The Jewish people have earned their role as the "canaries in the coal mine" the hard way; whenever tyranny has reared its ugly head, scapegoating (externalization) the Jews has been a popular device whereby the tyrants solidify and legitimize their rule. With the existence of the state of Israel, it is not even necessary for a country to actually contain Jews in order for anti-Semitism to flourish.
Along with its important role in traditional anti-Semitism, the state of Israel seems determined to blaze new trails in its role as the "canarie in the cola mine" amongst the Nations.
Michael Freund touches upon this in an article from the Jerusalem Post two days ago. In Our slow, steady slide toward narcissism, he commented on an aspect of the historical enhancement of narcissism that has helped define the post-war baby boomer generation and their offspring and which now threatens to erode the Jewish state from within:
There is something wrong - something very, very wrong - going on here. Something has happened to Israeli society over the past few years, something that is slowly and inexorably changing the way people relate to one another.
...
How did this happen? How did we go from being a society that cared - to one that is increasingly so callous?
The answer, I think, is surprisingly simple, and it can best be summed up in one very short and simple, little word: me.
No, I don't mean "me" as in myself, Michael Freund, the author of this article, but "me" in the sense that each of us has increasingly turned inward, to some extent shutting out our responsibility to one another as Jews.
Values and ideals such as patriotism, Jewish pride and love of country are increasingly being replaced by a narrower mode of thinking, one that is focused far more selfishly on what is best for me, myself and especially - for I.
The self-absorption Freund writes about leaves its mark in the ambivalence found among so many toward fighting the war against Islamic expansionism and doing their part to defend themselves and their culture against Islamist attacks. American and European readers, not to mention Asian and Australian, can recognize many of the same concerns becoming part of the conversation in their own societies, but nowhere is the danger quite so acute as in Israel. As suggested, this is a derivative of the enhanced Narcissism that is endemic to developed societies and is on the increase. Along with enhanced guilt, the combination has put Western Civilization at risk.
[For a relatively succinct description of the intersection of rising wealth and health and enhanced narcissism, see Demographics & Narcissism.]
Michael Freund's article considers the issue of Narcissism from the popular point of view; ie, Narcissists tend to be self-centered and inconsiderate of others. (This is an epiphenomenon of the underlying dynamics of Narcissistic Character deformations.) A potentially more profound danger arising from Narcissism is the failed "theory of mind" that marks the Narcissist; Narcissists cannot conceive that other people have minds that are organized and operate differently than their own does. This has important implications when those who actually run the country cannot escape the same frame of mind.
[It is important to note that formulating a theory of mind that incorporates the "other" as an independent, separate, and different mind is relatively sophisticated and a late developmental product. Subtle failures in such an area are ubiquitous and do not denote Narcissistic Character Disorders; however, such failures do indicate incompletely metabolized narcissistic developmental traits.]
The upcoming Annapolis Summit is likely to fail outright which would be disastrous for the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Rice: Mideast peace plan in jeopardy
The United States is pressing Israel and the Palestinian Authority to complete the drafting of a joint declaration of principles that would allow President George W. Bush to send out more invitations to the upcoming Annapolis peace conference.
Rice is blaming the usual suspects for damaging the prospects of the conference:
Rice blamed Iran for fanning the flames in the region, including what she called "troubling" new support for Hamas militants.
Rice fails to recognize that her own inability to understand her "negotiating partner" is likely to prove fatal to the conference; note her suggestion of "moderate leaders":
"Our concern is growing that without a serious political prospect for the Palestinians that gives to moderate leaders a horizon that they can show to their people that indeed there is a two-state solution that is possible, we will lose the window for a two-state solution," the secretary of state said.
One of the moderate leaders is Saeb Erekat, who adds this to the discussion:
Palestinian negotiator and senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat told Reuters on Thursday the teams have yet to start drafting the document. "We are exchanging ideas on many issues in hope of being able to reach the joint document," he said.
The joint document is meant to serve as a basis for the statehood talks that Erekat has said should be concluded by August, before the US presidential race heats up.
Of course, everyone already knows the shape of the deal that the "moderates" on both sides wish to believe could solve the conflict.
An enduring paradox of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that the outline of a two-state peace settlement - that is, the points Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressing the two sides to write down in time for a November conference - is readily apparent to anyone with a commitment to pragmatism and a good map. In fact, various groups of Israelis and Palestinians have already spelled them out and agreed to them on multiple occasions in the past 15 years. An Israeli cabinet voted to endorse the basic deal nearly seven years ago. The current Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, committed himself back in 1995.
If the particulars are so obvious to everyone, why has no deal ever come about? Because the deal would require that the Palestinians surrender their desire to kill Jews and destroy Israel. Only someone blinded by their own narcissistic inability to appreciate that people on the other side of the table are truly different can fail to see the obvious. Enough Palestinians prefer killing Jews to having a state that no agreement could ever survive, even if the negotiators were able to sign off on an agreement, receive their Nobel Peace Prizes and hail each other as enlightened men of history. We've been there, done that, and all Israel received was an intifada that killed a thousand Jews; an intifada engineered by a lie, by the way, a lie that the state of Israel enhanced by their own guilt-ridden response to the blood libel of Mohammed al-Dura.
The Palestinians have already threatened a new outbreak of violence should the conference fail; failure defined as falling short of their maximalist aspirations.
The Israelis and the Americans are dangerous incompetents if they believe they are dealing with men of good will who only desire to make the lives of the Palestinian people better. There has not yet been a Palestinian leader willing to use force against his own people in order to protect Jews. The Palestinians have always allowed the most radical to set the agenda. The Muslim tribe has always valued the lives of even the most debased and devalued member of their Ummah more highly than the lives of people they regularly scorn as infidels, offspring of pigs and dogs. Elder notes that in their secure derangement, they often let the mask slip. The title of his post is a quote from a prominent Popular Resistance Committee official; please note that the PRC is intimately linked with Hamas:
Hamas has effectively just declared open season on Jews worldwide. And since the vast majority of Arabs have no problem with Jews, only Zionists, we can expect to see a torrent of Arab and Muslim condemnations against this anti-semitic statement any minute now.
Any....minute....now.....
Meanwhile, I will also wait for any other media outlet to publish this story. At the moment the phrase "kill Jews everywhere" comes up empty on Google News. I guess it is not newsworthy.
It is admittedly difficult for the modern Westerner to appreciate the primitive nature and the primitive organization of the mind of the radical Islamist. We are not used to such unabashed and open expressions of rage and hatred. It is rarely mentioned in polite circles and apparently has no place in diplomatic discussions. Yet if the rage and hate is ignored, pretending that a piece of paper which attempts to delineate various rights and responsibilities can actually change such emotional states is a fool's dream; failure is assured.
The Israeli failure to appreciate the nature of their enemies is mirrored by so much of the Western Left's inability to appreciate the nature of our enemies. For Israel, reality testing is a life and death matter; soon, it may be the same for our friends in Europe.
It is already clear that the Annapolis conference will most likely fail, if it occurs at all; however, there remains a worse possibility: it could "succeed."
Addendum: Perhaps this is evidence that some are starting to get it: Barak okays plan to cut power in Gaza for every rocket fired.
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