Liberal Guilt and Queer Rage
Dec. 11th, 2011 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaIt occurred to me that my previous post was a whole lot of whine and cheese about a life, in which, I really don't have all that much to complain about.
(BIG WARNING:Graphic Pictures of Wounds and Violence)
I mean, why complain about a leaky toilet when the IDF shoots a protester at point blank with a grenade launcher, subsequently kills him and proceed to attack the funeral procession.
Don't talk to me about the most moral army in the world, 'kay?
Speaking of fallacious images. Did you know that Israel is the best place to be gay in the Middle East? No, really, it is.
We have rights, and parties, and freedom of expression and places in which we can gather safely!
Oh, wait.
Considering what happened in 2009 at the LGBT youth club and the fact that the people who come to the Tel-Aviv LGBT centre and the park in which it is situated are routinely assaulted, the whole, "it's goo to be gay in Israel" stance is more dissonant than ever before.
My age is showing, because what I consider a "gay park" is not what they mean in the article.
Especially when you consider the fact that pinkwashing as a propaganda tactic is at an all time low. At least, I hope my fellow siblings aren't as gullible as the Foreign Office would like to believe.
I've spoken about Pinkwashing before and last month the whole shebang was blown out of the water by Sarah Schulman who posted a brilliant op-ed in the New York Times titled Israel and 'Pinkwashing', in which she writes:
'nuff said, really.
(BIG WARNING:Graphic Pictures of Wounds and Violence)
I mean, why complain about a leaky toilet when the IDF shoots a protester at point blank with a grenade launcher, subsequently kills him and proceed to attack the funeral procession.
Don't talk to me about the most moral army in the world, 'kay?
Speaking of fallacious images. Did you know that Israel is the best place to be gay in the Middle East? No, really, it is.
We have rights, and parties, and freedom of expression and places in which we can gather safely!
Oh, wait.
Considering what happened in 2009 at the LGBT youth club and the fact that the people who come to the Tel-Aviv LGBT centre and the park in which it is situated are routinely assaulted, the whole, "it's goo to be gay in Israel" stance is more dissonant than ever before.
My age is showing, because what I consider a "gay park" is not what they mean in the article.
Especially when you consider the fact that pinkwashing as a propaganda tactic is at an all time low. At least, I hope my fellow siblings aren't as gullible as the Foreign Office would like to believe.
I've spoken about Pinkwashing before and last month the whole shebang was blown out of the water by Sarah Schulman who posted a brilliant op-ed in the New York Times titled Israel and 'Pinkwashing', in which she writes:
[...]
In 2005, with help from American marketing executives, the Israeli government began a marketing campaign, “Brand Israel,” aimed at men ages 18 to 34. The campaign, as reported by The Jewish Daily Forward, sought to depict Israel as “relevant and modern.” The government later expanded the marketing plan by harnessing the gay community to reposition its global image.
[...]
The growing global gay movement against the Israeli occupation has named these tactics “pinkwashing”: a deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life. Aeyal Gross, a professor of law at Tel Aviv University, argues that “gay rights have essentially become a public-relations tool,” even though “conservative and especially religious politicians remain fiercely homophobic.”
'nuff said, really.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-12 10:37 am (UTC)The lives of queer people, well violence is just par for the course, of course.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 06:16 am (UTC)