Why I Dislike Most Celebrities (Except for Two)

 

Why I Hate Dislike Most Celebrities (Except for One Two)

by C. A. Matthews

(I was going to say “Why I Hate...” but I didn’t want the AI ‘bots reading my stuff calling me a “hater” at some point. They’ll be busy calling me antisemitic anti-cementic by then anyway.)

This past week’s ruckus over pop singer Ed Sheeran dropping his fellow performer, the rapper Macklemore, from his big stadium tour (and then consequently being dropped by his own backup band and all his opening acts) demonstrates to me that there is such a thing as poetic justice.

Justice is now being served on Sheeran as he deals with millions of fans unfollowing him on social media, being labeled a “coward” and a “zionist”, two adjectives that don’t paint a very pretty picture of him. How Ed is being treated by the public doesn’t surprise me. I truly believe some celebrities deserve a good hard kick in the arse now and then to remind them that they, too, are only human.

This is the theme of this piece: We are all human beings, and, as such, we all have human rights. One of the more important rights is the right not to be ethnically cleansed by white colonizers who stole your homeland. This is where Ed Sheeran totally dropped the ball.

Celebrities like Ed Sheeran entertain the notion that just because they’ve reached a certain level of fame or celebrityness they’ve somehow become something better than us mere mortals. They have become superhuman or superior to the rest of the struggling masses on this planet. They don’t need to consider anyone else’s feelings but their own. We see this mindset in Ed’s choice of billionaire friends, the NFL New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft...

 

...But there is one “celebrity” I hold a great deal of admiration for. She’s not a pop singer or a movie star, but she has been in the limelight quite a bit over the past three years. I’m talking about Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Here’s a short review of her latest book, When The World Sleeps: Stories, Words, and Wounds of Palestine. (Available from Other Press.)

“When the world sleeps, it falls on us, we the people, to wake it up--and now more than ever the world needs an awakening.”

So begins Francesca’s memoir of how she became the champion of human rights we see today on the world stage. Each chapter is a story of a friend or acquaintance who has shaped her outlook on Palestine and life in general. Each person helped her to take the next step in her personal development, steps necessary to deal with the stress of working pro bono for the United Nations. Each person poses a question that we all need to answer for ourselves...

 

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2025: The Year Truth Becomes Hate Speech

 

2025: The Year Truth 

Becomes Hate Speech

by C. A. Matthews

At the end of the year, most bloggers/columnists compile a round-up of worldwide events that stood out to them as making a significant impact on human society. This year the detrimental events came at us all so fast and furious, one right after another, that there’s almost no way to rank them in order of horridness because they were all so… well, horrid. Where to start?

I tried to find a common thread among the happenings which sums up what the year 2025 was all about. An idea grabbed me as I read one astute observer’s comment on the recent arrest of activist Greta Thunberg. Greta was arrested in London for holding a sign pleading for the release of the Palestine Action hunger strikers. This comment has become the theme of this year's round-up: Truth has become hate speech.

In the year 2025, this theme was present in most earth-shattering events. It can be summed up in a formula reminiscent of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: Truth = Hate Speech. (Or possibly Hate Speech squared.) And just as revolutionary as Einstein’s breakthrough in physics, this Truth = Hate Speech axiom opens up a whole new way of understanding how our lords and masters (a.k.a. the billionaires/oligarchy and their henchpersons/political puppets) want to manipulate and use us from here on out—that is, if we let them.

Let’s start with Greta’s and thousands of other British protesters’ example...

 

To find out what other horrible happenings made the list, read the rest of this post by copying or clicking on the following link: 

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Happy New Year to you and yours! Keep sharing the truth!

  

In a sane and compassionate world, would American veterans be imprisoned and tortured (and ignored by their own government) for attempting to deliver food and medicines to starving people? First, a press conference for returned Global Sumud Flotilla hero Phil Tottenham, then a look a current events and how they tie together...

Read more about Phil's experience on this week's Substack post. Also, coming soon to Toledo, To Kill A War Machine, a UK documentary about Palestine Action. Details on Substack.

