To the guy complaining about homeless people outside: you can invite them in to join you.
My dad has done that. We've had homeless or nearly homeless people for Shabbat meals. If these are the kind of homeless who are dealing with mental health issues or addictions, then I get it. But then you don't really have to feel bad about it. You cannot invite them without running your meal and house. Ok. That's it for individual guilt.
But also, yeah, it's dissonant. That's sometimes a good thing.
There's a Hasidic story about a wealthy man who came to the Rebbe and said that he wanted to commit to a diet of bread and water as a penance. The Rebbe responded that it was absolutely forbidden for him to eat or live below his means. After the man left, the students asked the Rebbe why he'd responded that way. He said when the rich man eats meat and wine, he remembers to give the poor some bread; if he only ate bread, he wouldn't give them anything.
(Don't get me wrong, elitism can also be bad. Elites living good lives only serves to remind them of their priviledge if they stay in touch, like by having the underclasses in their homes on occasion.)
I really couldn’t agree with this more. It always seems like the paradox of tolerance has been resolved by the American left by simply declaring they won’t tolerate the intolerant. That’s an idiotic solution but it is a solution. Something that can’t be said for the centrist approach to the issue.
The pro-Palestine protestors and pro-Israel activists have a symbiotic relationship where they both manufacture maximum outrage for their consumers while doing nothing to change the situation in Israel/Palestine. In the end, this benefits the Israeli Right the most because every time protests pop up, they draw attention away from "Hundreds burnt alive in strike on Gaza refugee camp" to "Jewish students standing up to woke nepo-babies!"
The issue here is that the left isn't a closed group with secret communication channels for coordination. This sort of campus action is inherently upstream of the anti-israel media bias - it's part of how the meme of "to be accepted on the left you must now put the principle of hating Israel about all others" gets spread. In a world without the campus protestors you also wouldn't see those kinds of headlines about Israel because reporters wouldn't be getting the message they have to spread anti Israel propaganda now.
This is a great example of what Scott Alexander worries about in https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/11/sacred-principles-as-exhaustible-resources/ and https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/12/clarification-to-sacred-principles-as-exhaustible-resources/
To the guy complaining about homeless people outside: you can invite them in to join you.
My dad has done that. We've had homeless or nearly homeless people for Shabbat meals. If these are the kind of homeless who are dealing with mental health issues or addictions, then I get it. But then you don't really have to feel bad about it. You cannot invite them without running your meal and house. Ok. That's it for individual guilt.
But also, yeah, it's dissonant. That's sometimes a good thing.
There's a Hasidic story about a wealthy man who came to the Rebbe and said that he wanted to commit to a diet of bread and water as a penance. The Rebbe responded that it was absolutely forbidden for him to eat or live below his means. After the man left, the students asked the Rebbe why he'd responded that way. He said when the rich man eats meat and wine, he remembers to give the poor some bread; if he only ate bread, he wouldn't give them anything.
(Don't get me wrong, elitism can also be bad. Elites living good lives only serves to remind them of their priviledge if they stay in touch, like by having the underclasses in their homes on occasion.)
I really couldn’t agree with this more. It always seems like the paradox of tolerance has been resolved by the American left by simply declaring they won’t tolerate the intolerant. That’s an idiotic solution but it is a solution. Something that can’t be said for the centrist approach to the issue.
The pro-Palestine protestors and pro-Israel activists have a symbiotic relationship where they both manufacture maximum outrage for their consumers while doing nothing to change the situation in Israel/Palestine. In the end, this benefits the Israeli Right the most because every time protests pop up, they draw attention away from "Hundreds burnt alive in strike on Gaza refugee camp" to "Jewish students standing up to woke nepo-babies!"
The issue here is that the left isn't a closed group with secret communication channels for coordination. This sort of campus action is inherently upstream of the anti-israel media bias - it's part of how the meme of "to be accepted on the left you must now put the principle of hating Israel about all others" gets spread. In a world without the campus protestors you also wouldn't see those kinds of headlines about Israel because reporters wouldn't be getting the message they have to spread anti Israel propaganda now.
Itamar Ben-Gvir had a portrait of Baruch Goldstien in his living room.