© ReutersNetanyahu acknowledges applause as he arrives to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in Washington, March 4, 2014.
Many American Jews are angered at the prospect of Donald Trump addressing the AIPAC policy conference in Washington this coming week and are promising to abstain from attending, walk out of the hall or protest his presence in other ways.
"Throughout his campaign Trump has made statements that have been bigoted, racist, misogynistic, and Islamophobic - some could argue even statements that were anti-Semitic," wrote Rabbi Jesse Olitzky, representing a group of professionals and clergy which calls itself Come Together Against Hate.
"If we sit around and do nothing, even if we sit in silence, that shows complacency and that, by default, we agree with what he says," Olitzky wrote. "It is imperative to me as a communal leader, and to all Jews there who are going, that we stand up to his demagoguery."
Which would make perfect sense, were it not for the fact that the American community, both as individuals and as communal leaders, has been sitting in silence and showing complacency in the face of demagoguery and racism for years already, without feeling the need to stand up and do something about it.
AIPAC, that bastion of Jewish values, has gone even further.
Rather than sitting in complacent silence, it has given repeated and resounding standing ovations, year after year, to Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli demagogues and racists, who not only talk the talk - as Trump has done so far - but walk the walk, as well.
Comment: Interesting that Snowden's disclosures can be considered counterproductive from what's implied in this research. But counterproductive or not, one of the things SOTT is designed to do is to 'defrost' this 'chilling effect' and affirm the choice to live in the knowledge and the truth of what our governments (among other organizations and individuals) are doing. One of the problems is that many people - authoritarian followers in many cases - cannot see past the conscious and unconscious fears they have of being isolated, separated or on the outs with 'big brother'. There are others though who are seeking what's true about the world, and for them we serve as a kind of social proof or permission to make the choice to acquire and share knowledge.
We're not holding our breath, but with any hope the signal of truth may one day help reach the tipping point to much wider recognition and awareness of our planet's true problems, like a homeopathic remedy perhaps. And establish a critical mass of said awareness that offers new possibilities for people who hope to be part of a far healthier and better functioning world.