In a Sane and Compassionate World…

by C.A. Matthews

In a sane and compassionate world… one wouldn’t expect a Nobel Peace Prize winner to be actively working against her own people’s peace and her nation’s sovereignty. One wouldn’t expect a Nobel Peace winner to cooperate with a foreign plot to overthrow a popularly-elected president or cheer on an imperialist power happily bombing the boats of poor fishermen off her country’s coast in a lame attempt to steal what is the world’s largest reserve of oil. What’s world peace got to do with the massive petroleum reserves off the coast of Venezuela anyway?

But this is 2025, and if Donald Trump can’t win a peace prize for funding a genocide in Gaza one day while pretending to set up a permanent ceasefire there the next, then Maria Corina Machado is the Nobel committee’s next best choice. Because everybody loves a class traitor and opportunist like Maria, don’t they?

Read about Maria and her “peace making” at https://www.codepink.org/nobel_peace_prize_peace_has_lost_its_meaning

Sane? Compassionate? You decide.

In a sane and compassionate society… one wouldn’t have to spend billions of dollars on an outlandish propaganda campaign in order to convince the majority of the public that mass murdering innocent civilians (especially women and children) is “okay.” But this is 2025, and the apartheid state of Israel is paying upwards of $7,000 per post (not per day, week, or month but per post) to high-flying online influencers to convince their followers that the genocide of Palestinians is the best thing to happen since TikTok was invented...

 

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This article is the 541st blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

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The Founders Would Be Proud

 

The Founders Would Be Proud

by C.A. Matthews

It’s not every day that I say something like this, so please take note.

The Founders (a.k.a. "The Founding Fathers of the United States of America") had a good idea when it came to making a permanent separation between church and state. It may have been one of only a handful of good ideas they ever had, being handicapped with their white, wealthy, Eurocentric, males-only, slavery-is-good-for-business worldview. But it is impressive that they foresaw a day when the need to be a strictly secular state (government) would be to their—and consequently our—benefit. So, for this insight I heartily thank them.

I do believe there were “Founding Mothers and Others-of-the-Non-White-Male Variety” as well, but in this case, we're sticking with the "Fathers" who wrote our founding documents. I was reminded of their wisdom concerning church/state separation when Dr. Jill Stein gave one of the most brilliant rebuttals of all time at the recent Free and Equal Debate.

The Constitution Party candidate, Randall Terry, had just given the most sick and twisted rant imaginable. I don’t know much about the Constitution Party, but if this is their pick for president, I really don’t want to know anything more about them. Terry’s diatribe went along the lines that Americans should believe as he does (seemingly he’s an ultra-conservative, Zionist “Christian”) and that those of the Muslim faith are dangerous terrorists and deserve to be killed in Gaza (and elsewhere). He actually sounded like he would start another Crusade if he ever got into the White House. His verbal vomit of sheer naked bigotry sent shivers down my spine.

Dr. Stein’s reply to Terry’s steaming pile of Islamophobia was eloquent and to the point. Watch a clip on X/Twitter or on You Tube:

https://twitter.com/peopleforstein/status/1849264793011818948 or

https://twitter.com/TeamJillStein/status/1849906420340408804

https://www.youtube.com/live/HLCplaowzy8?si=AKHM8u9vnCWE1v5U

Randall Terry’s rant and Jill Stein’s rebuttal starts at approx. 1:20 and goes to about 1:24.

To find out what else would make the Founders proud...

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Subscribe today! Power to the people!

 

Truth Is Never Out of Style

by C.A. Matthews

I enjoy listening to my friend DJ Amjad’s Deep Mix Music and More radio program while I’m writing. The other day I found myself singing along with a catchy chorus from a 1990’s rap song:

Now I know you're sayin'
Well why don't he stop beating around the bush
Well I'll get there when i get there
So there ain't no need to push!
Because the point I'm trying to make contains my whole philosophy
So listen to what I tell you and repeat it after me

Truth is out of style (out of style)
Truth is out of style (out of style) (say what?)
Truth is out of style (say what?)
Truth (say what?) (is out of style)
Truth (is out of style)
--from Truth Is Out of Style by DJ Zero & MC 900 ft. Jesus

Thirty-four years later, and the words still ring true. The “philosophy” that MC 900 sung in his rap has become the motto of many Western governments: Truth is out of style.

If you don’t believe me, how do you explain the following?

