Update: Only two of the women shot were Jewish and the quote from the shooter varies from he said “he hated Israel” to he was “angry with Israel.” That hasn’t changed my feelings any.
Last night, I rode my bike down to the International District to join some friends for dinner. I crossed paths with Critical Mass, a bike ride comprised of hundreds of cyclists, all spinning up Jackson. It was a beautiful site and I was happy to be out with my own two wheeled friend. At the restaurant, we ate excellent Vietnamese food, had cake, talked about languages, and celebrated our mutual friend’s birthday. It was getting a bit dark and I’d forgotten my lights, so I took off, rolling home under a fading summer sky.
While all that was happening, about a mile away, a man walked in to the Jewish Federation of Seattle and shot six women, killing one. He shot them because he was “angry with Israel.” A man walked in to a building and shot six women because they were – are – Jewish.
I’m angry with Israel too. I’m angry about a lot of things.
I’m angry that people can’t make the distinction between Jews and Israelis.
I’m angry that people can’t make the distinction between governments and individuals.
I’m angry that the US government can’t make the distinction between Iraq and Afghanistan.
I’m angry that Osama bin Laden has somehow managed, though one awful blow, to devolve American society into a culture of fear.
I’m angry that the US government exploits that fear.
I’m angry that the the US government is so embroiled in an endless war that they can’t spare the resources to dedicate to a cease fire.
I’m angry that the rhetoric Israel is using is almost exactly the same that the US adminstration is using. Olmert probably doesn’t even write his own speeches, I’ll bet he just recycles Bush texts, changing Al Qaeda to Hezbollah.
I’m angry that Tony Blair continues to act like George’s lap dog.
I’m angry that Al Gore conceded. Still.
I’m angry that people get all hopped up when oil companies post profits. They’re not state run, people. Get a grip.
I’m angry that we can’t make the connection between oil and war in the Middle East.
I’m angry that people like Dick Cheney have power.
I’m angry that something I was born to – being Jewish, like the color of my eyes or the shape of my feet – is something that someone could use to justify shooting me.
I’m angry that we don’t have gun control.
I’m angry that there are casualties in the Israel-Hezbollah war in my city, half a world away.
“Angry about Israel.”
I’m out of words to describe how angry I am that while I was eating dinner, a man walked in to the Jewish Federation of Seattle and shot six women, killing one.
Amen. “I’m angry that Tony Blair continues to act like George’s lap dog.” Did you know that Blair’s at Pebble Beach this weekend for Rupert Murdoch’s ‘retreat’? (Gore, Clinton, Bono, etc. will also be there…so tired of rich, white men getting together to decide the fate of the world…)
Me too.
I wish there were something I could say… I was about to write “to make it better”, but that would be stupid. Your anger is justified and thus healthy. I just wish the things that make you angry would go away. I think I can understand how upsetting all this must be. I would feel divided all over the place.
Well written, want to link to this …
Yes, yes, yes. You know what makes me angry? That more Americans aren’t angry. And that the vast majority of people I know are not registered to vote. Won’t keep me from nagging the shit out of them come fall.
Here, Here!
Giving Osama bin Laden credit for the “culture of fear” is the only thing I disagree with here. Otherwise, dead on. Definitely angry, and incredibly sad at the same time.
Anne, I honestly don’t remember this culture of fear before 9/11. Maybe it existed, but I wasn’t part of it or a victim of it. And now, I really do see it everywhere. Something shifted her in the US – or maybe only in my head – after that. But maybe you’re right – what happened was that Osama Bin Laden gave the US gov’t the opportunity to create a culture of fear. And we did not need to respond in that way. I went to a memorial rally on 9/13 and I remember, very clearly as though it was yesterday, the King Counter Supervisor saying “NO MAN CAN CAUSE ME TO FEAR MY NEIGHBOR!” and I thought Hallelujah. Yet now, we have a gov’t that relies on my fearing my neighbor. Was that culture created by Osama directly, probably not, but it was a direct response to 9/11.
Nomadshan: How anyone could not be angry is beyond me. You’d have to live in a hole. And I don’t know, if I lived in a hole, I’d be pretty mad about that, even.
The rest of you, thanks. And Americans? Write to your gov’t reps and tell them what you think.
Find contact info here:
http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm
Yep, what you said.
I’m angry that I can’t say a word to support Israel anywhere– not on my blog, not on my friends’ blogs– without getting called an “inflamed gorilla’s anus.”