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Amid the disarray of violence and political vitriol, real people exist. This may seem obvious, but it appears it is not. All sides conflate people with the political systems they live under, frustrating everyone involved.
As a Jew, I’m so confused about why I’m being asked to define my politics right now. I’m confused about why I can’t grieve the loss of Jewish life without holding my breath. I’m sure Muslim people are feeling similarly and grieving similarly.
Right now, Palestinians are incessantly conflated with Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization. I have seen Palestinian people called savages and animals on social media. Never mind that a large portion of the victims in the war and siege will be women, children and teenagers.
If Palestinians are not being conflated with Hamas, they’re being lumped under the Palestinian National Authority, a system of government facing both internal and external accusations of corruption and ineptitude. Conflating Palestinians with the governments or systems of power they live under is dangerous. It sows anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments across the world.
I think of the many Iranians living under the thumb of the Iranian government. Their humanity is ignored because of who governs them. I think of the Syrian refugees who fled their home country because of a violent government system. The rightful stigma against ISIS and Hamas wrongly marks the people they have forcibly controlled.
This injustice isn’t specific to the Muslim world in any way, though I do believe they bear a massive brunt of stigma worldwide. Muslim and Arab people in the U.S., especially in the post-9/11 world and following the rise of ISIS, have faced brutal discrimination because of systems they have nothing to do with. This was and continues to be a moral and social injury. It alienates people from one another and from identities with beautiful cultural and religious traditions.
In Israel, many Israelis are judged under the same breath as the Israeli government. We suddenly fail to remember the months of steadfast, relentless protests against Benjamin Netanyahu’s corrupt leadership. What’s more, Jews in America and across the world are held to account for the Israeli government. Why?
Why must I be a Jew and a facet of the Israeli government? Why can’t I just be a Jew? Why can’t I grieve the hate crimes that my people have faced in peace? Why can’t I use my own experiences with discrimination to empathize with others? Why can’t Israelis just be Israelis?
This mirrors how Palestinians are treated. Why can’t Muslims just be Muslims? Why are they collectively discriminated against as agents or facets of Islamic governments? It makes little sense to me. Although I understand that the Israeli government and Hamas are very different, I don’t appreciate how people are being essentialized within each group.
As an American, I hate being conflated with my government. I hate being conflated with a behemoth of voter disenfranchisement, systemic racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Islam, xenophobic patterns. Though these feelings are elements of my belief system (which I believe to be true based on my education and lived experience and my personal ability to see), I know that those on the other side equally hate living under Joe Biden’s presidency.
In times of deep-seated fear, politics becomes more polarizing, and nuance is needed more than ever. High-ranking political figures create and hyperbolize conflict to consolidate their power. People in fear gravitate toward polarities. Parsing out beliefs and interrogating systems is brave because holding beliefs that cross binaries is publicly penalized.
I’m tired of the polarization of my identity. I’m tired of power relying on hatred. I’m tired of social media that stokes the fires of binaries, to then profit off them. I’m just tired.
There are people behind the screens. There are people suffering through war. There are people who will grieve for years and generations that will be formed by how we behave now.
Act like it, please.
Julia Schiff is a freelance writer in St. Paul.
