First it was silence is violence. Now words are also violence.
Best stay silent and let people assume you're a killer than open your mouth and prove them right.
> There's been a push where everyone is somehow required to voice their opinion.
It's a trap. McCarthy's Inquisition never ended. You don't need to go find those pesky ___ when you can pressure everyone into confessing their beliefs.
That's not the lesson anybody took from the Holocaust or the civil rights, anti-domestic violence, anti-sexual assault, and anti-police brutality campaigns of the last few decades.
> [Bystanders] included those, for example, who did not speak out when they witnessed the persecution of individuals targeted simply because they were Jewish, or during the phase of mass murder, did not offer shelter to Jews seeking hiding places.
The Jews hold Fraulein Jeanine personally responsible for not speaking out against genocide when it was committed against them, and for not aiding in the concealment and escape of refugees. It's fair.
SIV was part of MLK's agenda in the 60s.
In the 90s, neighboring Jeanines were supposed to look out for abused women and children who couldn't advocate for themselves.
Then in the 2000s, it's once again the Jeanines of the world who were supposed to say something if they saw something.
The Jeanines were marching for BLM in the 2020s.
Policing has fallen out of fashion so now Jeanines are deputized in mandatory DEI "ally" programs at work.
First of all there's no unified voice of the Jews. And, even if there's some voice that says that bystanders are responsible, the question immediately presents itself, to what degree?
A guard shot in the direction of my grandma when she stopped at the railway station. She stopped because she heard people begging for water from the wagons.
What she could have done? And this is also very relevant for judging, let's say, Biden, or every head of state in general. People demanding action are usually completely ignorant of the actual agency of the targets of their screed. (And if they are in fact aware, then they are just demanding empty gestures, which is probably even worse, as it just makes more people mad.)
In general the biggest bang for the buck is voting.
Speaking up on Twitter is somewhere at the end of the list. Who knows where's speaking up when someone tells a joke with a punchline that is based some xenophobic/racist/bigoted stereotype. (Not to mention the complexity that comes from context, comes from the fun in safe transgressions against truly shared values, and so on.)
Of course there's an upside and downside to affirmative actions. Corporate mandated DEI bullshit is ... no surprise bullshit (eg. mandatory DEI training for everyone for no reason, just makes people fed up with the whole thing), but giving on the job training opportunities to disadvantaged people is not bullshit. (Plus also not without downsides and implementation challenges.)
> A guard shot in the direction of my grandma when she stopped at the railway station. She stopped because she heard people begging for water from the wagons. [...] What she could have done?
Nothing! The expectation is not that she succeeds, only that she tries. She tried, was shot at, and couldn't complete the task. That's not on her. The ask was that she try.
The most anybody can ever do is act when and where it is safe to do so, and remain alive enough to help as often as possible. Resistance and terrorism use the same playbook.
> Speaking up on Twitter is somewhere at the end of the list.
You say that, and it's true, but you miss the big picture. If it doesn't matter, so much effort wouldn't be expended on cancelling and censoring everybody who speaks out against Israel. Why does Israel give so much of a shit what people are saying?
(Answer: even if it changes nothing, it influences public perception. Capturing hearts and minds is usually necessary for a successful campaign.)
Best stay silent and let people assume you're a killer than open your mouth and prove them right.
> There's been a push where everyone is somehow required to voice their opinion.
It's a trap. McCarthy's Inquisition never ended. You don't need to go find those pesky ___ when you can pressure everyone into confessing their beliefs.
So where do you stand on Israel?