A tangent. But with regard to one piece of that issue Ross Barkan specified wanting to avoid, and that indeed shouldn't be *The* thing about the NYC elections, but I think is worth unpacking a bit anyway:
The thing is - being a Zionist American Jew actually does entail a kind of dual loyalty. And there's nothing necessarily problematic about it, if one is sufficiently loyal to America in some way such that, according to one's honest and well-meaning understanding of the morality of loyalty, the loyalty to America is not in any question.
If one confidently feels oneself to be loyal to America with a solid sense of integrity, and to be acting according to that integrity, another person can question if their behavior actually serves American interests, but that's as far as it really should go; otherwise, it's probably an indication of a belligerence that's coming not from the Zionist American Jew, but from their possibly, maybe plausibly, hostile opponent.
I guess it sucks that we can't go into people's hearts to check on how honest and well-meaning an understanding of loyalty someone has. But if you don't give people the benefit of the doubt on such a thing, what kind of liberal are you?
Great conversation
A tangent. But with regard to one piece of that issue Ross Barkan specified wanting to avoid, and that indeed shouldn't be *The* thing about the NYC elections, but I think is worth unpacking a bit anyway:
The thing is - being a Zionist American Jew actually does entail a kind of dual loyalty. And there's nothing necessarily problematic about it, if one is sufficiently loyal to America in some way such that, according to one's honest and well-meaning understanding of the morality of loyalty, the loyalty to America is not in any question.
If one confidently feels oneself to be loyal to America with a solid sense of integrity, and to be acting according to that integrity, another person can question if their behavior actually serves American interests, but that's as far as it really should go; otherwise, it's probably an indication of a belligerence that's coming not from the Zionist American Jew, but from their possibly, maybe plausibly, hostile opponent.
I guess it sucks that we can't go into people's hearts to check on how honest and well-meaning an understanding of loyalty someone has. But if you don't give people the benefit of the doubt on such a thing, what kind of liberal are you?