5 November 2024

Can We Be Human in Tyranny of a War Culture?

[Photo: Search and rescue in Gaza after Israeli bombing. MEM (Mustafa Hassona/ Anadolu Agency)]

By Mahboob Khawaja, PhD

The Horrors and Pains Inflicted on the People of Gaza

We, the people of conscience, are living in a time when moral and intellectual vigilance is being ruthlessly purged from our very humanity—our very existence: “How can we be human in the tyranny of the US-Israel war culture?” There is no sustainable idealism in human life except as a painted fantasy, for there is both much evil and much good in the world we inhabit. If we claim to be moral beings, we must prove ourselves as such in all our endeavors. The truth is that we have serious problems defining ourselves as moral beings when ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, alongside bombings and the killing of innocent people, are daily occurrences, turning abnormal doses of inhumanity into the new normal of socio-economic and political consumption. These contradictions are covered up by massive political, economic, and inhuman manipulations by a few elite classes that govern global affairs.

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Category: Gaza, Israel, Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D., Middle East, Morality & Ethics, Peace, U.S., War and Conflict | Comments Off on Can We Be Human in Tyranny of a War Culture?
5 December 2023

War on Gaza and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed

[Photo: Gaza Refugees, Policy Options, Khan, Nov. 28, 2023.]

By Mahboob Khawaja, PhD

Editor's Note
Though some may try, it is impossible to overlook the massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Southern Gaza, particularly Rafa, is now under bombing by Israel. The damage being done to buildings and infrastructure will take a decade or more to rebuild. But, who will pay for the rebuilding, and what will the dispaced do in the meantime?

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Category: Crimes Against Humanity, Israel, Justice, Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D., Morality & Ethics, Pakistan, Social (In)Justice, State Repression, U.S., UN, War and Conflict | Comments Off on War on Gaza and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed
28 November 2023

Authoritarianism, Anti-Jewish Racism, And The Israel-Hamas War: An Open Letter To The Left

[Photo: “War & Peace”, Christopher Weyant, CagleCartoons.com]

By Chaia Heller
Source:  Znet

Editor's Note
My compliments to Chaia Heller on an excellent article that demonstrates a conceptual finesse often missing critical discussions. I have been concerned with parts of the left, primarily what might be called the “hard left” since the 2016 presidential campaign when many leftists tacitly supported Trump because they argued that he would either destroy the “deep state” or weaken it significantly, or by the highly vocal critique of every Democratic candidate as being fundamentally flawed. I found myself feeling betrayed that so many leftists would embrace an authoritarian and eschew means for an end they desired – regardless of the human costs of such a course. In other words, it seemed that a vocal part of the left was much closer to the far right than I had ever feared possible.   

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Category: Guest, Israel, Morality & Ethics, Palestine, Social (In)Justice | Comments Off on Authoritarianism, Anti-Jewish Racism, And The Israel-Hamas War: An Open Letter To The Left
22 November 2023

Gaza: War on We, the People and Arab-Muslim’s Shame

[Photo: Gazans in the rubble, Sinistra In Europa, Nov. 21, 2023.]

By Mahboob Khawaja, PhD

Editor's Note
I cannot help but look at the humanitarian catastrophe grinding on in Gaza and not think of the recrafting of law, politics, and society happening in the United States. It is in part the constant din of something that assaults the senses given out by the powerful who are protected in their untoward (to criminal) behavior. This protection of the powerful carries over to the corporate media that are sometimes the same as the powerful or symbiotes on them, who minimize the extremes, or explain them away as an individual variance, or even justify by other circumstances. This normalizes the misbehavior while the base of civil society is eaten away.

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Category: Israel, Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D., Morality & Ethics, Palestine, U.S., War and Conflict | Comments Off on Gaza: War on We, the People and Arab-Muslim’s Shame
20 September 2022

Human Nature

[Photo: “Ape Contemplates Man. Darwin’s Ape?” From a post at Philosophical Disquisition by John Danaher.]

By Elizabeth Anker
Source:  By My Solitary Hearth

Editor's Note
When I hear our problems explained away by claims of “human nature” I have to take a deep breath and count to 10 or 20. I’m with Elizabeth Anker on this. In the interest of transparency, I am trained as a sociologist so I am not exactly unbiased in this matter. However, that training is supplemented by some exposure to different cultures that have left me questioning the depth of our “nature”. While I don’t believe that we are blank slates, I am pretty sure that we are very pliable. For example, while all humans may share certain basic emotions, what triggers them, how we interpret them, and how we respond to them (and most importantly) respond to them in others, all  vary by our cultural socialization.

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Category: Culture, Elizabeth Anker, Morality & Ethics, Norms, Patriarchy, Toxic Masculinity, White Supremacy | Comments Off on Human Nature