Today was an interesting day. I went to the protest in the video above. I had friends, bloggers, who i respect, on both sides of the line: Jonathan Narvey wearing his Star of David shirt supporting Israel on one side and Sean Orr lookin like a commie-pinko-hippy-faggot on the Palestine side. Both are smart, articulate, compassionate guys but this is a topic on which it seems there is little common ground and the two found them hollaring accross the street at each other before they recognized each other.
I spent time filming on both sides of the straight and while we were hanging out JNarvey asked me what my take on this all was. I paused for a good long while, choosing my words careful in order not to become snared in typical rebuttals or knee-jerk responses. My answer was something like…
It makes me sad that in 2008 there is a such an immovable mountain of a conflict whose central tenants seem to be based on racism and religious intolerance. On both sides. All sides.
I feel sad and my had hangs a lil lower every time I hear about an escalation of the violence in the middle east. I like to be positive and optimistic in general and am frustrated not only in the terrible things that are taking place in terms of violence, but also that we don’t seem to even have the institutions in which we can seek forgiveness and resolution. I’m disappointed in all of us. 🙁