Changing hearts

May 11th,2024

It has been over a week since I posted my essay about my visit to the encampment of student protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. Based on the responses I have received since the article’s publication; I have to assume that I have managed to piss off people on every side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. I’m okay with that. I am tempted to quote the Lone Ranger at this point and say,

“My work here is done.”

However, I feel the need to say a couple more things. I have to respond to the responses.

First, I received one email from someone I don’t know who was livid that I failed to mention the 30,000 civilian deaths in the Gaza in my essay. Why is it necessary for me to mention the number of casualties? The woman who spoke with me at the encampment mentioned the 30,000 deaths shortly after introducing herself. Every article I have read since the war began in Gaza has prominently pointed to the current body count. It would seem that my referring to it would have been at best redundant.

Joseph Stalin was a ruthless murderer and a cynical bastard, but he was spot on when he said, “One death is a tragedy. A million deaths are a statistic.” I can have a relationship with a particular human being. I can grieve for someone I know. I cannot find the emotional energy to be outraged by 30,000 pointless deaths, simply because these people are unknown to me. I cannot wrap my head or my heart around this statistic.

A while ago, I got an email from a Palestinian friend who is very active in the local Muslim community. She sent me a long and thorough account of the killing of civilians in Gaza, and she did happen mention the death count at the time of writing. She also described in gruesome detail the deaths of personal friends at the hands of the Israelis. The number did not move me. The story of the deaths of people she knew and loved tore my heart open. I was motivated to do something to help, and I did. In order to get me in any way involved required my friend to talk about real individuals with names, faces, and souls.

If the pro-Palestinian movement wants to change hearts and minds, they might do best if they keep the issue up close and personal. Maybe, they are already doing that to some extent. They need to do more of it.

Second, in my conversations with pro-Palestinian activists, I find they rely heavily on moralistic browbeating. They are eager for the world to know that they hold the high ground in this fight, and that their opponents are twisted and evil. Maybe they are right, but that’s not a good way to sell it. The Catholic writer, Thomas Merton, had this to say about it:

“The concept of ‘Virtue’ does not appeal to men, because they are no longer interested in being good. Yet if you tell them that St. Thomas talks about the virtues as ‘habits of the practical intellect’, they may, perhaps, pay some attention to your words. They are pleased with the thought of anything that would seem to make them clever.”

In other words, telling your adversary that he or she is wicked will likely get a shrug. Telling them that they are being foolish may get them to think twice about their actions. People don’t like to feel stupid. They don’t mind being assholes.

There is much in the Israeli conduct of this war that is thoughtless and ultimately counterproductive. Hammer on those points. Ease off the “holier-than-thou” rhetoric. Nobody is listening.