Demonizing People Who Disagree With Your Politics Is Not The Flex You Think It Is.
I’ve recently been noticing that many Anti-Zionist / Pro-Palestine individuals seem to have a similar approach as trans-activists in their pursuit of justice, which includes raging anger and dehumanization towards anyone who disagrees with them or questions their viewpoint.
This includes (but is not limited to) swift cancellation, guilt-by-association, and self-righteous slander campaigns.
On two different occasions within the past month, women who were otherwise enjoying my presence, began to fire at me just because I mentioned that I have a friend who identifies as Zionist.
This is especially shocking to me, as someone who is largely removed from this debate. I have a very introductory-level understanding of this political conflict. I am clear that this topic is not my ministry, and it is not an issue I feel called to invest energy into learning about in-depth or leaning into, politically.
What I do see is that that innocent people have been harmed on both sides, and it is therefore understandable to me, why there are advocates on both sides.
I also understand why people may feel more called towards supporting either Palestine or Israel, based on their own personal background.
Fundamentally, my stance is that I don’t believe in war, and I don’t want people to get hurt. It matters less to me, which side is right or wrong. There are fair and compassionate ways of dealing with conflict that apparently, are not being implemented, and it is causing civil unrest.
But whenever I have shared this view with a Pro-Palestine/Anti-Zionist, it is never enough.
If I don’t firmly take on their stance (the “right” stance) I am a problem. If I don’t swallow their worldview whole on the spot, I am a problem.
If I even so much as associate myself with someone who disagrees with them on this topic, my morality is questionable. My little kumbaya stance is just me “trying” to be neutral, and I must be hiding something evil behind my supposed neutrality.
This all-encompassing swiftness to demonize Zionists (or anyone who questions, holds neutrality, or disagrees) has colored my view of pro-Palestine individuals.
It feels eerily similar to the way I have been demonized so harshly for expressing gender-critical views.
And while many pro-Palestine individuals are in fact, trans-activists (it’s part of the package deal of queer culture)...it makes it that much stranger to witness this behavior amidst liberal gender-critical women who are pro-Palestine.
They are doing the same exact thing to others that they don’t want to be done to them. And they think it’s so different…but it’s not.
The difference is they have major institutions, mainstream media, and social approval empowering them to self-righteously shit on people who are on the “wrong side”—thus causing further division and isolation from said people.
And the thing about isolation is that it prevents you from having to engage with someone’s humanity and see where the other person is coming from.
It prevents you from having to think.
But even if—pro-Palestine folks are politically right…the way they approach their advocacy is wrong.
Anyone who relies on groupthink, social coersion and punishment to get their point across—anyone who pushes genuine independent thinkers away…gets the side-eye from me too.
Whatever arguments you carry should never have to hide behind dehumanization of others to gain traction.
I disagree with the trans movement. I think it’s incredibly harmful and evil. I know there is major propaganda at play that people are swallowing like kool aid.
But I don’t believe all followers of the trans movement are bad people.
Yes, they too exist on a spectrum of morality, and some of them are very wicked.
But many are not; most of them are misguided followers of a movement that they have been taught promotes equality and justice for all—when all it does is promote misogyny, eugenics, and corporate greed.
But I don’t walk around shaming individual people who believe in trans ideology as eugenists, rapists, and greedy capitalists.
I don’t harass them for not thinking like I do.
I understand why they think the way they do because I’ve taken the time to cultivate that understanding.
And even though I disagree, and I know it’s wrong…I don’t use this one politic as the sole metric of their moral character.
See the difference?
Even though I retain boundaries with gender ideologues on a personal level, I retain the ability to see and engage them in their wholeness.
They most definitely do not have the capacity to do that with me.
And I still don’t demonize them for not extending me the same grace and clarity as I do for them.
I understand that their ideology does not allow them to do that. I know that they are brainwashed and/or misaligned with me, and I keep them at an arm’s distance.
I hope that they eventually come to their senses, and that the educational books and writings I have shared with the world will eventually find their way into their hands, without me placing them there.
Because I am confident that truth prevails everytime. I don’t need to use their shoddy tactics to change the world. I don’t need to force their hand, or socially punish them to push them to the “right” side.
That my friends, is the power of critical thinking.
It offers balance and allows you to see clearly. It helps you become more intellectually and emotionally generous.
Don’t let any movement snatch that away from you.