Richard Medhurst, an independent British journalist was arrested at Heathrow airport and held for nearly 24 hours under the UK Terrorism Act because of stories he featured on his podcast.

Mary Kostakidis, known as “the face of television news in Australia,” has been accused of supporting ethnic cleansing of Jews because of two retweets about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Sarah Wilkinson, UK activist/journalist and supporter of Palestinians, has been banned from using her phone or her laptop because of her tweets. (Yes, just for posting on the X platform!) She is effectively under house arrest.

Sharmine Narwani, who founded The Cradle, an online journal of news and comment, was permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram. Narwani now stands accused of “praising terrorist organizations” and engaging in “incitement to violence.”

Professor Danny Shaw was detained by the FBI for three hours in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport after returning from a Free Palestine film festival in London. His computing devices were seized. He had been fired from his job back in April when he was falsely called “antisemitic” for his pro-Palestine comments.

and, of course, Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame...

To read the rest of this article, click on this link to go to our Substack page: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com  There you'll also see the related article and video links, all the images, and be able to leave comments. You can subscribe to receive the weekly blog post in your email box as well. Subscribe today! Power to the people!  

When Is A Ceasefire Not A Ceasefire?

If you still have any doubt that we live in a profoundly sick dystopia as deranged as anything that’s ever been imagined in fiction, take note of the fact that the most powerful empire in history is currently trying to propagandize you into thinking an obvious genocide is fine. -- Caitlin Johnstone

When Is A Ceasefire Not A Ceasefire?

by C.A. Matthews

When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? Recent headlines in the mainstream media confused me, so I did some research to find the answers.

US steps aside, allows 'non-binding' ceasefire https://youtu.be/wvuTyGROBZQ?si=gk82n6pl7hs6ZW9i

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the United Nations, emphasizes that the Security Council’s vote to approve a ceasefire in Gaza is “non-binding,” so that is why the US decided to abstain from voting no to a ceasefire resolution this time around. In her opinion, this ceasefire resolution is not really a “ceasefire,” and it can and will be ignored by the US and Israel.

Meanwhile, this is what the rest of the Security Council thinks about it:

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday characterized the United Nations Security Council resolution 2728 demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict as “non-binding,” a phrase also used by US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

 The US was rebuked by China, according to Akmal Dawi at VOA: “‘Security Council resolutions are binding,’ Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday.”

 Beijing is correct on the law, and the Biden administration is being disingenuous. If President Biden did not want a ceasefire resolution to pass, he should have vetoed it. By abstaining and letting the world community vote on the matter, Biden has elicited a binding decision, and his officials should stop dancing around it.

 The law here is clear.

 Article 25 of the UN Charter, to which the US, China and Israel are all signatories, says, “The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.”

Moreover, we could consider the actual language of the resolution, in which the UNSC:

“Demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs, and further demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain”

You’d have to twist yourself into a pretzel to avoid concluding that the Security Council sees the ceasefire as binding, given the use of the verb “demand.” The UNSC isn’t suggesting. It isn’t hoping. It isn’t imploring. It is demanding. --From Naked Hypocrisy: The US Cited UNSC Resolutions to Invade Iraq, Now Call Gaza Ceasefire Demand ‘Non-Binding https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/28/naked-hypocrisy-the-us-cited-unsc-resolutions-to-invade-iraq-now-call-gaza-ceasefire-demand-non-binding/

Even more confusing, Ambassador Greenfield-Thomas complained that this particular UNSC ceasefire resolution doesn’t mention the “mass rapes by Hamas on October 7,” although these lurid allegations have all since been dismissed due to lack of evidence. In fact, there is now ample evidence that these false rape charges were concocted by the Israelis to discredit Hamas while simultaneously downplaying Israeli soldiers’ own sordid war crimes—many of which IDF troops proudly have uploaded to TikTok and other social media platforms.

Israeli “commission” on 7 October rape claims exposed as fraud https://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-commission-7-october-rape-claims-exposed-fraud/45401

State Dept downplays reports of Israeli soldiers sexually abusing, slaughtering Palestinian women https://thegrayzone.com/2024/02/23/state-dept-israeli-soldiers-sexually-abusing-slaughtering-palestinian-women/

Apparently a “non-binding ceasefire” to the Biden administration means that the US will supply arms to Israel in defiance of the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution that just passed. Israel can continue to bomb, shoot, maim, torture, rape, and starve Palestinians with impunity, all because their good friend the United States of America will continue running interference for them in the United Nations and elsewhere.

