We have a problem here. Always. Having not read the book Medical Apartheid I have stood besides a woman who noticed another woman who was seated and hold this book. Should I give some thick description? I know neither besides some general, easily identifiable observation of identity. Both female. The one seated was is a headdress that read Muslim. The one standing besides me was dressed for the humid weather of the morning. The heat had eased after the late morning thunder storms. The bus kicked up the dirty water and smashed some on the sidewalk where a woman pushed a carriage. We three in the bus are in a historical moment which it seems to make the national discourse resemble a college seminar led by priests. In other words, there is a tradition of this.
Ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, and class are the concepts of interests and intersections too are contested. A few weeks ago a lesbian Jew at the Chicago Pride march was asked to leave. Here pink flag of Israel was triggering other members of the marching community. He we see the some version of the truth of freedom movements. It is a whack-a-mole. Put your eye to freedom here and you won't sniff out the oppression there. The community she belongs to as a lesbian will not accept that her definition of Zionism, Judaism and freedom. There are other concepts important to them, I am sure. I haven't spoken to them. I have read nothing about them that isn't obviously of interest to an instant news reaction. So, I don't know what she might say about those three concepts over time. I don't know what other identities and ideas she places herself in. I don't know her. I only know what I read into these immediate news reactions. It goes the same for the two women on the bus. I don't know if either of them is queer. I don't know their education. I don't know where they were born and raised. I don't know what either of them would say about Zionism, Judaism nor freedom. I did hear the woman who was standing mention the book. She had heard about it. The woman in the scarf said it was very good. It was difficult to read. It is a historical book and is a little technical, she said. I thought maybe it was difficult because of the horror of what was being described in it. The woman in her middle to late twenties was standing and connecting to the Muslim woman who was seated and holding a book that was a little technical in her opinion and, IMO, a little hyperbolic in its title. Without having read the book she said it should be read by everyone. Its subject should be taught in schools.
A little more about myself. I find the term Apartheid to be hyperbolic unless it is specifically being used to describe the range of laws and conditions of South Africa of a certain era. Once this term is applied to another situation, such as Israel, the term becomes a different kind of contest. Rather than discussing a specific period and the veritable views of its history, impacts and meaning; using the term Apartheid to describe anything but a certain period of South African history and its social impacts, the user of the term is attempting a slur. They are erasing relevant, specific lived experiences and meanings being had by specific people in another time and place.
Intersectionality does the same work of neglecting the specific. It generalizes in a manner that is anti ethical to a core notion of freedom. It permits an inclusive movement to shut out the the meaning that Zionism and Judaism has to one queer woman in Chicago. This woman wanted to walk in an event under a rainbow of colors and express her love of Israel. Others felt triggered by this. She was triggered by their action and here we see the many faultiness where sections meet. There will be a big one and folk will see the damage done to many beautiful structures. Activism has a long and outstanding history of domination.
So, back to the bus and the history book. I have been informed by many people in their twenties that they did not learn history. They come to college and suddenly they are being presented by the history of the US and the professors are immediately problematizing an American history their students. These students don't yet know the orthodox history of the US, how on earth are they supposed to grapple with its problems? So, the idea comes back to what the woman standing on the bus was telling the woman seated with the book. Everyone should read this book I haven't bothered to read yet. The subject of this book I haven't read should be taught in schools.
I have reading to do and need to walk away from this post. I'll come back but I'm wanting to speak to this contest of meaning that seems to be animating so much of the social discussion these days. Once again, the national discourse resembles college campuses where people are being shown the problems of systems they haven't learned and so they walk away only familiar with the problems. They want to toss out the water and don't even know there is a baby splashing in the bath. I'll talk more about this baby, the bath water, the bath, and the caretakers later.
Ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, and class are the concepts of interests and intersections too are contested. A few weeks ago a lesbian Jew at the Chicago Pride march was asked to leave. Here pink flag of Israel was triggering other members of the marching community. He we see the some version of the truth of freedom movements. It is a whack-a-mole. Put your eye to freedom here and you won't sniff out the oppression there. The community she belongs to as a lesbian will not accept that her definition of Zionism, Judaism and freedom. There are other concepts important to them, I am sure. I haven't spoken to them. I have read nothing about them that isn't obviously of interest to an instant news reaction. So, I don't know what she might say about those three concepts over time. I don't know what other identities and ideas she places herself in. I don't know her. I only know what I read into these immediate news reactions. It goes the same for the two women on the bus. I don't know if either of them is queer. I don't know their education. I don't know where they were born and raised. I don't know what either of them would say about Zionism, Judaism nor freedom. I did hear the woman who was standing mention the book. She had heard about it. The woman in the scarf said it was very good. It was difficult to read. It is a historical book and is a little technical, she said. I thought maybe it was difficult because of the horror of what was being described in it. The woman in her middle to late twenties was standing and connecting to the Muslim woman who was seated and holding a book that was a little technical in her opinion and, IMO, a little hyperbolic in its title. Without having read the book she said it should be read by everyone. Its subject should be taught in schools.
A little more about myself. I find the term Apartheid to be hyperbolic unless it is specifically being used to describe the range of laws and conditions of South Africa of a certain era. Once this term is applied to another situation, such as Israel, the term becomes a different kind of contest. Rather than discussing a specific period and the veritable views of its history, impacts and meaning; using the term Apartheid to describe anything but a certain period of South African history and its social impacts, the user of the term is attempting a slur. They are erasing relevant, specific lived experiences and meanings being had by specific people in another time and place.
Intersectionality does the same work of neglecting the specific. It generalizes in a manner that is anti ethical to a core notion of freedom. It permits an inclusive movement to shut out the the meaning that Zionism and Judaism has to one queer woman in Chicago. This woman wanted to walk in an event under a rainbow of colors and express her love of Israel. Others felt triggered by this. She was triggered by their action and here we see the many faultiness where sections meet. There will be a big one and folk will see the damage done to many beautiful structures. Activism has a long and outstanding history of domination.
So, back to the bus and the history book. I have been informed by many people in their twenties that they did not learn history. They come to college and suddenly they are being presented by the history of the US and the professors are immediately problematizing an American history their students. These students don't yet know the orthodox history of the US, how on earth are they supposed to grapple with its problems? So, the idea comes back to what the woman standing on the bus was telling the woman seated with the book. Everyone should read this book I haven't bothered to read yet. The subject of this book I haven't read should be taught in schools.
I have reading to do and need to walk away from this post. I'll come back but I'm wanting to speak to this contest of meaning that seems to be animating so much of the social discussion these days. Once again, the national discourse resembles college campuses where people are being shown the problems of systems they haven't learned and so they walk away only familiar with the problems. They want to toss out the water and don't even know there is a baby splashing in the bath. I'll talk more about this baby, the bath water, the bath, and the caretakers later.
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