Michigan Zionists plus the loveliness of Barack Obama
So I'm walking through the diag today on my way to children's lit (obviously a very up time in my day), and there are people asking for money for northern Israel and giving out free hummus and bread (don't even get me started on that)... and they're wearing Michigan Zionists shirts!
If you're trying to get money for relief for northern Israel - obviously a legitimate, humanitarian cause - perhaps that is not the best choice of attire. I thought that the point was to get money for people to be able to rebuild their homes and everything. It's about the people, so why are you turning it into something political? I don't care what your original intention was - the second you label yourself like that and wear that t-shirt, you're making this into political activity. There is so much wrapped up in the word "zionist" that you can't just drop it nonchalantly. Before you put on a shirt that says Michigan Zionists on it, you have to have put some serious thought behind what you are calling yourself and with whom you are identifying.
I'm not going to give money to someone wearing a Michigan Zionists shirt. Yes, I realize that now I'm doing exactly what I told them not to do and looking at this politically, but on the other hand, if their main concern is raising money for relief rather than raising awareness about Zionism/their political cause, shouldn't they take that perspective into account? I feel like if you're concerned with being a humanitarian, you need to leave your politics at the door. I know that that sounds like "if you put down your gun I'll put down mine," but in this case it is not the same thing because they are the ones out there actively looking for money. They're soliciting something from me - they're looking for my charity, but the second their politics get in my way, I'm no longer willing to look at them outside of those politics. If they're representing a humanitarian movement for nothern Israel, that need to be the primary image that they put out there. That needs to be the first thing I see, not their politics.
If they insist on wearing something somewhat political, then wear a tshirt with an Israeli flag on it or something. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure that when Lebanese Student Association was on the diag collecting money for relief, they were wearing regular clothes and had Lebanese flags on the buckets they were putting the money in.
Okay, that's my two cents for the day.
Also, something I was going to mention awhile ago, and has nothing to do with this: I was looking at both Barack Obama's and Bill O'Reilly's new books at Borders last week. I only had time to read the intros but I saw O'Reilly on Oprah the day before and the tone of his intro was pretty much exactly the same as the tone he had on Oprah. Basically, O'Reilly is all about this culture war (the book is called Culture Warrior) and setting up two different groups in the US, the Secular-Progressives (S-P's, or, according to O'Reilly, spawn of Satan) and the Traditionalists (T-Warriors... wow). These groups are fundamentally opposed to each other and his point is that you have choose one side or the other - you can't be both, and they can't reach a compromise. By contrast, Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope), is in the same vein as his 2004 DNC speech (blah blah blah this is all anyone talks about lately I know, but I don't care because he's awesome) and puts unity first. He's all about one America, whereas O'Reilly is totally focused on us vs. them.
I have no real point. I just felt the need to point that out, not because it means all conservatives are terrible or because it means all Democrats are angels, but because O'Reilly sucks and Obama is lovely and beautiful and possibly one of my favorite people for no reason other than his charisma and idealism - which is the main thing we need right now anyway.
If you're trying to get money for relief for northern Israel - obviously a legitimate, humanitarian cause - perhaps that is not the best choice of attire. I thought that the point was to get money for people to be able to rebuild their homes and everything. It's about the people, so why are you turning it into something political? I don't care what your original intention was - the second you label yourself like that and wear that t-shirt, you're making this into political activity. There is so much wrapped up in the word "zionist" that you can't just drop it nonchalantly. Before you put on a shirt that says Michigan Zionists on it, you have to have put some serious thought behind what you are calling yourself and with whom you are identifying.
I'm not going to give money to someone wearing a Michigan Zionists shirt. Yes, I realize that now I'm doing exactly what I told them not to do and looking at this politically, but on the other hand, if their main concern is raising money for relief rather than raising awareness about Zionism/their political cause, shouldn't they take that perspective into account? I feel like if you're concerned with being a humanitarian, you need to leave your politics at the door. I know that that sounds like "if you put down your gun I'll put down mine," but in this case it is not the same thing because they are the ones out there actively looking for money. They're soliciting something from me - they're looking for my charity, but the second their politics get in my way, I'm no longer willing to look at them outside of those politics. If they're representing a humanitarian movement for nothern Israel, that need to be the primary image that they put out there. That needs to be the first thing I see, not their politics.
If they insist on wearing something somewhat political, then wear a tshirt with an Israeli flag on it or something. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure that when Lebanese Student Association was on the diag collecting money for relief, they were wearing regular clothes and had Lebanese flags on the buckets they were putting the money in.
Okay, that's my two cents for the day.
Also, something I was going to mention awhile ago, and has nothing to do with this: I was looking at both Barack Obama's and Bill O'Reilly's new books at Borders last week. I only had time to read the intros but I saw O'Reilly on Oprah the day before and the tone of his intro was pretty much exactly the same as the tone he had on Oprah. Basically, O'Reilly is all about this culture war (the book is called Culture Warrior) and setting up two different groups in the US, the Secular-Progressives (S-P's, or, according to O'Reilly, spawn of Satan) and the Traditionalists (T-Warriors... wow). These groups are fundamentally opposed to each other and his point is that you have choose one side or the other - you can't be both, and they can't reach a compromise. By contrast, Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope), is in the same vein as his 2004 DNC speech (blah blah blah this is all anyone talks about lately I know, but I don't care because he's awesome) and puts unity first. He's all about one America, whereas O'Reilly is totally focused on us vs. them.
I have no real point. I just felt the need to point that out, not because it means all conservatives are terrible or because it means all Democrats are angels, but because O'Reilly sucks and Obama is lovely and beautiful and possibly one of my favorite people for no reason other than his charisma and idealism - which is the main thing we need right now anyway.
posted by Dana at 10:53 PM
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