Based on the coconut tree from which I fell, my IRL social circle skews heavily towards white, conservative evangelical and Catholic types. I also have an unhealthy obsession with following these same politically conservative white evangelical individuals and groups on social media.
And what’s surprising to me is, since shortly after Oct 7, it seems that the overwhelming opinion of relatively younger (let’s say under 40) people in this demo is at least some sort of soft anti-Israel opinion. The boomers, they still have that Fetterman-esque love for Israel. But younger conservatives… I usually see opinions about how we shouldn’t send Israel any more money, or acknowledging that Israel is committing a genocide. And it seems like it’s the overwhelming opinion from young conservatives, too. I’m sure there’s plenty of younger conservatives that do support Israel, but anecdotally that group feels very small.
That’s not to say I’m seeing a lot of pro-Palestinian sentiment, because I’m not. That’s probably a bridge too far for them. Also probably related to the fact that most Americans are just so incredibly ignorant about what goes on in other parts of the world, they can’t formulate full thoughts on these issues.
For months now, I’ve been all geared up to argue with anyone I know IRL who supports Israel. But it’s just never happened. Either people care or have any opinion one way or another, or they are critical of Israel. Not what I was expecting.
I wonder if AIPAC and Israel realize just how much they’ve lost younger Americans, probably for good (not that they care, they’ll just keep buying off American politicians).
I’ve been wearing a Hamas green trucker hat with a Palestinian flag on it out and about in Texas and I have yet to hear anything but positive feedback from people. I haven’t even noticed side eyes. The nice lady at the corner store near me asked what the flag was and when I told her we had a little chat about how awful the genocide is, and she quietly said “And nobody cares because they’re Muslims”. I was floored to hear that from a definitely Republican woman my age or a little older.
I think they do know that they’ve lost young people. I remember seeing some articles discussing this eariler this year.
Under 40.
“Young”.
im pretty sure “young” just means “anyone younger than gen xers” in these things even though millennials are pretty much middle aged at this point
i hate israel because they are doing genocide
they hate israel because it is run by jewish people
we are not the same
I see a lot of blue checks on twitter calling US politicians “traitors” with slogans like “Israel first, America last” which I assume to be mostly right-wingers. They don’t like that the US keep shoving money up Israel’s ass, especially since Israel keeps giving them the middle finger in return.
At this point, the main people who actually like Israel are the bourgeoisie who directly financially benefit from the colonization. Outside of that it’s a handful of insane Nazis and brainwashed libs.
Even here in Germany, the most pathetically loyal client state speedrunning fascism to protect Israel’s right to snipe toddlers, the public opinion towards the country is still negative. Nobody likes these genocidal freaks. But we live in a dictatorship of capital and capital has a lot of real estate investments in the area, so we have no choice but give them more bombs.
Being anti-Istarl without sympathy for Palestine?
I don’t think it’s mostly anti-semitism. Some of it is just standard conservative “we shouldn’t give handouts to any country”. A lot of it is being able to feel enough empathy to recognize Israel is doing something bad but not enough empathy (or just racism) to actually feel the need to take up the cause of Palestinian liberation or give the whole think more than a moment or two of thought.
Americans unsurprisingly have very incoherent views about issues beyond their own borders.
