Monday, June 04, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
Last
time, I talked about what it means to live a worthy life and how
Israelis’ existential condition – in which each of them is responsible for
defending and building a nation – has made them some of the happiest people on
the face of the earth.
For those of us who do not live under similar conditions,
which includes most of Israel’s friends and supporters, her enemies and
detractors, and huge swaths of humanity both friends and foes are trying to
reach, might there be something about human nature we all ignore as we settle
on strategies to communicate our messages, persuade others, and build
alliances?
The list of things mentioned last time which add up to a worthy
life (meaningful work, a loving relationship, genuine friends, and a life
committed to truth and beauty) was informed by the ancient philosopher Aristotle
whose writing on ethics identified happiness as the ultimate goal all our
efforts drive towards. Why do we want
money? To live in comfort. Why do we want comfort? Because comfort makes us happy. Why do we want happiness? No answer is needed to this question because
happiness is the “final cause,” the end point where all other efforts and
ambitions lead.
But by “happiness,” Aristotle wasn’t talking about simple
giddy joy. Rather, he was using a Greek
term better translated as “flourishing.”
And if you build into your life the components needed to call it worthy,
you can live a happy (in all senses of the word) flourishing life.
Getting back to Israel advocacy, as we argue our cause are
we offering listeners anything that might help them achieve the ultimate human
desire to be happy and flourish?
Within the pro-Israel community, discussions of strategy and
tactics still tend to boil down to a debate over offense vs. defense (or “going
on the attack” vs. “positive messaging”).
Advocates for “going on the attack” argue that we cannot
perpetually take punches from Israel haters who relentlessly assault and malign
the Jewish state and its friends with the most outrageous calumnies,
accompanied by outrageous behavior no one should have to tolerate. This strategy can be boiled down to: Let’s
tell the truth about Israel’s enemies (including their bigotry, misogyny and
violent intolerance) as aggressively as they tell their lies about us.
In contrast, calls for “positive messaging” highlight how
little impact shouts and insults have on crucial undecideds who can be swayed
by getting to know Israel and its people, culture, food, and marvelous gifts to
the world (in the form of cures for illness and high-tech wonders as well as
progressive values).
I’ve written a number of times about pragmatic reasons why
each of these approaches is flawed. A
complete treatment of the subject can be found here,
but the key problem with an attack strategy is that we as a Jewish pro-Israel
community lack the militant goals needed to sustain what would need to be a
decades-long, non-stop smearing of our foes.
And if we were really playing by BDS rules, we would have to drag
innocent third parties into our fight, without any concern over what harm that
might cause others. For better or worse (better, in my opinion) our community
lacks the ruthlessness needed to give our opponents a full taste of their own
medicine.
Positive campaigning seems to be a way out of this dilemma,
but the things that tend to be highlighted in such campaigns (whether it’s
High-Tech Nation, Gay Pride parades, hummus recipes or Eurovision Song Contest victories)
aren’t much of a shield against an enemy arguing on behalf of freedom, justice
and international law (regardless of how much they have drained all three terms
of any meaning).
Beyond these practical considerations, the big problem with
both the “Offense” and “Positive” positions is that neither offers listeners
anything that talks to the human need for meaning and purpose. I’ll admit to a certain glee when I see
Israel haters forced to flee when faced with an argument they can’t counter or
their latest BDS failure. But such
emotional satisfaction on the part of the activist is not the same as providing
others the satisfaction derived from striving for a flourishing life
(meaningful work, loving relationships, etc.).
Similarly, while I’m in awe of the technological prowess of
the Israel people and the openness of their society, a strategy based entirely
on telling these stories strikes me as a continuation of the Diaspora tradition
of endlessly having to prove to the majority culture our worthiness as a
minority.
But there is another story the remarkable achievement of
Israel taps into, one that can spill over from giving Israelis a life full of
purpose to providing the same satisfaction to all who support or just befriend
the Jewish state.
Few would argue that the nadir of the last century (if not
all centuries) was the Holocaust which exterminated six million men, women and
children for the crime of being Jews.
But too few follow this up by seeing the rebirth of the Jewish state
just three years after that disaster as one of the most monumental achievements
in human history.
Ingathering exiles, making the desert bloom, defeating
larger and more powerful enemies again and again and – yes – building a
tolerant nation with a growing population and economy are all part of this
magnificent story, the story of that much maligned word “Zionism.”
And, with all due respect to those who see us as a “Chosen
People,” Israel’s accomplishments have nothing to do with Jews being special in
any way. For if a people at death’s door
can achieve such wonders, anyone can do it.
And many have (think about South Korea that built a flourishing state by
investing in their own people after national ruin in war).
This dynamic tale, the Zionist story of what a society can
achieve if its citizens have purpose and are ready to live for the future as
well as the present, is what stirs many of us to genuine love for (not just
appreciation of) the Jewish state – more so than the defeat of enemies or the
latest Israeli-built microchip or app.
And why shouldn’t it?
For this move turns our pro-Israel advocacy into meaningful work,
creates bonds of true friendship between fellow Jews (including happy Israelis)
and other Jewish and non-Jewish activists.
It dedicates us to fighting for the truth and enjoying the beauty of one
of history’s most inspiring tales. In
short, it provides us many (although by no means all) of the things necessary
to live a worthy, flourishing life.
In contrast, the demented behavior of our foes is a testament
to where a life dedicated to destruction and ugliness leads. And for those our opponents demand follow
their lead (such as intersectional allies in minority communities, biased journalists
and partisan scholars) the price of abandoning reason, ethics and professional
standards to join the cause are sources of suffering. For deep down, even the most corrupt
journalist writing about “peaceful marchers” on the Gaza border know they are communicating
a lie, just as academics committed to spreading ignorance and bigotry understand
they have not just abandoned the quest for truth or beauty but are actively
fighting against it.
This explains why Israel’s foes spend so much mental effort blocking
out and shouting down reality they want to avoid. For their lives are dedicated to things that
are the opposite of what brings happiness, which is why they are so damned
miserable. In a way, the contrast
between flourishing Israel and the basket cases that represent the rest of the
Middle East is a macrocosm of what can be achieved at the societal level by
embracing the quest for a worthy live vs. battling to live an unworthy one.
So we friends of the Jewish state should offer not slams
against our enemies or hummus parties, but steps towards living a meaningful
life – a sharp contrast to the slavery and self-loathing on offer from our
enemies. Put in such terms, is there
really a contest?