Israel continues to bomb Gaza and block aid in defiance of UNSC ceasefire resolution https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/03/27/israel-continues-to-bomb-gaza-and-block-aid-in-defiance-of-unsc-ceasefire-resolution/

If no other countries are willing or able to take on the US and Israel, this UNSC ceasefire resolution won’t be able to make Israel cease firing bombs/weapons at the innocents in Gaza. It won’t stop war crimes from being committed by Israeli troops. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinian civilians will continue unabated.

So, when is a “ceasefire” not a ceasefire? A ceasefire is not an actual ceasefire when there is no way to back it up (with the use of force, if necessary) to make the parties involved in committing war crimes stop. The bad guys will continue to do what the ceasefire resolution explicitly tells them to stop doing, that is firing upon a civilian population. Worse yet, the bad guys will continue doing what they’re doing without any fear of being charged with, convicted of, or locked away for their war crimes.

When is a “genocide” not a genocide then? You should be able to follow the logic of this conundrum easily enough after the first example.

United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Francesca Albanese, submitted her “report on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” this past week. She gave brief remarks in person about the report as well.

The official name of her report? “The Anatomy of a Genocide”. (You can download the report in full as a PDF file here.)

Independent UN Expert Alleges Israeli Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza https://youtu.be/3XrwNGWF108?si=JenHXmT3HLdyA5iX

Here’s the scenario: We have a United Nations human rights special rapporteur calling what is currently happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza a “genocide”. The International Court of Justice at The Hague in January made a preliminary ruling that Israel is committing “plausible genocide” against the Palestinian people while it continues to weigh more evidence. Many human rights organizations and aid groups, such as Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, who have witnessed similar situations up close and personal previously have also called what is happening to the Gazans a “genocide”.

ICJ Hearings to Examine 57 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine https://www.commondreams.org/news/israeli-occupation

ICJ Rules in Favour of South Africa and Against Israel https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/icj-rules-in-favour-of-south-africa

International Court of Justice Rules That Israel Must Stop Killing Palestinians https://scheerpost.com/2024/01/24/international-court-of-justice-rules-that-israel-must-stop-killing-palestinians/

Even Israeli government officials and ministers have made public statements indicating that they are committing genocide: 22-Minute Speech Details Israeli Officials' Genocidal Statements at ICJ https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-genocidal-statements-2666930604

During Holy Week, a US State Department employee, Dr. Annelle Sheline, resigned her position in protest to the “genocide” occurring in Gaza. In her statement, she uses the word genocide to describe what is happening there.

I Could Not Stay Silent: Annelle Sheline Resigns from State Dept. over U.S. Gaza Policy https://youtu.be/nRI-MtoSD_E?si=Msrr5qLuEicKt5yF

With a United Nations human rights rapporteur and the assembled justices of the International Court of Justice calling the ethnic cleansing of 32,000+ Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli military a “genocide,” along with a US State Department employee with a conscience and many respected human rights agencies, how could anyone doubt that a genocide is indeed occurring in Gaza? All of the 13,000+ dead Palestinian children just didn’t run into those US-provided bombs dropped onto their homes on purpose, did they? This argument is a no-brainer, isn’t it?

Not to the brainless US government officials and mainstream media it isn’t!

A US State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, insulted Ms. Albanese, calling her “anti-semitic” because of her report findings. How diplomatic is that phrasing coming from an employee of the State Department!

Miller said they oppose mandate of this rapporteur, accused her of antisemitism and rejected allegations of genocide: https://twitter.com/AssalRad/status/1773039432867749927

Simply put, a genocide is not a genocide when the fact of legally designating it as such gets in the way of implementing US foreign policy. The Biden administration has enthusiastically aided Israel in the commission of genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza by providing it with arms and political interference at the United Nations, but it doesn’t like the negative connotations of the word “genocide.” So the US State Department simply won’t use that word to describe what is happening in Gaza.

