Bad Guys

I find it nearly impossible to speak intelligently—or even intelligibly—about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It seems that there are no good guys—only “reluctant” bad guys on both sides who believe—sincerely for the most part— that they have no other choice (i.e., the only “good” thing they can do in this impasse is to commit what are normally condemned as “bad” acts—in the pious but delusional hope that these bad acts will somehow bring about a “good” outcome—or, at least a situation no worse than the status quo ante.)

Oddly, or perhaps just distressingly, 

this moral dissonance is precisely 

what so “appeals” to the rest of the

world and why such great swarms of people everywhere want to participate, on one (bad) side or the other (bad) side—albeit mostly vicariously, in marches and rallies. Human beings just LOVE to feel good about doing bad stuff—or cheering for others who do bad stuff—especially if there are no painful consequences. 

Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure that many of the pro-Israel or pro-Palestine demonstrators honestly believe that their side is “good” in some absolute, universal sense. But the evidence on the ground suggests otherwise. The facts point to a brutal, unending conflict between self-perceived good people (Israelis and Palestinians alike) who have nevertheless committed themselves to being bad guys in perpetuity, all in order to keep things from getting even worse.  This hallucinatory narrative strikes me, former teacher of both Macbeth and Slaughterhouse Five, as a quintessential “tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.” Poo tee weet?