Y'all got to take the word "distract" out of your vocabulary. Israel is not committing genocide to distract from the Epstein files.

I don't really know or care much about Greta Thuneberg. But I wouldn't criticize her unless my activism was objectively more effective than hers...and I don't think that describes either of us.

Sure. Skill issue. Says the skilled warrior changing the world.

Sure. Whatever you say.

We have also not abandoned many systems many times, that's not an argument.
Show me the effect and disruption. I'm not against it, just right now there isn't much there.

You can say she was the head of that flotilla and without her it would be at least much smaller and you are right, but in this case, considering what Israel did to them and there is still a lack of any real effects.

I am thinking of the political effects. I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be any after what they did to her and others on the boats.

But on the other hand, the world has stood by for more than half a century of torture of Gazans, so it shouldn't be surprising.

I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be any after what they did to her and others on the boats.

This stuff takes longer than a news cycle, that was two days ago.

But on the other hand, the world has stood by for more than half a century of torture of Gazans, so it shouldn't be surprising.

Agreed.

I get it. You find it comforting to believe there's nothing you can do to change things, so you refuse to consume anything that would challenge that notion. Otherwise, you might feel obligated to do something you aren't willing to do, like join a cause or think critically about how you might make change.

I suppose ignorance is bliss, after all, but if you did want to challenge that notion, I'm happy to share the following:

• Palestinians being able to fish in Gaza while the IOF was distracted by the Sumud flotilla.
• The global change in public sentiment regarding Palestine and its occupation by a settler-colonialist force, including 60% of Jews in the US recognizing that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza (up from 27% in late 2023).
• International governments recognizing the state of Palestine. A move, albeit performative, indicating that governments are feeling major public pressure to act. And that was before the solidarity protests and general strikes across europe that are breaking out today.
• The successes of the BDS movement. Billions of dollars in divestments have been won from genocidal collaborators like Coca-Cola, Teva, Caterpillar, Microsoft, and countless more, even by governments and retirement indexes, along with 250+ wins in the US alone
• Spain's announcement of a complete arms embargo against Israel, along with eight other measures against the occupation
• The success of the Mask Off Maersk campaign, a major win being the end of Maersk's collaboration with illegal settlements in the West Bank.
• Other campaigns; like The Oakland People's Arms Embargo, and the recently launched AIPAC Out!; uncovering Israel's American collaborators at every level, in a way that is accessible and therefore actionable to the public.

That's only what I could name off the top of my head

It is in this context alone that we see serious peace talks taking place, with Trump and other US negotiators getting directly involved, and Israel actually seemingly motivated to engage in negotiations on Hamas's terms (i.e. their demands for a permanent ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian aid, full IOF withdrawal, prisoners exchange, resisting the disarmament of their people, etc). That deal most certainly won't be enough, but it's a start. We both know that Israel wouldn't even come to the table without overwhelming pressure to do so. The cracks in the empire are showing and the empire is desperate to close them, but the thing about cracks is they tend to permanently weaken the structures that stand on them.

Shipping giant Maersk divests from companies linked to Israeli settlements

Move follows campaign accusing Maersk of links to Israel’s military and occupation of Palestinian lands.

^{Yarno Ritzen (Al Jazeera)}

Yes, that's all great, but you have completely the wrong assumptions about me and about what I said.

Nevertheless I appreciate that you gathered all that information together.

I wouldn’t say those three things are inherently logically incompatible, but there would be a lot of grey areas.

The power structure of the federal government doesn’t make it any easier to actually exercise the federal government to accomplish helpful objectives, but making things worse is a relatively easy exercise.

The focus on state level politics seems much more meaningful to actually accomplish any goals, since at least there is not as big of a hurdle where land and money have more power/representation than real people.

They are not logically incompatible, but we will have to make clear and specific decisions about where one ends and the other begins.

Unless you are asking me to live in a society where I must share my toothbrush with others because I am not allowed to keep any private property.

I do believe in private property: with modest, reasonable limits. Which we can and will discuss the details of over time, and I understand that will likely become a heated discussion at times, but I believe it is an inevitable and necessary one. Does that disqualify me from being a leftist? Does it make me a liberal too? Let me know.