I’ve been Googling of late about the universe and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict – two broad and complex topics about which I only have a cursory understanding. Of the two I find the universe to be the more pleasant subject. Sure, it can be off-putting to learn that the Sun’s luminosity will eventually increase to the point of evaporating all of Earth’s surface water, rendering it uninhabitable for terrestrial life. But I live in Brooklyn, and as Woody Allen’s mother tells him in ‘Annie Hall’ when he frets over the universe expanding: “What is that your business? You’re here in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not expanding.” This may not hold as true as it once did, but on a fundamental level we all need to get on with our lives. I’m not sure what Woody’s take on Israel is but if you’re looking for a surefire dinner party ending topic you could pick none better than the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. It’s difficult to qualify this ongoing mess as ‘news’ despite the horrific details. The two sides have been at each other’s throat with a consistency matched only by Robert Downey Jr’s drug problems in the late 1990’s. What’s most striking, particularly when reading about the topic in conjunction with the universe, is how small the strip of land in question really is. If at some point near the end of our earthly existence we’re allowed small insight to the vast scope of the cosmos, you have to figure these people will be thinking “holy shit .. we were fighting over that?”
Of course much of this rageful violence is fueled by religion – a fine violence-fueler if ever there was one. Having God on your side is apparently divine justification for all kinds of horrible stuff, including but not limited to wiping out kids via rockets filled with dart-like shrapnel. David Remnick, in the August 4 New Yorker, does a decent job of dishing the blame to both sides, noting both Hamas’ deadly cynicism and the bloodshed Israel has extracted in Gaza. He writes: “The way you order and make sense of this brutalizing conflict depends on who you are.” I’m not sure if any order or sense can ever be made from this. To use a facile and trivial analogy, it’s like last year’s NFC Championship game. Being from San Francisco I identified with and rooted for the 49ers with blind passion and wanted them to obliterate the Seahawks. Never mind that I have as much to do with these finely-tuned, exquisitely violent young athletes as I do with the late Morey Amsterdam. Every ounce of my being was leveraged into seeing San Francisco destroy Seattle. Then, late in what was a very close game, Niners linebacker NaVorro Bowman suffered a gruesome leg injury that was replayed repeatedly in slow motion. The part of me personally invested in the outcome of the game sort of dissipated at that point. I still cared about who won but did so with curious detachment.
We all need something in life to live for, be it home, family, work or a particular passion. Sometimes though, these reasons for living become muddled or difficult to reconcile with other life events. We lose our job or a family member disappoints us and we start to question our priorities. Sometimes we even question why we’re here. But let somebody else take away one of these perceived parts of ourselves and we once again have vengeful, blind purpose. This, I think, is what you have with Palestine and Israel .. enough vengeful, blind purpose to obscure unspeakable violence and keep this thing going on forever. It isn’t land these people are warring over but an addiction to cause; a purpose. Perhaps what they’re lacking is the NFL replay – slow motion video images on large screens, looping the violence on both sides over and over for all to see. It wouldn’t be much of a morale-booster but it might make them put their rockets down and long for the start of baseball season.
Post a Comment