This was an image from the weekend pro-Palestinian protests in Washington DC. It felt to me like Western civilization was surrendering:
On a much smaller scale, last night I watched a video on YouTube by a prepper/homestead couple and they were explaining why they’re removing all their videos of their family and will no longer be posting family stuff. They’re Jewish and said they’ve received hateful anti-Semitic comments and are concerned about the safety of their family – here in America. I felt both angry that this is happening in America and alarmed.
Then today I saw news reports of an elderly Jewish man in CA, who was waving an Israeli flag at a protest, where there were both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protestors. He was reportedly hit in the head with a megaphone, by a pro-Palestinian protestor, and knocked to the ground. He suffered blunt force trauma to his head and died of the injuries. Also, this story, UPenn president calls in FBI to investigate ‘vile’ antisemitic emails sent to staffers.
Over the weekend I watched the Netflix mini-series, All the Light We Cannot See, and that story is set in WWII. The scenes of devastation of the small town in France, where most of the story unfolds, as the Allied forces are bombing to liberate France from the Nazis, made me think of the situation in Gaza, where civilians are caught in the midst of all this. I also was thinking of all the Israeli families who had family members massacred or taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7th.
I don’t have any big ideas to deal with any of this world chaos. If you feel that somehow you’re making some important statement by marching in large protests, have at it, but I’ve always believed large crowds are not safe places and I avoid them. With angry crowds or crowds where there are a lot of drunk or drugged up people, well, those crowds are even more volatile. And when you get to crowds where there are likely political zealots, who believe violence is an acceptable way to make political points, as we saw in 2020 and we’re seeing again, well, those crowds are very unsafe places to be and likely have plenty of drunks and drugged up people too.
That Netflix mini-series was good, but not nearly as good as the novel. I had read that novel several years ago and loved it, so I was familiar with the story. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but just as a general statement on people in the French Resistance, is many were ordinary people, who took great risks, just by passing along information, but they tried not to draw attention to themselves. There really is sense in trying to be the “gray man” in dangerous public situations. My rebellious side wants to speak out and argue or debate the other side into the ground, but that is a wasted effort. You aren’t likely to convert anyone to your side and the people who do listen to you or follow your social media content likely already agree with you. That’s the reality. I can admit I was furious when I saw the news of the Ben Franklin statue with a keffiyeh on it and this is the same reaction I had in 2020 when statues and public spaces were defaced and wrecked, but anger won’t change a thing.
Yes, speaking out is important, but when you’re in public where there are crowds of angry, screaming people, no one’s going to listen to you and you could end up seriously injured. I do understand the elderly Jewish man standing out there waving the Israeli flag, just like I understand people who showed up in London waving British flags against a sea of Palestinian flags and I understand Americans showing up to wave the American flag when other flags are being waved and American monuments are being defaced. However, I hope people do consider personal safety and sometimes finding other ways to speak out and work to support the things they believe in besides public screaming matches or confrontations might be a better option.
I think since many Dems, liberals in academia, radical Islamist organizations in America and the liberal media are aligned to amplify the pro-Palestinian messaging in the media and on the streets, just like in 2020 with the BLM protests, that people who disagree might need to change tactics and find other avenues to reach people.
What I wish more Americans understood, is that while Israel was attacked on October 7th and Iran helped mastermind this attack, Israel is the Little Satan. America is the Big Satan. We’re the big target. That doesn’t mean we need to run around in a panic or start building a bunker in the backyard, but we all should start practicing to be more observant in public places. In our homes, well, there are various home security measures, both firearms and non-lethal options, plus a variety of home safety measures to better secure your home. There was this crazy story from Indianapolis over the weekend too: Indiana woman hit with terrorism charges in attack on supposed Jewish school, police say That woman was upset about signs on the school she thought were Jewish, and she drove her car into that school. The school was actually a Black Hebrew Israelite school and that sect is anti-Semitic and listed as a hate group. She admitted to police she was angry and thought she was attacking a Jewish school… Crazy!
With the volatility in the world political situation, the economic issues, the continuing reports of supply chain and shortage problems, and the random crazies running around, working to acquire some self-defense skills (I am lacking there), emergency supplies, like extra water and food, supplies for weather emergencies, and becoming more familiar with emergency preparedness would be a very good thing to do for yourself and your family. Plus, the more you delve into emergency preparedness, the more you’ll find there are more skills to master and things to learn how to do and by doing more things, you’ll begin to feel more empowered to tackle harder tasks.
There’s a lot of free information on preparedness online and while some is of the Doomsday variety, there’s plenty that’s sensible advice. All the information in the world won’t make a difference if you don’t get busy and start taking some steps to actually be prepared. You can’t become prepared just by watching videos or reading books. It takes learning how to do things, practicing, then working to hone those skills. There’s a meme about buying crafting supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. And that’s true for most things. Often, things can look very easy to do, but once you try doing it, you realize it takes some skill and skill is developed by practice. Even world class athletes didn’t just wake up one day as Olympic athletes – they put in years of practice and training. That’s been the case with many of my needlework projects – they looked easy, but then turned out to require more skill than I possessed and had to develop.
One of the best things all of us can do for our emotional well-being is to cultivate interests, hobbies, or doing things with family or friends that we find some joy in. There’s nothing wrong with taking some time to relax and enjoy life – even if there’s a lot of craziness going on in the world. The craziness doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.
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