On taking kids to demos. Randomizer, in Wednesday's Souciant.
As for Benjamin Netanyahu complaint of “telegenic” casualties, I'll admit that I have not seen many of the images from this conflict because I have no access to cable news. I'm not sure that this is a good thing as I'm certain these images would further color my perception of what is occurring. Is it your opinion that western media is crafting a false narrative or has the coverage been a valid representation of what is occurring? Most of my news on this has come from your publication and Plitnick's.Yet as clever as the use of these children may be, there remains something unsavory about it. Because even if they stand for the spoken for, there is no denying that someone is implicitly speaking for them. Although they may have no conscious memories of this specific experience later in life, there’s a possibility that it will be merged with other childhood instances in which they perceived themselves, however dimly, as the instruments of someone else’s pain and pleasure.
It's a tough line to walk in my opinion. On the one hand, it makes perfect sense to bring your child to a protest of the IDF because so much of the pain, injuries and casualties will be had by the young. Also, don't discount the fact that many of the adults protesting may not have any other option but than to bring their kids with them. Still, there is a difference between bringing your kids because you don't have childcare and bringing them dressed in protest garb and holding a sign. One is practical and the other is opportunistic. Nobody likes to see children treated like a billboard, but my guess is that their parents have considered this and that they have decided that the potential to affect change outweighs the negatives. Imagine how much rage this rhetorical strategy can inspire when adults are treated as children. From the treatment of women and people of color back in the heyday of colonialism, when only white men had the right to represent themselves, to the sort meted out to dispossessed groups today, whose statelessness effectively consigns them to political immaturity, the metaphoric deployment of “innocence” has a disturbing history.
It is an apt analogy in my opinion. There certainly is a sense that palestinians are somehow less noteworthy because of their statelessness. It's shameful and brings to mind the three fifths solution from Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution. It would certainly inspire "rage" in me if I were constantly marginalized and felt I had no voice or say in my families destiny/lot in life.
Hahahahahaha! In my email notification, even without having checked the link, I knew what was coming. With my daughter it was even worse, it was a Hubski onesie. Somehow (wife) that disappeared.