Friday, August 29, 2025

Invaders be invaders...

History works on the basis of chosen identity not DNA, inevitably, because for most of history nobody knew about DNA. 

It’s why the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was between Anglo-Saxons and an invading army of Frenchmen, even if it wasn’t, not really. 


It’s why Obama is an African American and not any other variety of American. 


It’s why so called Palestinians are Arabs, because they tell us they are. (And, if they then also claim to be indigenous to their current location, we need to call them out for trying to have their cake and eat it.)


And thus, even if the fanciful notion that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were Palestinians appeals to you, in spite of the fact that the timelines make it impossible that they might have self-identified as such, the one thing they absolutely could not have been was Arabs. 


Indeed, if you are the sort of person inclined to regard people of European descent in places like the Americas and Australasia as inhabitants of stolen land, then so too are the Palestinian Arabs in the so called West Bank. This is not something you should be permitted to play both ways for reasons of political convenience. 


Invaders be invaders. And we are all of us invaders, one way or another. You possibly need to drop your sanctimonious and frankly moronic historical polarities and start trying to think about how people in general could be convinced to live harmoniously without them.


Nothing good or bad that happened in the past becomes less good or bad over time. There is no virtue (or indeed vice) in temporal proximity. Every one of our deceased historical ancestors is equally dead. It's a level playing field.





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