Let’s be honest. If the current administration could get away with calling what’s happening to the human beings currently trapped, starving, and dying in Gaza a “picnic”, then that is what it would be called. A picnic. And the public would believe it! Which leads us to our next question:

When is “journalism” not journalism?

What the mainstream media is putting out for public consumption recently cannot be defined as journalism. What they’re doing doesn’t even fit the basic definition of journalism I learned way back in high school. It’s all rather pathetic, isn’t it?

Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges laments how American mainstream journalism has become one big propaganda machine for the US and Israeli governments:

PEN America is a sock puppet of the U.S. and Israel… [It has] accepted funding from the Israeli government — which routinely censors and jails Palestinian journalists and writers in Israel and the occupied West Bank and assassinates them and their families in Gaza — for the literary group’s annual World Voices festival in New York. From PEN America Self-Destructs https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/26/chris-hedges-pen-america-self-destructs/

I was taught that a journalist must answer the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of the situation in their reporting. This example shows how the “who” or the instigator of the famine in Gaza (the government of Israel) has been completely left out of the articles:

An entire Economist article on famine in Gaza doesn’t say the word “Israel” once. Not even when describing damage to farmland and water facilities or severely restricted aid deliveries. Saying *who* is destroying the farmland and restricting aid seems like basic info to include. https://twitter.com/AssalRad/status/1772862382462636150

The Western mainstream media is happy to manipulate the narrative in order to make their corporate owners (and our paid-off public officials’ biggest donors) happy. Jonathan Cook shows this to be the case in his article, We were lied into the Gaza genocide. Al Jazeera has shown us how: https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/we-were-lied-into-the-gaza-genocide

Basic information is ignored or cut out of reportage of events in Gaza altogether. One would think we’d witness some feeling from Western journalists for the tremendous loss of life of their fellow journalists in Gaza over the past six months (more killed than in the entirety of the Vietnam War), but there isn’t any. Many big name Western journalists are perfectly fine with not fully reporting the who, what, where, when, why and how of the situation. They’re making lots of money acting as “stenographers for the oligarchy.” Why let the truth or morals get in the way?

This sad fact leads us to this question: When is “censorship” not censorship?

If a so-called “journalist” working for a big news network has no problems with not reporting the entirety of what’s happening in Gaza, has no problems with repeating US or Israeli propaganda and talking points, then why would they care if the US government (or one of its private agents) shuts down social media platforms or bans freelance journalists from posting? It makes for less competition and fewer embarrassing situations when the "stenographers" are caught out in a lie. Who really needs free speech? (Answer: You don't.) Learn more at:

I was banned from Elon’s ‘free speech’ X app for offending power https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/19/banned-elons-free-speech-x-app/

Israel’s Shadow Over Free Speech: The Truth Behind the TikTok Ban Bill https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-shadow-free-speech-truth-behind-tiktok-ban-bill/287113/

Last but not least, when is a “terrorist” not a terrorist? Maybe it’s when the terrorists are actually agents of the governments of the United States of America and Israel. These two nations are busily trying to shut down social media platforms for their own benefit, lying to, manipulating, and terrorizing people both at home and abroad in order to advance their agendas. They’re literally getting away with a genocide in Gaza. Don’t these nefarious actions fit the very definition of what makes a nation a "terrorist state?"

by Mark Taylor, DeMOCKracy Ink

Worse yet, these terrorists, these censors of free speech, these manipulators of the media, these murderers of children, they think they’ll get away with it. They don’t see any need to curtail what they’re doing. Ever.

Perhaps it’s time We the People who still possess a conscience and morals rise up and lock these war criminals away once and for all. 

But how? It won't be easy, but remember: We outnumber them. We are the workers and the consumers that make this corrupt imperialist-capitalist regime tick. We can shut the system down if we organize and act. But first we must decide that today's the day to end the terrorism.

Keep speaking out. Keep marching. Keep protesting. Keep striking and supporting the BDS movement. Don’t make life comfortable for the terrorists who won’t call themselves what they really are and use the correct terms to describe the evil they're really doing. 

