I was going to write something about the "recognition of Jerusalem" thing, given that headline-reductionism has sucked all of the nuance out of the story and left us with the usual partisan shouting-past-one-other, but my heart's just not in it. It doesn't matter to the rock-throwers (figurative and literal) anyway. Search engines are your friend; this specific issue has been going on for far longer than you might think and is likely to keep on getting kicked down the road, while the State Department shops for real estate.
Take a little time today to be nice to someone. Be polite to everyone you meet. As individuals, we can't fix what's wrong in Washington, or the world; we can't even agree on what is wrong. But we can smile at people, and be friendly, and not cut people off in traffic or flip them off when they cut us off. We can make a small difference, and small differences add up.
(Of course, as I write this, I have an obnoxious one-sided headache that has me as crabby as anything. Essayist, start with thyself!)
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
5 comments:
It is funny, but I have noticed that when I smile at others they are never in a bad mood themselves, but instead they tend to smile back. Funny how that works. The change in our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a huge change, much too big to try and discuss in a short comment. But let me say that Obama and Bush and Clinton all said that they were going to do it, but never did. Trump said he was going to do it, and he DID it. No surprise, but it stirred up a s--t storm.
Alas, that "headline reductioinism" seems to still be at work.
Congress passed a law in 1995 that obliged the Feds to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel not later than 1999 -- that'd be the GOP-controlled Congress, snapping their fingers under Mr. Clinton's nose. Said law contains a provision allowing Presidents to put off recognition for six months if "necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States." Presidents have been so doing ever since. It appears Mr. Trump will do the same (it's about due) -- but he's shopping for an embassy location in Jerusalem and probably will let the next delay run out.
Or as I said in the original, "search engines are your friend." It's 2017 and on many issues, no one has to be any less informed than they choose to be.
Roberta X,
Again, I find myself being corrected and having to first apologize and then thanking the person correcting me. I was relying upon my memory for all three of these presidents promising to move the embassy to Jerusalem. I actually did not know that Congress had gotten involved at all.
It seems as if lately, I end up being guilty of the thing that I used to be impatient with others about. Simply believing that because I think something is a certain way, then I must be right, not even considering the possibility that I could be wrong. The worst part about it is that over that past couple of years, I had found myself actually learning to not do that, but to check facts, and to seek primary sources for checking them.
And of course, you are right, there is no reason for anyone to be ill informed about anything in the world today. When they call the internet the information super highway, they are not kidding.
So here I sit, and once again I ask for your forgiveness, and tolerance. I often stick my nose where it doesn't belong, but when I do, the least I should do is to make sure that my facts are correct. I will try to not make that mistake again, and also, I will try to not post unless I have something constructive to add. It is when I give my own opinion, instead of facts, that I get into trouble.
Tim
There's hardly need for an abject apology -- and one of the problems with an "information superhighway" is that the traffic is heavy and most of the trucks appear to be carrying fertilizer. The stuff may come from different sources but alas, the same kind of organic matter. Drinking from a firehose is one problem; a firehouse spewing farm runoff is another thing.
Contentious matters involving a President who most of the Press loathe are among the very worst to sort out -- he spins, they spin, the opposing media tries to spin back, and whatever facts there were go flying out the window somewhere along the line. This may be why I prize a very few thinkers, among whom there are some with which I disagree: those few try to get the facts right, and when tripped up by an unseen assumption, they admit it and try to correct. Few will. Too few.
Your graciousness is very much appreciated. However, I still should have been more cautious before jumping in with both feet, something I know better than to do. So I thank you for your kindness and your intellect, and for the fact that I often learn here, not only from you, but also from those who comment here. You often have an intelligent crowd, and only on occasion a bad apple.
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