Hello again and thanks for tuning in to this week's edition of Laura's Links.
I don't know about you, but I am already good and sick of winter and even though I dress properly for the weather, both indoors and outdoors, I am still feeling chilly. There was a tradition at one of the high schools my kids went to to have a "groutfit" day. That is to say, kids were encouraged to wear an entirely grey outfit. Now, the "groutfit" ensemble days were not necessarily that different from some of the regular, schleppy teenage outfits that were the norm, but I still thought the concept was pretty funny and appropriate for winter.
All this to say that I am currently sitting in my very own "groutfit", putting the final finishing touches onto this column. I've got a grey t-shirt, grey long-sleeved jersey, grey sweatpants plus a very special sartorial dash of black long johns-you know, just to mix it up a little. Long johns (or "gatkes" as my people call them in Yiddish) are the greatest. In the scheme of winter accouterments, they are right up there with central heating and hot water bottles. For. Real.
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In the comment section of my column last week, the always thoughtful commenter Denyse O'Leary asked what I thought of the public shift taking place by the American political left on antisemitism. It seems that there is a fresh, coordinated social media script all of the sudden to denounce Hamas, denounce the harassment of Jews for being Jewish and general denouncements of antisemitism.
So what gives with the dozens of dizzying denouncements?
What's happening?
There are a few possibilities.
The first, and simplest explanation is that politics is a blood sport. The American political left smells the anxiety and resurgent antisemitism on the political right and among conservatives and it smells like electoral blood. They see it causing turmoil on the right so they are flipping the script and becoming the heroes (snort) "fighting antisemitism" (a stupid activity if there ever was one).
The other possibility is to follow the money. It is possible that President Trump has started to crash the funding party by intervening in Venezuela. There's turmoil in Iran now as well. The bots are quieting down. Maybe as a result, the funding for all things Hamas/Palestinian is currently in the toilet?
The other possibility is that the political left in America is trying to pivot and strategically re-position itself because of the inevitable jihadist terrorist attacks that will be taking place against Jews and other assorted infidels in either America or Canada or both.
A related question of course is why isn't the mainstream media talking about Iran? Why is the Western, liberal media ignoring Iran? That seems to me a much easier question to answer. They are ignoring it because they are, in very many ways, aligned with it. There's another link below that attempts to explain the phenomena.
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Lastly, I watched a really sweet Instagram reel which was a variation on a genre of "streeters" where people ask strangers about the people they love, and why. Anyway, I forgot to save it, and maybe the creator will pop up again at some point on my feed. But I'll share the idea with you because I thought it was so lovely and wise. It was a mother and her hulking young adult son, and they were asked what they love about each other. It was so sweet and there was so much affection in their answers ("easy to talk to", "my biggest fan", "making sandwiches", "showing affection even though you are grown up").
Then the mother was asked what a parent could do in order to improve communication with a child. She thought about it for a few seconds and then answered "listen clean."
She elaborated.
Listen clean means listening fully, without any attempt to impart.
Talk about wisdom. That is a hard task to fulfill. Really listen, and withhold imparting your thoughts in that exact moment.
"Listen clean."
It's so tempting to respond right away, to monologue instead of dialogue with people, to fight the urge to impart our wisdom or response right away; to suggest, to lead, or to talk about ourselves in response.
I think I'm a pretty good listener, but this gave me great pause and something to really think about and to try. Let me know if you try it as well.
Have a great weekend and see you in the comments.
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North America:
Canada: Culture of Death (and murder).
More here: "Dr. Death" approved it.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
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South America:
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Jews and Israel:
As Mark quoted our beloved Kathy Shaidle last week: never underestimate the enemy.
Good question: "why don't you just admit you have animus for Israel and/or Jews"?
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The Great Walkbackening, Reckoning and Accounting:
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Palestinians:
"Gaza's October 7th Millionaires."
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Iran:
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Kooks 'N' Trans:
Brave woman. Good stuff.
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Human Grace:
It's open thread time! Log into SteynOnline and let Laura know what you think of these stories or other happenings from the week that was. Commenting privileges are among the many perks of membership in The Mark Steyn Club. While going off topic is permitted on Laura's Links, do stick to the other rules as you engage: no URLs, no profanity, and no ad hominem attacks.
