Friday, April 11, 2008

Doom Rant:



For those who do not know me, or only know me in my former role as CEO of Metal Slut Records, allow me to offer that I am a college professor. In my role as a college professor I have to speak at seminars from time to time. One of these times occurred on Wednesday, when I gave a presentation to dissect the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and Frantz Fanon and filter them through the prism of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. I did what I always do, give as even an account of the conflict, or condition, as I possibly can, being that I really think both "sides" are fucked up and fucked. I wanted to spend most of the talk discussing Gandhi and Fanon, which I in fact did.

During the question and answer phase of the presentation I was asked by a student "What do you think is the solution for the conflict?"

It is a reasonable question. I have spent over ten years writing about and analyzing the situation, in addition to visiting the region on multiple occasions. In 2003 I really reached a point that one reaches in a dead relationship, where one must accept that they are part of a deal that is not going to change. This, in essence, was my answer. I am starting to think that this is it. I think the conflict is going to end badly. I think it is going to end with a series of deadly explosions. That is where it is going. Like Country Joe said :

"And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates, ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die"

How does one explain that? It is downright morbid. But I also think it is true. There are only two ways for this to end, and the possibility of a two state solution seems less likely everyday. But one can not utter this things in polite company. Thus, we have this blog.

Anyhow, I seemed to piss off an Israeli in the class who thought I was being unfair to Israel. I just got told by a student that she thought I was a pussy by being too fair to Israel. Do I look her in the eye and say they are all going to die needlessly violent deaths, deal with it? Is that responsible pedagogy? This is the problem. A lack of ability to see a situation in a holistic fashion leads to gridlock, and in the case of a ticking time bomb, gridlock leads to death.

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