It's always astonished me that the people most opposed to the West waging war on repressive, totalitarian regimes are those who would most likely suffer most under those regimes. Musicians, artists, writers, students, those who generally "champion" being tolerant and open and free to say what they think- the most vocal critics of the war are the very people that our enemy hates the most. These are the people who tend to side with those who would love to silence them. I simply don't understand it. Nowhere is this contradiction more glaringly obvious than in a group called QUIT, Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism.
Yep, a gay group is apparently championing a culture which would like to see them killed. Zombie sums it up best I think-
In Israel, gays live openly and happily in a free and liberal society. There is a thriving gay scene, just as there is in the United States and many other Western democracies.
But in Palestine -- as in most Islamic countries -- being gay is not only frowned upon, it is a crime often punishable by death. Tales of what life is like for gays in Palestinian society are horrifying in the extreme. In fact, gay youth in Palestine frequently flee to Israel if they can get a chance.
So why in the world would gay activists in the most gay-friendly city on Earth protest against one of the other centers of gay liberation (Israel) and for one of the planet's most violently oppressive homophobic societies?
This is the essence of cognitive dissonance -- the condition of holding two differing beliefs that are so incompatible and contradictory that the only way to internally reconcile them is to, well, go insane (to use the layman's term). Because, try as I might, I can't comprehend any other justification for being a member of QUIT other than insanity.
2 comments:
while i see your argument i think you miss the point. We have no right to impose our values on these peoples in much the same way as they don't have the right to impose their values on us. fair enough I sympathise that these countries can treat minorities abhorrently, but we cannot force people's views to change overnight. Just in the same way as prejudice and intolerance was fought for within our countries through the civil rights movement etc so it must be fought from the inside in these countries by its own people. All we can do is offer support up to the point of actually getting involved because direct involvement as history has taught us can do much to galvanise opinion against the very people we seek to help.
BLACKMAIL! CHEAP EMOTIONAL PLOY WITH NO CRITICAL INSIGHT WHATSOEVER! YOU ARE EITHER FOR GAYS, AS A PART A TOLERANT SECULAR LIBERAL ATTITUTE, (israel) Or AGAINST GAYS, BUT TO DISAVOW THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT. BLACKMAIL!
Here! for Israeli Gays against Palestinian gays and other such idiocy!
http://arabwomanprogressivevoice.blogspot.com/2009/08/gay-palestinians-are-too-hot.html
Here for Palestinian gays under the Hijab
http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/3333
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