Interesting Conversation with Dad

"The whole world writhes in pain and acts if a kid gets stuck in the gutter somewhere in the west, but innocent civilians and children are killed everyday by Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, and the west stands watching and verbally condemns the actions, the US notwithstanding, since they're actually supporting the actions."

Those where the words my dad used that sparked a reaction from me that shocked even me. I have been, for the past few years, involved in building cultural bridges and trying to make people from different cultures understand each other and take things for face value, and the people everywhere, Arab and Western world are too busy coming up with conspiracy theories to see what is truly happening.

Here's what I said:

"First of all, before we put things out of context, let me state that I condemn the bombing and killing of innocent civilians. I do not however condemn Israel for trying to protect two of its citizens, even if the reaction was disproportionate to the action. Once again, Civilians and children dying in the process is wrong, inexcusable, appalling, call it whatever you want. Unfortunately the Arab world see things through the eyes of their leaders. The Arab leaders and authorities have come so far in treating their own like shit, that nowadays, we no longer see the value of a single human life. Unless it's an act of genocide, we'll stand by saying, why are they doing this for only two people, whereas people from governments who would spend millions to recover a single citizen look on and say, They have a right to defend their citizens."

At that point we went into a big argument about why the US and the world supports Israel and he said that the only reason the US supports Israel is because the US is governed by the Jewish Lobby. If I had not had a conversation with my good friend Matt Beckner one day about politics in the US (Matt and I tend to have quite heated debates at which we both sometimes argue for the sake of arguing, which I have to say helps the other person really bring out the best arguments they have, and make the conversation more interesting, meaningful and impactful), I would not have been able to articulate the following:

"First of all I firmly believe that's just propaganda and media bullshit. America is a predominantly Christian country. The American people are brainwashed by their media about Arabs and Muslims (of course with strong arguments coming from Taliban, Al Qaeda, etc...) and made to believe that Arab and Muslim are synonymous with Terrorist. In the same manner, the Arab media and propaganda brainwashed the people into believing that America is ruled by the Jewish lobby, when nothing, in my opinion is further from the truth. There are indeed some signs that when misinterpreted could mean that but let's look at the facts:

1) It was very easy for the Arab media to suggest that a Jewish lobby controls the US policies and Election results due to the US stand in the Middle East, particularly the fact that in the past 25 years, two presidents have been involved in wars in the region. (Ignoring the fact that there's a slight connection between those two presidents)
2) Notice the progression:
- Ronald Reagan: Cold War President - not really that involved in the Middle East
- George Bush Sr: Gulf War #1: His background: A capitalist from the south, grew with oil and money, and is focused on getting more Oil, best way to do that, Contorl Gulf Oil. Barng in mind that the US
and all other major world forces only made their move to support Kuwait after Egypt and Syria, the major arab forces at the time, made their move first in support of Kuwait.
- Bill Clinton: An 8 year period that possibly saw the best progress in peace talks with a president from the Democratic Party leading an economic reform.
- George Bush Junior: Notice he has something in common with GB Sr. Oll centric. Therefore, driven by passion for oil and making America richer, again, confilct in the Middle East is best drive for more
oil in the US and driving up the price of oil. Baring in mind one thing, he's not as smart as he thinks.

Conclusion: The US is not controlled by the Jewish lobby, but it can easily be twisted to mean that. Now let's not blame the twisted policies on the Jewish lobby again. The Election process is probably, while somehow inefficient, very fair. Apart from minority parties, the US has two major political parties: Republican and Democrat. Now let's assume for a second that Egypt had fair democratic elections, would Average Joe want to vote for Candidate X who will solve the Middle East crisis but render him hungry, or Candidate Y who's apathetic towards the Crisis, but will feed him and his kids? (as I predicted this was a rhetorical question). Therefore when you look at the demographics of the US you'll find:

- Capitalists: Rich people, mainly in the south and midwest, who will vote for whomever will protect their money. These people are a majority of Christians, mostly conservative and vote Republican (I.E. Bush)
- Farmers: Those are land ownders and farm workers from the South who are also conservative and mainly Christian. (once again Bush)
- Upper Working Class: These are the small demographic that are well off but their wealth is not entrepreneurial or capitalist, it's salary dependant. These are mainly the educated class, the thinkers, the
doctors and lawyers and journalists. These tend to be more liberal and vote Democratic (Not Bush)
- Last but not least, something that we forgot about living in Dubai, the Middle Class. The backbone of any community. These are the blue collars and workers who constitute the majority of the population.
While these have alot of minorities that will not vote republican, alot of them will also vote conservative.

Thus, at a glance, we see that the Jewish lobby, logically in fact, has nothing to do with the US policies. Let's not spend our time beleving in conspiracy theories to hide behind it the apathy and political impotence of our leaders. After September 11th, yes the world reacted in support of the US, but it was the US who led the action and took the initiative. No one will stand by the arabs and take initiative for them, unless they take an initiative themselves, and the first initiative that needs to be taken, in my opinion, is for Hezbollah and other idiots to stop being idiots. It is no longer an Eye for an Eye. It is "you slap my wrist, I slit your throat, because I CAN". Some will argue that Israel has been plotting this for five years, since the last Hezbolla kidnapping. Again, I condemn the killing of innocent civilians, but if Hezbollah had not acted first, there's no proof that Israel would have attacked. i doubt they would have, they don't need an excuse if they have the backing of the US remember? (This is the contradictory logic that they avoid using!)"

With that the conversation ended with my dad smiling and saying that he had honestly never looked at it from that angle before. Matt and everyone else: Keep the dialogue going, it's a start for our generation that will hopefully one day lead the world into a more peaceful and understanding era.