Words are powerful, and we have the best ones on our side. We can and we must speak truth to power.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Download the PDF of the Anatomy of a Genocide - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese (A/HRC/55/73)  https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/anatomy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-palestinian-territories-occupied-1967-francesca-albanese-ahrc5573-advance-unedited-version

Ireland backs bid to include blocking of aid in definition of genocide https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/27/gaza-ireland-joins-battle-to-include-the-blocking-of-vital-aid-in-definition-of-genocide

Imagine If Russia Or China Did The Things Israel Is Doing In Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/imagine-if-russia-or-china-did-the

Stella Assange on the Assange Appeal Decision https://youtu.be/FMaLgiX-8a0?si=npBLwYVObXpJLDHH

VIPS MEMO: The French Road to Nuclear War https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/25/vips-memo-the-french-road-to-nuclear-war/

Israeli “commission” on 7 October rape claims exposed as fraud hhttps://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-commission-7-october-rape-claims-exposed-fraud/45401

Released Hostage Reveals Oct 7th TRUTH! (It's Not What You Think.) https://youtu.be/NnJM9q6EHwA?si=LGRA5Ww9qR2RX5Cp

The Empire Slowly Suffocates Assange Like It Slowly Suffocates All Its Enemies https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-empire-slowly-suffocates-assange

Should Biden be tried for genocide crimes? https://youtu.be/HhyIxP7DTyg?si=gjyuaVQpYe1WQeEe

Israel lodges proposal with UN for dismantling of Palestinian relief agency  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/31/israel-plan-un-dismantle-palestinian-relief-agency-unwra
 
US State Dept’s favorite celebrity chef builds Gaza aid dock with stolen rubble https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/27/us-state-depts-chef-gaza-aid-rubble/

Dead and Divine and Brother of All https://matthewhoh.substack.com/p/dead-and-divine-and-brother-of-all

CARTOON: ISIS-K? Wake Up To The Many US Connections To Moscow Terror Attack!  https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-isis-k-wake-up-to-the-many

Israel Lies About Being A Victim So That It Can Victimize
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/israel-lies-about-being-a-victim/

Violent Extremists Get Called "Moderates" By A Violent Extremist Empire https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/violent-extremists-get-called-moderates

Liberal Finger-Wagging At Netanyahu Is A Phony, Cynical Charade https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/liberal-finger-wagging-at-netanyahu

The Plan Is To Turn Palestine Into A Historical Footnote So It's Too Late To Save It https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-plan-is-to-turn-palestine-into

A Genocide Foretold  https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/31/chris-hedges-a-genocide-foretold/

The Nuclear Explosion That Makes US Aid to Israel Illegal
(Israel’s nuclear program has been in violation of international law for decades, rendering it ineligible for American assistance.)
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/israel-nuclear-weapons/
 

A Human With A Conscience Award nominee Caitlin Johnstone has a new painting and video called "The Self-Immolation Of Aaron Bushnell" https://youtu.be/kAEc3qQloeQ?si=9N7UI1hSt4-0ftlT

On Easter Sunday, active-duty Air Force Senior Airman Larry Hebert began a hunger strike to highlight the plight of the starving children of Gaza.

Larry Hebert, age 26, from New Hampshire, and a member of Veterans For Peace, took authorized leave from his assignment at Naval Station Rota, Spain to participate in demonstrations demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to visit Congressional offices to press for stopping weapons shipments to Israel, which violate several U.S. laws.

Hebert said, “I was deeply touched when I saw that Aaron Bushnell took his own life at the Israeli Embassy for the people of Gaza and knew that I had to raise my voice in opposition to the U.S. government supplying Israel the bombs and rockets to commit genocide in Gaza. Active-duty members are afraid to speak out and I hope that my example and that of others, like Aaron, can change that.”

 * * *

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How Do We Live With Ourselves?

 

In Lak'ech Ala K'in. "I am you and you are me. What I do to you, I do to myself." —Mayan Saying

How Do We Live With Ourselves?

by C.A. Matthews

In this season of supposed “Peace on Earth! Goodwill to All Humankind!” one would hope to see—and experience—some of this peace and goodwill for oneself.

But, of course, that’s not possible in December 2023 because there’s a genocide going on in Palestine, both in Gaza and the West Bank. There are also other genocides occurring elsewhere on the planet—such as in the Congo—but they’re not making the news cycle much, like the one in Rwanda a few years back didn’t. Africans are invisible to Western media outlets. The stacks of dead bodies of black people don’t register on their cameras or consciousnesses.

