officemate is back from holiday. officemate has been talking for near an hour with non-officemate about said holiday in israel, in my room, right beside me. i'm hoping to get a lot of work done today. i eventually leave, come to the library, to work from a quiet space.
they were talking about issues of israel and palestine. they were talking about how bad it was, and how officemate's israeli partner needs to understand how his thinking is wrong, so that the warring can stop. and i'm trying to work, but listening (how can i not when its right fucking next to me), wondering 'who the fuck are you to tell him how it is? with your fucking west-knows-best understanding of cultural tolerance'.
but he knows best. and he calls his boyfriend a racist and tries to coerce him into understanding the truth. but not really getting that there can be more than one truth. blind to his cultural imperialism.
he is angry that his boyfriend thinks the family of a person who commits a crime should have their house bulldozed. he tells boyfriend that groups of people don't do bad, it's individuals in groups that do bad. he says "how would you like to pay for your father's sins?" in other words he argues for the commonsense of his own culture's neo-liberal individualist beliefs as more correct than those of other cultures. boyfriend should have slapped you, i reckon. your version of family is not like his. nor is your version of culture, religion, justice, etc. and why should you tell him that your version is better than his, when visiting his country, staying with his family, wearing your oxford st shoes?
hmm... why am i so angry? why am i any better than him anyway? not better, just less annoying. i hope.
time to work. must work hard and fast from now til tomorrow. i can't wait til i'm in newcastle, with mark. around friends, not working, being relaxed, sipping beer, in the sun, smiling. ahh...
No comments:
Post a Comment