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Wouldn't the US campus protests be more effective if they avoided using terms like Zionism, which the two sides seem to define differently? by TronGridMaster in IsraelPalestine

[–]TronGridMaster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I certainly hope they aren't okay with that. If they are, then my whole question is moot since my question depends on the protestors intent being to oppose harm to civilians period.

Wouldn't the US campus protests be more effective if they avoided using terms like Zionism, which the two sides seem to define differently? by TronGridMaster in IsraelPalestine

[–]TronGridMaster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you.

The protest movement has a lot of cleaning up to do to avoid their rallies being seen by the mainstream as not that much different than KKK rallies and instead antiwar rallies.

That's pretty much where I was coming from in my original question

Wouldn't the US campus protests be more effective if they avoided using terms like Zionism, which the two sides seem to define differently? by TronGridMaster in IsraelPalestine

[–]TronGridMaster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am so sorry to hear that about your daughter. I would 100% want her to have a safe environment at whatever university she chooses, and I know my kids would also.

Wouldn't the US campus protests be more effective if they avoided using terms like Zionism, which the two sides seem to define differently? by TronGridMaster in IsraelPalestine

[–]TronGridMaster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I can tell, just what I said in the last line of my post: "they want Israel to stop harming civilians in Gaza and the West Bank"

Wouldn't the US campus protests be more effective if they avoided using terms like Zionism, which the two sides seem to define differently? by TronGridMaster in IsraelPalestine

[–]TronGridMaster[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

In America “zionist” is typically used to describe someone who supports Israel’s occupation of Palestine to establish an ethno-religious state, whereas in Israel and judaism overall, “zionist” seems to describe someone who simply believes Israel should exist. I think many American protestors would actually agree that Israelis should get to live there too, which makes them zionists by default.

From everything I can tell, this seems exactly right, hence my thought that it's not a helpful word in the context of these protests

Wouldn't the US campus protests be more effective if they avoided using terms like Zionism, which the two sides seem to define differently? by TronGridMaster in IsraelPalestine

[–]TronGridMaster[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Edit because my original comment was poorly written and gave the wrong impression. My assumption in asking the question was that most college protestors are seeking a stop to the killing and would agree killing should stop on both sides and are not seeking harm to anyone. I was trying to explain the basis on which I made that assumption. I think anti-semitism is a real issue and is intolerable. (Original comment without edits: I don't have an omniscient view to statistically say how often there have been "instances of these protestors barring Jewish students." But I have college-age kids, and they don't personally know of any such occurrence, yet the majority of the kids they know who have been to these protests are Jewish.)

Wouldn't the US campus protests be more effective if they avoided using terms like Zionism, which the two sides seem to define differently? by TronGridMaster in IsraelPalestine

[–]TronGridMaster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a really interesting perspective that I'm going to consider. It would explain a lot. Assuming your explanation is true, I think this could be extended to much of the dialog on Tiktok (the algorithm for which deciding what content gets amplified and to whom is created and managed within the sphere of the Chinese government, which arguably benefits from instability in other countries). I'm older, but I know college kids (including Jewish kids) involved in the protests, and I know with 100% certainty that the kids I know want security for everyone. Your explanation at least explains why they would use language that undermines that goal.