A Land of Our Own

I wasn't too happy with the most recent Q and A program. 

It's probably hypocritical of me to complain about it being filmed on Rosh Hashanah, since I was watching the downloaded program while most of my fellow Fort Worth Jews were at synagogue.

I didn't even realize that they had filmed it on Rosh Hashanah until the video questioner brought it up.

Thinking, though, that they picked this night—for a show dedicated to the subject of Israel—annoyed me.  As the questioner pointed out, not only was the studio audience lacking Jews but the Twitter feed as well.

I was even more annoyed when I heard Tony Jones' excuse for the choosing of this night for the program.  Well, first of all this is the only night that Ilan Pappe was available to come on Q and A

Okay. Well, personally I would have been happy if they skipped having Ilan Pappe on the show.

Out of all the Israeli's out there, did they have to pick one that's so anti-Israel?

Out of all the anti-Israel people out there, did they have to pick one that's Israeli?

And out of all the Anti-Israel Jews out there, did they have to pick one as rude as him?

I'll say one good thing for Pappe. He kind of looks like Gary Oldman.  He's like a cross between Gary Oldman and Dana Carvey.  And maybe there's a little bit of Ben Folds in there as well.

Maybe rude is the wrong word for Pappe. Rude is burping in someone's face or not saying thank you if someone opens a door for you.

I think abrasive would be a better term.

I wonder, though, if anti-Israel people liked Pappe and weren't bothered by his abrasiveness.  

I wouldn't be one of those people....I mean if I was anti-Israel. I'm starting to come to the strong realization that I don't judge people just on their opinions but also on how they express their opinions.

I don't like people who are abrasive and mean, even if they share my view of things.

I also don't like people who don't share my view of things. But that dislike usually fades in a day or two. 

Anyway....

If Q and A  ever does a program again, I'd like them to balance it out with a pro-Israel Israeli.

At least this time they had a pro-Israel Jew. That was nice. But I don't think it balanced out Pappe, Robyn Davidson (who seemed to often agree with Pappe), and the Jewish-lacking audience and Jewish-lacking Twitterers.

Also, perhaps Q and A could have a pro-Israel Arab someday.

Maybe they could have this guy.  He's the son of a Hamas person and then switched teams.

There's others.

I used to think they didn't exist. But they do. Unfortunately, it seems they're quieter than the Jewish, anti-Israel people.

Or maybe they're not quieter and just not heard by the media as much.  

So...Well...I've been thinking about Israel and all this for the past week.

I eventually came up with an analogy.

It's not a perfect one. Not every puzzle piece fits neatly. But I'm going to try my best.

Here we go:   

Let's say things don't improve for Aboriginal Australians. It gets worse. The gap doesn't get smaller.  It gets much bigger. Then there's also a lot of animosity between white people and Aborigines.

The UK then comes over and somehow exercises some power.  (I'm not sure if this would be possible or legal, but let's just make-believe).

The British say things aren't working out well for the Aborigines in Australia. They need a land of their own.

The British give the Aborigines a chunk of land that includes Alice Springs and Uluru. A lot of white people are expelled from their homes because the Aborigines need room in their new homeland to live.

The white folks of Alice Springs could live anywhere in Australia.  Some of them move to Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, etc. to start new lives.  Many others, though, remain in Alice Springs.   They want to fight against the Aborigines who have taken their land.

Meanwhile, the majority of Aborigines around Australia leave their towns and cities and go to Alice Springs. Some of them leave because the white folks were awful to them.  In other cities, the Aborigines were actually forcibly expelled. Then some Aborigines leave because they decide it would be cool to live in a land that's dominated by their kind. They like living in a land where they feel so welcomed.

Now in Alice Springs, it's not 100% Aborigines.  White people—any people—can be there and become citizens of the state. They can vote. They can join the Parliament.  And there's even a few white people in the Parliament.  We can't say Alice Springs, though, that is completely lacking racism. Like any town, it's not perfect. 

Some white people in Australia don't like that Aborigines get their own town.  It's SO totally not fair.  They want to change Alice Springs and make it like any other town in Australia.  It's not enough that the whole rest of Australia is dominated by white people—Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth, Tasmania, etc.  They think white people should have the power in the Alice Springs area as well.  

Some white folks start a boycott of Alice Springs.  What do they want? They want Alice Springs to allow white folks to migrate there as easily as Aborigines. Any Aborigine at any time can say, I want to live in Alice Springs.  Then they move there. It's easy for them. As I said before, white people can live in Alice Springs too. And they do. But it's more of a hassle.  It's much easier for them to choose to live in Darwin, Sydney, Melbourne, etc.

The white people start the boycott, and a lot of other ethnic groups join them. They also don't like the Aborigines having their own land.

Some Aborigines speak up against the boycott. They point out that if white people are freely allowed to move to Alice Springs, they'll overtake the country.  Why?  There's more white people. There will be more white voters. Alice Springs will become another white town. The Aborigines don't like this.  They want a town of their own. They think back to their past and know they NEED a town of their own.

Should the Aborigines have their own town?  Or would that be wrong?

What would happen if they lose the town? Would they be welcomed back into the other cities?   Would they be treated well in these cities? Would they be treated well in the Alice Springs area when the population and government is controlled by white folks?

The End.

I'm guessing some people would be bothered by my analogy. The Jewish story is different because their big atrocity was caused by a group OUTSIDE of the Muslim world. In my story, the people who created the big atrocity are the same ones who don't want the Aborigines to have their own homeland.

So, if anyone is bothered by that, we can change it. How about we use the Afghani refugees?

 What if a powerful government force decides the detention camps aren't working.  The Afghani refugees need a home of their own.   They need to be protected.    So they give them their own town in New South Wales.  Afghanis leave (or are forced to leave) all other cities and towns in Australia.    Other people can live in Little Afghanistan even if they aren't Afghanis. These other people have voting rights; and they can and are in Parliament.  Still, though, the town is set up so it remains politically dominated by Afghanis.  This way they can have a safe place to live, raise their children, and be free of discrimination and persecution.

Would that be okay or not be okay?   


Note: In both stories, I'm leaving out the Holocaust, terrorism, and military overreaction to terrorism.  But you can add that in there if you desire.