell your friends. 😃
A must-read!
Let’s also not forget the deadly 1929 Hebron pogrom when there were so few Jews.
Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, meeting Hitler of all people.
Rejecting the 1947 partition plan.
Egypt occupied Gaza and Jordan occupied the West Bank but nobody cared.
The PLO established years before the Six-Day War.
No, no, no after the Six-Day War.
Arafat’s rejections. (Ask Clinton.)
Everything except the last point was pre-Hamas. Will today’s Palestinians learn from their leaders’ mistakes?
They show no inclination to learn from mistakes. But the people have NO power.
I’m in the presence of a 30-something right now. Her roommate, also 30-something, decided to do “research” on this matter because they admittedly did not know anything about this subject. Not unexpected, they did 100% of their “research” on the internet. They started from the perspective of Israel is evil. What do you think the results they found? Right, all of their “research” produced expected results. Israel is evil. When you only go fishing in a trout stocked stream guess what you’re always going to catch.
Did they use search terms “israel” and “evil”? Can you teach them how to conduct actual research?