Monday, May 23, 2005
A Musical Red Herring - The Myth Ain't Dead Yet, Uri
Long-time Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery published an article on 5/12/05 in CounterPunch about the recent uproar in Israel over a "stolen song" The key word in the article's theme is not the noun "song" as Avnery would have us believe, but rather the verb "stolen". As is typical with cases of psychological denial, Avnery's narrative simultaneously reveals and conceals the truth.
The late Naomi Shemer's deathbed confession of her theft of a Basque lullaby is but a musical red herring meant to divert attention from the real theft that all Israelis and Zionists are hiding, buried so deep they cannot own up to it without experiencing considerable psychic pain. Moreover, although Israelis and Zionists are currently unable to admit to the secret it nevertheless continues to gnaw away at them, all of them. Avnery’s breathless reporting of the contretemps over the song indicates that he himself has also internalized this denial as have all "progressive Zionists" (which nomenclature is viewed by many, including this writer, as an oxymoron).
In a word, the stolen song is simply a metaphor for the stolen land of Palestine. Shemer was simply engaging in good old PR-style spin in her confession. She declared she did not steal the song "consciously" but had "absorbed it into her subconscious" in what she felicitiously downgraded to the status of "work accident". Even facing death Shemer was unable to admit the real secret so she confessed instead to petty theft, hoping to thereby find some psychic relief but remain immune to being rumbled over the real crime. Although she deflected inquiry away from the big theft she still left an important clue to what was really eating away at her. The guilty are well-known to harbor a desire to be caught out in their lies.
Shemer’s "confession" further reveals that Israelis justify the theft of Palestine as "unconscious", a mere "work accident". Moreover, they plaintively insist that because they changed a mere "eight notes" of the melody (reducing the 418+ Palestinian villages razed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians ethnically cleansed to the status of a "work accident" ), they "have every right" to the royalties (land ownership).
This secret of this theft is so monumental, so opposed by every world moral value system that exists, that it requires elaborate psychological and real life walls to be erected around it with a draping of religious mythology over the whole construct to further veil the truth and justify its continuance. The fourth largest army in the world is ever on guard with its panoply of violent weaponry and violent ideology ready to kill or imprison anyone who tries to bare the secret. Loyal spin doctors are at the ready in this country to attack anyone who tries to talk about the secret or bare even a portion of it to the light of day. The secret of the big theft has obtained an almost magical quality whereby any words uttered by anyone, anywhere that give lie to it must be opposed by any means necessary, to prevent the spell from being broken.
Western progressives must assist in breaking the spell by taking courage and call out the theft for what it is, by speaking about the racism, apartheid and theocracy that constitute the Israeli state. When Israelis and Zionists are able to face and admit the secret of the big theft which they all carry within them peace will be possible. ¶ 6:33 AM
Long-time Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery published an article on 5/12/05 in CounterPunch about the recent uproar in Israel over a "stolen song" The key word in the article's theme is not the noun "song" as Avnery would have us believe, but rather the verb "stolen". As is typical with cases of psychological denial, Avnery's narrative simultaneously reveals and conceals the truth.
The late Naomi Shemer's deathbed confession of her theft of a Basque lullaby is but a musical red herring meant to divert attention from the real theft that all Israelis and Zionists are hiding, buried so deep they cannot own up to it without experiencing considerable psychic pain. Moreover, although Israelis and Zionists are currently unable to admit to the secret it nevertheless continues to gnaw away at them, all of them. Avnery’s breathless reporting of the contretemps over the song indicates that he himself has also internalized this denial as have all "progressive Zionists" (which nomenclature is viewed by many, including this writer, as an oxymoron).
In a word, the stolen song is simply a metaphor for the stolen land of Palestine. Shemer was simply engaging in good old PR-style spin in her confession. She declared she did not steal the song "consciously" but had "absorbed it into her subconscious" in what she felicitiously downgraded to the status of "work accident". Even facing death Shemer was unable to admit the real secret so she confessed instead to petty theft, hoping to thereby find some psychic relief but remain immune to being rumbled over the real crime. Although she deflected inquiry away from the big theft she still left an important clue to what was really eating away at her. The guilty are well-known to harbor a desire to be caught out in their lies.
Shemer’s "confession" further reveals that Israelis justify the theft of Palestine as "unconscious", a mere "work accident". Moreover, they plaintively insist that because they changed a mere "eight notes" of the melody (reducing the 418+ Palestinian villages razed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians ethnically cleansed to the status of a "work accident" ), they "have every right" to the royalties (land ownership).
This secret of this theft is so monumental, so opposed by every world moral value system that exists, that it requires elaborate psychological and real life walls to be erected around it with a draping of religious mythology over the whole construct to further veil the truth and justify its continuance. The fourth largest army in the world is ever on guard with its panoply of violent weaponry and violent ideology ready to kill or imprison anyone who tries to bare the secret. Loyal spin doctors are at the ready in this country to attack anyone who tries to talk about the secret or bare even a portion of it to the light of day. The secret of the big theft has obtained an almost magical quality whereby any words uttered by anyone, anywhere that give lie to it must be opposed by any means necessary, to prevent the spell from being broken.
Western progressives must assist in breaking the spell by taking courage and call out the theft for what it is, by speaking about the racism, apartheid and theocracy that constitute the Israeli state. When Israelis and Zionists are able to face and admit the secret of the big theft which they all carry within them peace will be possible. ¶ 6:33 AM
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