'The Unforgiveable Hypocrisy of the American Liberal' and other Israel-Gaza stuff, from sheepdoggers at The Nation

The title piece in the headline comes from Mondoweiss. It's a great piece. That said, while it's written specifically about the current situation with Israel, it applies to about all of American liberalism from this leftist's point of view.

For instance, this:

It helps in this regard that the American liberal understands very little about politics outside an American-centric frame. He has barely even learnt to question the framing narratives of mainstream U.S. news media.

Could easily be applied to Russia-Ukraine. (This sets aside supposed leftists like Eric Draitser who are comfortable repeating MSM tropes on that conflict. Interestingly, I've not seen him run a single Counterpunch Radio episode on Israel-Gaza. Does silence give assent, Eric?)

That said, much of what it is about is Palestinian specific, if not Gaza specific. This is pretty much the bottom line, along with further development and spinoff later in the piece:

the American liberal is only recently and haltingly educated about the entrenched history of structural racism and white supremacy in the U.S., so he inevitably finds it difficult to apply the lessons of that history to the world around him. He fashions himself a hero who would have stood against Jim Crow, Japanese internment, the Vietnam War, and South African apartheid in their time, but somehow the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” appears too “complicated” to take a moral stand. In his mind, American democracy is an inexorably self-perfecting experiment, even though the institution was founded on genocide, slavery, and apartheid and is incessantly subject to anti-democratic capture today.

And, the #BlueAnon types either sit smug in their #VoteBlueNoMatterWho ivory towers, or sheepdogging horseback saddles, knowing this is true, or else go into "who, me?" denialism.

Next, two recent pieces from The Nation.

First, Jeet Heer writes about the Biden Administration, and ultimately #GenocideJoe himself, and the Western mainstream media, being so willing and so gullible on peddling Israeli hasbara.

Second, seen via Steven Donziger on Twitter, James Bamford writes about an Israeli spy unit in the US, operating on college campuses to undercut Palestinian students. As with most of Bamford, per his recent SpyFail, it's great on the knowledge level of Israeli skullduggery.

Problem? Sure. 

As I said in a quote tweet, to get up above to the Mondoweiss piece, it's not just Blue Anons, or #BlueMAGA, whichever your handle is, that are sheepdoggers.

I don't know about Heer or Bamford, but otherwise?

The Nation is loaded with them, if you look at its masthead. Current editor D.D. Guttenplan is a big one, at least on anything Zionism. President Bashar Sunkara is one, AFAIK.

Among top-level writers? Listed right next to Heer? John Nichols is a huge one, has been for years. 

Contributing writers? I've called out Liza Featherstone before. Adolph Reed? The Communist who votes Democrat? Gregg Gonsalves has been a sheepdogger against the lab-leak theory on COVID.

The Nation, long ago and led by Nichols, had a boner for the Democratic Socialists of America. That said, it hasn't written a word about the recent DSA crack-up (I searched the site), with Hasbara Harold Meyerson and other old-timers recently deserting the part. Since then, Nichols has slurped Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (something else that pissed off allegedly pro-union Hasbara Harold was younger DSAers calling AOC a hypocrite on the railroad no-strike bill), drank the Beto for Senate Kool-Aid, and found Biden's "green" taint tasty.

Head honcho Katrina van den Heuvel is, by her silence if nothing else, a sheepdogger. She's the jefe; she could write a "Vote Green" house editorial if she chose. And hasn't. But, The Nation under her leadership DID write a Hillary Clinton endorsement.

So, unless this changes next year on official editorial stance, The Nation can print all the stuff like this it wants. It doesn't mean anything.