Saturday, March 7, 2009

A Textbook Case

"Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimisation) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility (transference). The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction. The theory of denial was first researched seriously by Anna Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts with the ability to learn from and cope with reality." (Wikipedia)

Ever since Theodor Herzl's sloganistic misrepresentation of Palestine as 'A land without a people for a people without a land', Zionists have been resorting to the familiar psychological mechanism of denial.

Most recently, at a 'literary' gathering in Jerusalem, the faithful were told by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami that "Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg." In my post on the subject, Haruki (Jerusalem Prize) Murakami (26/2/09), I concerned myself mainly with Murakami's willing participation in what was after all just another Israeli PR stunt. I perhaps should have added that his wall and egg metaphor hardly does justice to the settler- colonial dynamic of the struggle between Palestinians and Israelis, suggesting Israel's implacability and might but not its genocidal behaviour. A far more apt metaphor for the Zionist invasion, ethnic cleansing, occupation, caging, and brutalisation of the Palestinians is that of the hammer and the anvil.

Nevertheless, for most of us, however inadequate Murakami's metaphor, it is pretty clear that Israel is the wall and the Palestinians are the eggs that have broken, and are continuing to break, against it. Most of us, that is, but not your Zionist faithful. Just stand back and watch as Jerusalem Post blogger Sherri Mandell's denial mechanism kicks in in classic fashion:-

"With all due respect and appreciation for Murakami's phenomenal talent, just once I would like it if an artist could come here and talk about his art rather than our politics... We are like masochists who invite others here to chastise us and then give them a prize for so doing. For a smart people, I have to say, we are really dumb. Back to the egg and the wall. It makes sense that Murakami stands on the side of the fragile egg. An egg is more alluring than a wall. Not only can it be easily cracked, it can easily hatch. It is vulnerable, yet full of possibility. It is nuanced, multifaceted, and open to interpretation. That high, solid wall, on the other hand, is monolithic and closed - big and hard and ghastly, a product, no doubt, of the military-industrial complex. But there is an important question: Who is breaking the egg? We don't know in Murakami's analogy. The egg simply breaks against against the overwhelming power of the wall. It is assumed that it is the fault of the wall. And yet, in another scenario, the owner of the egg could be angry at the wall's owner and fling it at the wall. The wall (assuming it has a will) doesn't intend to smash the egg to smithereens; instead it is the desire of the owner of the egg to shatter it. There are other ways for the analogy to unfold. Suppose the egg is filled with poison. Or suppose the wall looks solid but is actually made of eggs? Contrary to appearances, there is not one side here who is vulnerable. We Israelis are also vulnerable, egglike. Just ask the women from Sderot... It may look like we Israelis are the wall and the poor Gazans are the egg, but that egg isn't poor Humpty Dumpty just sitting there. That egg is a bomb." (Heart-earned wisdom: the egg and the wall, 25/2/09)

Breathtaking!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

One has to ask questions when this conflict is explained down to some strange and weird egg and wall analogy. Keep asking them MERC !

Anonymous said...

The conflict Alex is all about Palestinians not wanting a home land of their own and preferring to bludge off the international community for the rest of their lives..

Anonymous said...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FR015FJgSJ4/SbNuL98CaaI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/COzerq3sphQ/s1
600-h/DRY+BONES.jpg

Anonymous said...

Anon, you mean like Israel's been bludging off the US all these years?

Anonymous said...

As A reward for signing peace treaties with Israel America forgave all Egyptians debts back then and has been giving the Egyptians $2 Billion each year and Jordan $1 Billion each year ever since so the Americans are very generous to Arabs as well.
How ever the big difference is Israel contributes to America by sharing technology particularly Military and aviation, what do the Egyptians and Jordanians have to offer America, kebabs that's about all.

Anonymous said...

