THE OXYMORONIC LIFE

 

An oxymoron is created when two diametrically opposed terms are joined together, thus creating a new term of description and understanding. An example would be "a thunderous silence". A most famous and self explanatory oxymoron would be the opening paragraph of Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, with the very first line world famous: 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." 

An oxymoronic world and if you think that there is a startling resemblance to the world of today, then realize that you are correct. It is a world where one is bubbling over with the desire to speak, yet stunned to silence at the same time. It is when it is such a good life for some, while others, suddenly and frighteningly, find themselves begging and picking in the garbage for food. It is a time when traditional enemies are actually turning into defenders, and doesn't that want to make you cry.

When Taylor-Greene takes on AOC for her anti-Semitism, for her instigation and rabble rousing even as AOC 'decries' anti Semitism, well then we have to rethink this world. This is the same person who previously backed those who spoke, who shouted, against Jews in Charlottesville and elsewhere.

It is when Americans of Jewish background have climbed the ladders to success, become an integral part of the nation's framework, yet suddenly find themselves in the midst of an overwhelming series of attacks. Attacked and beaten in Manhattan by a mob. Verbally assaulted, physically threatened by passengers in a car, threatening to rape the women present,  rescued by a gun bearing motorist. Killed within institutions. No, this is not unlinked, separate ones that were perpetually taking place, but rather an organized series of attacks, an encouragement of such attacks, even as 'protest' marches against Israel, its very existence - the very right to exist -  are wallowing in the stink of anti-Semitism very thinly disguised as anti-Zionism, actually one and the same thing!

It is when one is confused. Am I American, or am I a perpetual stranger in strange lands, denied a home wherever I go, including in my own homeland? Am I to be allowed to speak the truth or am I to forever be drowned out by the lies of so many haters? Is the world to be told slanted stories or outright lies fed to them as pap is fed to an infant and then believe those lies? A house built in a Jewish cemetery previously defaced, destroyed by Jordan, renewed by Israel at great cost, financially and emotionally, is then rightfully razed as an illegal structure and is then presented to the world as an incident of "picking on the underdog". And the world believes.

When proportionate is the term used to describe a defense of itself, of its citizens, Arab and Jew alike, foreign workers and citizens alike, what does that mean? Should the shelters be destroyed? Should Israel give over the Iron Dome to Hamas to further their ability to rain constant destruction and death upon the people in Israel, burn their fields with incendiary devices disguised as toys, the better to lure children to them and die, horribly? Should we count the number of dead and wounded, mainly enemy combatants, and give over an equal number of Israelis to 'even' the score? Has this ever been done by any other country? Ever? Even ever asked to do so? Never!! Yet why with Israel?

It is because we have the presence of oxymoron philosophy. Believe in and spout the "Judeo-Christian" tradition, but kill off the living embodiment of the Judeo side. Disallow them, particularly the modern counterparts. Disguise traditional and violent anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism, ignoring the fact of 22 Moslem states while one tiny size of New Jersey state for Jews is to be disallowed, attacked as anti anything one can think of. It is not a political question but rather a religious one based on a perpetual hatred of Jews, perpetually put forth as scapegoats for the defects of the countries where they reside, unto the point of being denied the very first right of all humans - to live. To simply live as do all people. To be left alone to worship or not as they please, to work and raise families as do all others. To be safe, expect to be able to walk the streets in dignity and safety. Why is this so difficult for the world to accept? And then the very same people who should be actively crusading (to use an oxymoronic term, as the Crusades were a period of great murder of Jewish people), are now the very ones pushing, encouraging, anti Semitism, unto violence. Unto murder and death.

Kristallnacht. A night of terror and death under the Nazis. A term of beauty, of glass sparkling under moonlight, termed and teamed with ugliness of hatred. The sanctioned murder of Jews, prejudice against them in every area of life, from the very act of breathing and living, to education, to work rights and professions, to live where they chose. To live. All this once thought to be gone, in the mists of the past. With the practitioners of modern day hate being a terrible aberration, but still, an aberration, not the norm. Well, oxymoron comes in again, for the truth is revealed. The light of the sun shines upon it, so hinting of the beauty of the world, of its possibilities, even as its exposes the anti Semitism still alive and flourishing, even encouraged by so many. By too many, if we are to be honest with ourselves. 

"A pandemic of hate," says Eric Adams. No, it is a pandemic addressed against and towards Jews. Please do not link this viral and vile hatred with others. I see no one organizing parades protesting, holding signs that "Jewish lives matter". I see no recognition of the role that Jews have played in fighting prejudice within this country and the entire world. I see the oxymoronic attitudes, admiration for their achievements and hatred and jealousy for those very same things.

I see the oxymoronic effects of the proposed new curriculums and history to be taught within schools. Contrary to anyone's viewpoint, no one group of people built this country. True, slavery played a great part in the economy of the South and was one  reason for the Civil War. And the indentured whites coming over from Europe were as slaves for the long terms of their indenture -and often did not survive. The Jim Crow laws continued this behavior. Wrongly so, but at the very same time, the Chinese, the Irish, the Italians, the Scots, and the Jews were seen as targets of disgust, of being worthy of nothing but the worst jobs, the worst housing, of discrimination in every area and yes, even death, as members of all ethnic groups faced  mobs, denial, by starvation, all from hatred in the "land of the free" where the "tired, the poor, the wretched refuse" of the world were to be accepted and recognized as humans, as equals. But from the very beginning, from Stuyvesant up to and including modern times, this very day, Jews faced prejudice, even as others welcomed them, even as Washington wrote his wonderful letter re Jews in America. Oxymoronic indeed, but that is the world towards Jews.

 The hatred continued and continues, with laws passed to limit their entry. even as they lived and died under the swords of the Cossacks, the peasants, the rich, the Nazis and yes, the British and the Arabs as well. Welcomed in some places, but always the undertone of hatred, of anger, of doubt of their loyalty. The old accusation of dual loyalty, even when there was no State of Israel!!! Oxymoronic life to the hilt!

I am a Jew. I am an American. I love my country - when it is as it should be or striving towards it. I support and love Israel, but do not always agree with all it might do -just as I do with other countries. I am denied as to being white. I am called a 'mud' person. I am linked with whites when it suits others. I am praised and criticized for the same things. I face prejudice against myself even as I fight it against others. I am asked to join in, even as I am excluded. I face the traitorous ways of those who would deny their Jewishness, the truth of the attitude of so many others, as they follow the shameful tradition of trying to "fit in, be separate from other Jews even as they 'espouse' and shamefully use the term 'Jewish".

I am a hopeful dreamer of the future even as I fear and dread the crashing of the past right through the present as it meets up with the future in a most awful scenario. I am a social liberal, idealistically, perhaps foolishly, believing that we are all people, and that is what matters and counts. But I am a liberal who is being pushed to the wall with the hatred coming from the left, the so called "progressives". I resent that. A great deal. It was a joyous time when we beat the haters and treason on the right, but then, in an active state of 'oxymoroncy', the left took a wrong turn and usurped the right's place  in the spouting and espousal of the same garbage of hatred and anti Semitism.

The reek of hatred, the stink of hatred, the pollution, the absolute horror of anti-Semitism, in all forms, its long duration, contains no oxymoron. It is evil. It is wrong. It is clear through and through in its destructive power. It must stop, in all forms, with no disguises attempted. Truth is truth. Call it what you will, but it is frightening. No oxymoron there. It is a hateful, shameful reality. The truth is - I am afraid. Period.