:) Defriended By a Bigot! That's like getting a medal.
I don't defriend people, as a rule. The only thing that gets you defriended from here is if you attack my friends, repeatedly use foul language in comments or make threats to me.
So when a Zionist extremist and I had an argument, I didn't defriend her. If I defriended everyone whose political and religious ideas differed from mine, I'd be talking to myself. Besides, she was a bright girl, and I thought she might change her mind about supporting the murder of Palestinians.
I just found out that I'm banned from commenting in her journal. Ironically, she was complaining about being defriended from someone else, allegedly because of her religion (she does love playing the martyr, I've found). I tried to post a comment saying I would not defriend her, despite our recent heated battles and found that I couldn't. She has banned me because I don't believe that Israel has a right to murder civilians.
Now, as with abortion, the rules here are simple. You may disagree with me on human rights. You are very welcome to try to change my mind (you'll fail), but if you defriend me because I do not hate either the unborn or whatever religious or racial group you happen to want dead, I consider that a compliment. You're saying I'm not enough of a bigot to be your friend. To be hated for not hating is a badge of honour.
It's also an admission of defeat by the banner. She's admitting she has no argument against the things I said, so she has fled. That gives me hope. She is not, despite her hatreds, a bad or dishonest person. She's just someone who has been brought up without proper, unbiased information. She grew up amongst extreme zionists and they managed to overwhelm even her experience with the history of the Holocaust, making her ignore the truth of where hatred like hers leads in favour of feeding that hatred.
To be honest, I almost did defriend her when she posted about eugenics in a favourable way, but I didn't.
Now, though, having run from the discussion and admitted to herself, if not to me, that she cannot argue with what I said, she may think. She may change. It was once said that apartheid in South Africa would never end, because each generation was taught it as the only way to live. In the same way, zionist fanatics teach their children to hate Palestinians and it is hard to break early training like that. But humanity and compassion can triumph over the hatred people are taught as children. Apartheid fell, so will zionism. There will be peace in the Middle East. It comes closer every time an Israeli soldier goes to prison for refusing to kill Palestinians and every time a Jewish peace campaigner becomes a human shield for a Palestinian Muslim. I have faith that my former friend will change too. She's a good person with a lot of compassion for anyone who isn't a Palestinian. Eventually, she'll be less of a bigot.
As for me, I'm starting to agree with the Rabbi who said that Israel shouldn't exist. Israel refuses to live peacefully with its neighbours. It steals land, murders children. When even Jews are saying it is a rogue state and should not be there, I have to wonder if they're right. Would it not be better for the whole area to be under shared control, with Jews and Muslims working together? At the very least, Israel must be disarmed or Palestine must be given nuclear weapons. As things stand, one small, aggressive state poses a threat to the whole region.
So when a Zionist extremist and I had an argument, I didn't defriend her. If I defriended everyone whose political and religious ideas differed from mine, I'd be talking to myself. Besides, she was a bright girl, and I thought she might change her mind about supporting the murder of Palestinians.
I just found out that I'm banned from commenting in her journal. Ironically, she was complaining about being defriended from someone else, allegedly because of her religion (she does love playing the martyr, I've found). I tried to post a comment saying I would not defriend her, despite our recent heated battles and found that I couldn't. She has banned me because I don't believe that Israel has a right to murder civilians.
Now, as with abortion, the rules here are simple. You may disagree with me on human rights. You are very welcome to try to change my mind (you'll fail), but if you defriend me because I do not hate either the unborn or whatever religious or racial group you happen to want dead, I consider that a compliment. You're saying I'm not enough of a bigot to be your friend. To be hated for not hating is a badge of honour.
It's also an admission of defeat by the banner. She's admitting she has no argument against the things I said, so she has fled. That gives me hope. She is not, despite her hatreds, a bad or dishonest person. She's just someone who has been brought up without proper, unbiased information. She grew up amongst extreme zionists and they managed to overwhelm even her experience with the history of the Holocaust, making her ignore the truth of where hatred like hers leads in favour of feeding that hatred.
To be honest, I almost did defriend her when she posted about eugenics in a favourable way, but I didn't.
Now, though, having run from the discussion and admitted to herself, if not to me, that she cannot argue with what I said, she may think. She may change. It was once said that apartheid in South Africa would never end, because each generation was taught it as the only way to live. In the same way, zionist fanatics teach their children to hate Palestinians and it is hard to break early training like that. But humanity and compassion can triumph over the hatred people are taught as children. Apartheid fell, so will zionism. There will be peace in the Middle East. It comes closer every time an Israeli soldier goes to prison for refusing to kill Palestinians and every time a Jewish peace campaigner becomes a human shield for a Palestinian Muslim. I have faith that my former friend will change too. She's a good person with a lot of compassion for anyone who isn't a Palestinian. Eventually, she'll be less of a bigot.
As for me, I'm starting to agree with the Rabbi who said that Israel shouldn't exist. Israel refuses to live peacefully with its neighbours. It steals land, murders children. When even Jews are saying it is a rogue state and should not be there, I have to wonder if they're right. Would it not be better for the whole area to be under shared control, with Jews and Muslims working together? At the very least, Israel must be disarmed or Palestine must be given nuclear weapons. As things stand, one small, aggressive state poses a threat to the whole region.