Criminal, isn’t it?

The fact that Netanyahu and Biden have teamed up to slaughter tens of thousands of Palestinians, including little children, babies in incubators, and the elderly, has caused many Americans to simply shut down emotionally and intellectually. That’s the only explanation I can give to explain the lack of responses I’ve received whenever I post an article, a video, or photo detailing what’s happening in Gaza on my Facebook page. I’m lucky to get one or two likes or comments from the same one or two persons, but mostly I receive zero responses. Crickets.

Even to a video that shows the destruction of Gaza that US tax dollars have paid for (Don't you feel proud?): https://youtu.be/k0pOaRsfxYc?si=CaOByrRvvMFpsJrR

I know it’s foolish of me to even think it’s worth my time posting anything on Facebook, but I feel that the public has the right to hear the whole story and not only the sanitized and twisted narrative the status quo puts out in the mainstream media. I keep hoping some of these posts will get through the blocks and shadowbans. I know a lot of what I’ve posted on X/Twitter has been censored as well, but enough of my X posts must get through because I do receive plentiful responses from online friends and strangers alike.

Of course, the strangers are often accusing me of being “antisemitic” because I voice that I am strongly anti-Zionist/anti-genocide. Somehow people are confusing these two radically different concepts, Semitism and Zionism. Semitic peoples are simply people originally from the part of the world that makes up Gaza/Palestine and the modern state of Israel and speak similar languages. That’s all it really means.

And I’ll admit that I’m very much for Semitic people living and thriving and not being crushed to death in the rubble of their homes while being bombed by the Israeli air force, bombs courtesy of the US military-industrial complex. I’m very much for tiny babies in incubators in hospitals in the Gaza strip to have access to electricity and clean water and to not be left to die alone in the cold and dark because Israeli soldiers forced their doctors and nurses out of the hospitals. I’m very much for Israeli civilians not being burned to death in their cars by missiles shot from Apache helicopters piloted by Israeli Air Force pilots who believe in the “Hannibal Directive”.

I simply want all signatories to the United Nations Convention on Human Rights to follow the rules. I don’t want them to commit war crimes. That’s not too much to ask now, is it?

So, obviously I’m far from being “antisemitic” by the textbook definition. As far as the political ideology of Zionism goes? Nah, I can’t get behind it since it has led to the creation of a horrible ethnostate that has slaughtered the indigenous peoples for decades now without mercy because the Zionists want to steal the natives’ land and natural resources. Any political ideology that supports anything like the 1948 Nakba, apartheid, second class citizenship for native peoples, carpet bombing, and outright genocide isn’t an ideology I can support in good conscience.

And that’s where the problem lies for me. My conscience tells me that genocide is wrong, and that I, as a professing Christian, must do all that I can to “Love my neighbor as myself.” I cannot simply turn a blind eye to the horrors happening to Palestinians since they are my “neighbor.” I  must “Do for others as I would like them to do for me.” I must walk a mile in their moccasins and learn what it’s like to be oppressed, to feel the pain of what is happening to them, and then do something about it. I don’t have a choice. It’s what I as a Christian must do.

My conscience says that if I simply ignore others being killed and injured with US provided military armaments then I, as an American citizen/taxpayer, am every bit as culpable as the party to whom we provided the weapons to that is actively doing the killing.

We Americans don’t get a free pass on this. We don’t get to deny that we’re causing untold suffering and agony to our fellow human beings just because we made a private deal with another country that wants to use our military aid to commit a genocide. We must accept the blame and take action to rectify the nightmarish situation before it gets even worse—although it’s already gotten worse, hasn’t it?

I can’t imagine a worse scenario than 1.8 million displaced, 7,000 dead children, 20,000 civilians dead or crushed under the rubble of Gaza, murdered simply for the crime of being born Palestinian.  Once the "temporary pause" was lifted, over 700 Palestinians were killed within the first 24 hour period by IDF bombing. It bothers my conscience. It hurts my heart greatly. I can’t sleep sometimes. I remember my youngest daughter spending her first week of life in an incubator. How would I feel if she had been left to die alone or buried under a ton of rubble because Zionists wanted her dead?

