User:Dr. R.R. Pickles
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Why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict concerns me more than other ongoing tragedies[edit]
For many it is a connection to the conflict, through ethnicity, religion, studies, or culture which forms the base of their interest. For me, my base is empathy and fear. I suppose this is the same as those who watched communism's spread so intently; empathy for those suffering and fear of that suffering spreading home. While I have empathy for those suffering from Liberia to North Korea and the many places inbetween, I simply do not fear any of their problems arising in my home nation or any other similar nation. I fear that the society and culture which allows for colonialism and codified ethnic discrimination in Israel, by Israel, could spread or is spreading to developed nations. Saudi Arabia also has poor human rights, though as a newly-rich, developing nation, a gradual improvement is almost guaranteed; as education rates and wealth rise, as the middle class grows, and as the older traditional and conservative generation dies off, liberalism and secularism will grow. The history of the developed world is a series of improvements in human rights, decreases in militarism, and increases in humanitarian aid. That there is a technologically advanced nation which shares no part of this history is very scary because it begs the question, if they haven't developed yet, when would they, what would naturally cause them to?
There is a third reason I watch the Israel-Palestine conflict and that is apathy, apathy coming from the developed world. While we spend billions trying to mitigate the numerous tragedies around the world, or have no ability to stop some tragedies, we actively support the tragedy in the levant. Rather then telling Israel to stop attacking their neighbours, we supply them with weapons.