Moral Clarity part 11: Survivor's guilt

Yesterday, one of my daughters saw an Instagram post that was apparently making the social media rounds. Posted by someone calling him/herself 'theindigenousanarchist', and reposted by my daughter's friend, it said "Imagine if in ten years Israel begins a holiday based on the events happening now. Imagine if they celebrate their 'success' of harming thousands of people with a federally recognized feast. That's your Thanksgiving." 

It's hard to believe that anyone would think of making a connection between Israel's response to the slaughter of 1400 of its citizens and the abduction of 240 hostages by terrorists, and the origins of the American Thanksgiving holiday, but there it is. I can understand an indigenous person wanting to call attention to the origins and myths surrounding American Thanksgiving, and how the holiday, which is so cherished and celebrated as a day of gratitude, may also represent an historical injustice to the First Nations of the Americas. But what could non-indigenous people be thinking when they gleefully share such a post as a criticism of Israel? Is this just a case of online virtue signalling, someone trying to prove their social justice warrior bonfides? Or is there something more pernicious, and perhaps subconscious, at work?

My daughter handled it well. She shut the Instagram re-poster down immediately with a firm but respectful message. I would not have been so diplomatic. In the ensuing exchange of messages one thing that her contact wrote leapt out at me: "Reading that post originally was painful. I am not indigenous, I am a colonizer and I celebrate Thanksgiving." So, she was inspired to spread a message of hate against Israel by the 'guilt' she was feeling as 'a colonizer'. She felt the 'pain' of an indigenous Canadian, and related to the 'pain' of Palestinians (implying their 'ethnic cleansing' or 'genocide' or one of the other catch-all euphemisms they use for the historical injustices suffered by oppressed indigenous peoples). And to expiate the colonialist sin to which she considers herself a party, she decided to full-throatedly join the ranks of those who denounce and demonize the State of Israel in its efforts to combat terrorism. 

This message reminded me of the exchange I had with my brother-in-law a few weeks ago when we briefly discussed the deplorable activities happening on university campuses across America. He's a professor of philosophy at a university in another province. I was telling him that one of my daughters who works at a local university was feeling unsafe to go to the office. I argued that things had gotten out of hand on university campuses and they should be shutting down political activities. My brother in law pushed back, saying that the universities had to support and encourage freedom of speech, and that they could handle any serious disruptions. (As if on cue, a few days later violence erupted at my daughter's university). I said, let them debate all they want in the classroom, it's political activity that I am objecting to, the kind that makes the students feel unsafe to come to class. Then I said to him, "The universities should be teaching their students to be informed, to do research and to think critically, not express their feelings of guilt." He answered, "They should feel guilty." The discussion ended there.

I'm not so sure how well they're doing teaching students to think, but they're certainly doing a good job teaching them to feel guilty. This week at my alma mater The Student Society adopted a pro-Palestine resolution, condemning Israel's war in Gaza as a 'genocidal bombing campaign' and criticizing the McGill administration for its "...persistent refusal to even acknowledge the mass murder of Palestinians... demonstrat(ing) a shocking, blatant, racist disregard for Palestinian and Arab lives." Not a single word in the text of the resolution - which passed by a vote of 77% - mentions the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th or the Israeli victims. If the university administration can't stop the Student Union from taking political positions, then there should at least be a way for members to opt out of paying their dues to the association.

Why don't I feel guilty for being a colonizer? What's wrong with me? Am I heartless? Am I so blinded by my 'white privilege' that I've lost the capacity to sympathize with people who are oppressed and powerless? Funny, I always thought my people were oppressed and powerless. When my family arrived here in the mass migration of Eastern European Jews during the first decade of the 20th century, they were fleeing poverty, pogroms and persecution. This country provided safe-haven, freedom and opportunity. My grandparents and parents took full advantage of the freedoms and opportunities afforded them that their predecessors never enjoyed. They worked their asses off and prospered. They planted roots and contributed to a flourishing community. They built businesses that employed thousands of people for generations (usually other recently arrived immigrants) and raised their family, educating their children to levels far above any they could have hoped to achieve. Don't get me wrong. I completely understand that there were many undeniable injustices and inhumanities done to indigenous peoples that accompanied the founding of this country 158 years ago. I understand that these injustices continue to this day and I wholeheartedly and unequivocally support further and ongoing action to make restitution for them. But I'm sorry, I can't feel guilt for being 'a colonizer'. I can only feel gratitude and appreciation for the safety, freedom and opportunity this great country has given to my kin and me. No matter what some will say, Thanksgiving remains untarnished to me.