But nobody wants to hear about my PTSD triggers. This strange concept of having a conscience isn’t going over very well with some Americans I’ve encountered, unfortunately. Here is my recent tale that illustrates this problem:

I was sharing information from one group to another group online, because I thought maybe a few people (not all, just a few) in the second group might be interested in using their musical skills to help out the folks in the first group. So I copied and pasted a request from the first group and sent it along in a group email to the second group. Honestly, I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. I was in a hurry, and I didn’t edit the paragraph I’d received from the first group because I didn’t want to add words or take away anything from what they were trying to ask help for.

Imagine my surprise (shock, really) the next day when I’m totally blindsided by a heated response posted in the second group that I emailed. Only two persons emailed back on the loop, but their accusations of my “antisemitism” and the “legal ramifications” of assisting the first group this holiday season pretty much told me that they weren’t the decent human beings I’d thought they were. (And the rest of those on the email loop? They’ve remained silent—in agreement? In fear they could be attacked next? Who knows?)

Now here's the real kicker: the second group is a church group, and I’d assumed they were professing Christians as well as musicians. Wouldn’t they as Christians want to stop a genocide being committed with the help of our tax dollars? Don’t their consciences bother them about the genocide going on against the relatives of the first group? Are my friends in the first group seen as being less than somehow because not all of them are the same kind of Christians or aren’t seen as American as the persons in the second group?

I’ll never know the answer to these questions. My emails asking for clarification (and maybe some words of comfort?) from the church's pastor were never answered. And I was apparently dropped from the church music group’s email loop as well.

Being ghosted by your pastor and others who you thought were your friends really sucks—especially during the Christmas season. I’ve always sung in church praise bands, choirs, and chorales. My favorite activity in December is going Christmas caroling. It’s the highlight of the year for me. It makes the cold and damp and the darkness of early winter bearable. Now it's ruined for me because I’m not welcome to sing with this second group because… Because I have a conscience? Because I don't support genocide?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to put my conscience to sleep—ever—even if I end up friendless. How could I live with myself knowing that I didn’t at least try to help others who are hurting? Why should I become a soulless sociopath just to fit in with present-day, bloodthirsty mainstream American society or a mainline American church denomination that backs those immoral values?

Since I've always followed the teachings of a radical Palestinian of the first century A.D. who preaches the Golden Rule, I think I’ll just walk on water and get the hell away from these hypocrites ASAP.  

I doubt I’ll ever be able to forget this upsetting experience or the unkind things my former church associates implied about the Palestinian Americans with whom I associate with through the local activism scene. I enjoy my current work with immigrants as a paralegal and have enjoyed my work as an ESL tutor and citizenship teacher for many years. I don’t see immigrants and newcomers as second class citizens or less than the people who have lived in the US all their lives. When a person or group has a reasonable request and asks for help, why can’t I share this ask with others without the risk of being attacked and accused of made-up charges of antisemitism?

Why are the people who actually support genocide by their actions and non-actions alike getting to call all the shots? I know—it’s because they’re capitalists, right? Money talks, especially in cash-strapped American churches. We can’t be upsetting the folks who write the big checks for the offering plate, can we?

It’s going to be a blue Christmas for yours truly. I get to suffer for putting my neck out there because I care about others. But a big thanks goes out to all those online who have supported me in the past and who will continue to support me in the future. You get me. You have a conscience. Bless you for being you.

Hey—maybe we can get together online and throw a Zoom Christmas carol party? I’ll bring the electronic cookies. (Ha-ha!)

How do we live with ourselves if we can’t even be open to showing love to our neighbor whose relatives are being wiped out in a genocide? We can’t. We die. Inside. Our consciences will be lost. Forever. And the warmongers and genocide supporters will win.

And we can’t let them win. Ever.

 

Liberationist theologian Herb Montgomery puts the whole Christmas story into a sharper perspective in A Christmas Story for the Marginalized

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2019/12/a-christmas-story-for-the-marginalized

Reclaimed interpretations of the Christmas story emphasize details that we can’t afford to miss. Jesus being born into immense poverty, being announced to the socially outcast, bypassing the politically, economically, socially and religiously of the day, and his parents becoming violence-fleeing refugees for the well-being of their child—there is an entire foundation here on which to build a framework for Christians who are working toward social justice today.

 

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