Paging Sanity

It's my 60th birthday today, so I have to say something - "speech, speech" isn't that what they cheer after you've blown out the candles on the cake? As if you have some new wisdom to impart at your advanced age...

No guarantees here. But I do remember that I made a blog post about turning 50. It's interesting to look at again. It was a short, lighthearted, humourous list of reflections and observations. Nuggets like "I appreciate a good pair of shoes," and "I believe more in fate, intangibles, positive energy, karma." Clearly I wasn't getting any wiser with age. I can only assume I am less so now, by a decade. But I will say one thing about my 50 year old self - I seemed content. My post ends with "I am happier to be exactly where I am." 

These days I'm feeling grumpier.

I can only assume it's because since turning 50 I've experienced 10 years of chaotic politics and social media madness. Actually, I officially retreated from social media in the summer of 2019, when I deleted my FB account. But even with minimal exposure on my personal devices, the social media ecosystem has a way of making an unavoidable impact wherever you are.  

And so it was last night. Of course the talk of the house was the stunning, ingenious and lethal Mossad attack on Hezbollah targets. Thousands of pagers suddenly exploding on the hips and in the hands of militants and operatives all over Lebanon and Syria. At last reporting there were as many as 3000 casualties from the attack, with 31 dead, including 19 members of Iran's RGC, and 3 children (plus reports today of 9 more killed and 300 injured from exploding walkie-talkies.) The media went nuts about it, calling it James Bond spy movie stuff etc. Surveillance camera footage of pagers detonating went viral. We see them blowing up in market places, stores, at fruit and vegetable stands, on the street and in cars. People were killed and injured inside their offices and homes. 

The unprecedented ingenuity and craftiness behind the attack is certainly something to marvel at. In the grander political scheme, Israeli intelligence had to do something jaw-dropping to reestablish deterrance after the catastrophic failure of Oct 7th, and this certainly fit the bill. Like the assassination of Haniya in Tehran, it demonstrated a capability no one predicted.

Today I'm feeling disheartened. 

As we spoke about the attack last night, my wife checked her phone and laughed. What's so funny I asked. She showed me a 'witty' comment made by someone online, along the lines of "That took some balls!" Another one was, "We were inside Haniyah's bedroom and now we're inside Nasrallah's pants." I shook my head, and asked her why she found this funny. She said, well, they deserve it (I paraphrase). I said that I didn't find it funny at all, which elicited some tension between us. She said she understood why people wanted to make light of the attack, and celebrate a moment of 'look how good we got them!' I told her that bombs detonating in public places, killing, injuring and maiming thousands of people (many totally innocent) wasn't something to joke about. As I left the room I added, "This is a war." 

Actually, I felt shame and disappointment that glee was the response of so many Jews online. 

Since October 7th, each time the Jewish community has gathered to publicly demonstrate against the war in Gaza, the message has been to bring the hostages home. It hasn't been against Palestinians, or to kill Hamas militants, or even to get the mastermind Sinwar. It's been all about the safe return of our brethren. We have used our public voice to show our resilience in this time of great heartache, not to drum up anger and hate against anyone (as others have done). This has made me very proud of my community.

With this on my mind, I listened to the first part of Sam Harris's latest podcast called "Where Are the Grown-Ups?" My question exactly. In it, Harris talks about his latest dip into social media (like me, he swore it off a few years ago). What he finds scrolling through X (formerly Twitter) is a carnival of racism, violence (mostly by 'immigrants'), and conspiracy. He comments: "If I had to summarize the intent of X's algorithm at this point, it would be twofold: First, to make Elon Musk more famous than he already is, and second to make every white user of the platform more racist." 

The conventional wisdom is that social media has made us more angry, callous, impolite, racist, unsympathetic, tribal, aggressive and ignorant. It is not by sheer coincidence that someone like trump ascended to political power in this environment. I have been feeling encouraged that Kamala Harris's more positive approach to politics has been gaining traction. People are getting tired of the hostility and divisiveness. 

I think I will revive my 50-year-old self's sentiment - "I believe more in fate, intangibles, positive energy, karma."  Let's hope that includes, justice for trump after November.