And why such princely US bribes to Egypt and Jordan? That's right - to benefit Israel. If Israel hadn't invaded the Sinai and the West Bank in the first place, the American taxpayer wouldn't be out of pocket to that tune. But hey, anything for Israel: $US3 billion per year in direct US aid. But that's not all:1) it's paid early & as a lump sum, forcing the US to borrow the necessary funds;2) some of it is reinvested in US treasury bills which the US has to pay interest on; 3) Israel gets excess US military equipment free or at a discounted rate; 4)Israel is allowed to use 25% of US aid to subsidise its own defense industry instead of spending it on US arms; 5)Israel unlike other countries doesn't have to account for how it spends US aid; 6) Israel is favoured by loan guarantees allowing it to borrow US money at lower rates; 7) private donations to Israel are tax-deductible in the US. And all this munificence is going to an affluent country with the world's 4th largest army. And I haven't even started on military or diplomatic aid...

As for Israel "sharing technology" with the US, since Israel was given preferential access to the US market by Reagan in 1985, US trade with Israel has gone from surplus to deficit ($US 7.8 billion in 2008) and Israel has engaged in serial intellectual property theft costing the US billions.

Anonymous said...

America is only supporting Israel out of self interest There are far more Muslims in America that are potential voters .
Could it be that Americans identify them selves more with the Jews than the Arabs and Muslims, after all it was a Jew that killed one of the Kennedy's it was a Muslim, and certainly wasn't Jews that flew planes into tall buildings and it certainly isn't Jewish Americans that Americans are afraid of that are plotting more death and destruction to America.

You can go on all you want but Israel but strategically it is very important to Americas interests.

Apart form Oil the Arabs and Muslims are of no benefit to America, they have enough cheap labor from Mexico and STh and Central America to drive their taxis and work on 7/11's and at least these people are not plotting to kill their hosts and meal tickets.

Anonymous said...

To quote Mearsheimer & Walt: "Today, America's intimate embrace of Israel - and especially its willingness to subsidize it no matter what its policies are - is not making Americans safer or more prosperous. To the contrary: unconditional support for Israel is undermining relations with other US allies, casting doubt on America's wisdom and moral vision, helping inspire a generation of anti-American extremists, and complicating US efforts to deal with a volatile but vital region. In short, the largely unconditional 'special relationship' between the United States and Israel is no longer defensible on strategic grounds." (The Israel Lobby & US Foreign Policy, p 77)

Anonymous said...

Anon - I fear that America's primary interest in Israel these days is to ensure something like Israel 1) exists for a little while before 2) disappearing in an apolcalypse to 3) herald the return of the saviour. Once again, the zionists are leaping into bed with those who wish them dead. This is a very short term strategy.

Anonymous said...

At last we can agree on something Merc , it is only the Muslims and Arabs that threaten with violence America and Americans if they don't change their foreign policies.

Of course even though America has so many different policies that effect Sth America, Mexico, Africa, etc which many Americans that originate form these places come from may not be happy with these policies but none of them black mail America with violence for their to change these policies.


I,m glad finally we can agree on some thing.


[helping inspire a generation of anti-American extremists,] your words Merc!

Anonymous said...

Never assume my agreement, anon. This may be a bit too subtle for you, but the difference between the places you mentioned and the Middle East is that they all had the good fortune NOT to be chosen by the Zionist movement for the creation and expansion of a sectarian state. Had the Zionist entity been located in Central America, South America, Africa, or anywhere else, we'd have the same problems we see today in the Middle East.

Anonymous said...

If you bother to read the Racist Hamas Charter it calls for yet another Islamic state to join the other 57 ? racist Islamic states, i think one Jewish state that unlike the Muslim racist states incorporates other religions is not to much to ask..

Anonymous said...

I just love that question mark. So, tell me how the sectarian Jewish state "incorporates" other religions? If I'm a Palestinian Muslim/Christian/atheist/whatever, say, born into a family driven out of Palestine by Zionist forces in 1948, can I return there and be granted the same citizenship rights as Israeli Jews?