I teach self-defense, so I spend a lot of time watching how confusion affects people. If you misread the situation, every decision that follows gets worse.
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America has the same problem.
Gender, sexuality, race, economics, climate, policing, colonialism, immigration, and Israel now get bundled into the same political package. People are told which opinions belong together, then judged by whether they accept the package.
Start with gender.
I don’t care how another adult chooses to live. Gay and transgender people deserve the same rights and safety as everyone else. Being gay describes sexual orientation. Being transgender concerns gender identity. Those are different things.
A gay man doesn’t automatically have a position on medical treatment for minors, women’s sports, pronouns, or school curriculum. Parents have every right to object when schools present contested beliefs about sex and gender to children as settled truth.
Economics has become equally confused. Capitalism now means greed to some people. Socialism means compassion. Those are slogans.
Israel offers a useful reality check. The kibbutz had nearly ideal conditions for communal economics: small communities, voluntary participation, strong social bonds, and shared purpose. Even there, most kibbutzim eventually introduced private income, different salaries, outside employment, and market incentives.
Human behavior didn’t disappear because the idea sounded fair.
The deeper problem is our growing habit of sorting the world into oppressor and oppressed.
History includes real injustice. That deserves serious examination. Once power itself starts suggesting guilt and weakness starts suggesting innocence, judgment becomes lazy.
Israel fits easily into that framework. Israel is stronger. Palestinians are weaker. Israel therefore gets assigned the role of oppressor before history is examined.
Then Jews from Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Ethiopia, and elsewhere somehow become “European colonizers.” Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, suicide bombings, repeated wars, and October 7 become secondary. This is false dilemma thinking applied to history.
My own experience makes this difficult to take seriously.
I had a student from Gaza who was living and training in New York. She eventually had to return because her family considered her an infidel for being here.
I’ve also taught students from Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. They don’t all agree, and I wouldn’t expect them to. They understand realities many American activists have never experienced. Religion and family can carry enormous power. Governments behave very differently. Political choices can carry consequences far beyond losing followers online.
Then I watch people who learned the Middle East through TikTok explain it with complete moral certainty.
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Their confidence often comes from an ideological framework.
Modern progressive intersectional politics connects race, gender, sexuality, capitalism, climate, colonialism, and Palestine as struggles against systems of power. Add Zionism to that framework, and Israel begins appearing everywhere: Pride marches, climate protests, racial activism, and campus politics.
The connection comes from ideology rather than shared history.
This also explains how groups that disagree profoundly about religion, sexuality, women’s rights, and government can still unite around anti-Jewish hate. A common enemy can hold together a coalition with very little else in common.
So who benefits?
Politicians benefit from angry voters. Activist organizations benefit from mobilized supporters. Social-media companies benefit from outrage. Influencers benefit from certainty.
America’s foreign adversaries gain something more valuable.
Russia has spent real money amplifying American division. In 2024, the Justice Department charged two employees of Russian state-controlled RT with covertly directing about $9.7 million into an American media company producing political content for Americans. Prosecutors alleged that nearly 2,000 videos were published.
Iran’s involvement is directly relevant to Israel. In July 2024, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said actors tied to Iran’s government posed online as activists, encouraged Gaza protests, and provided financial support to some protesters.
Most protesters almost certainly believe what they’re saying. Iran can still exploit sincere beliefs by encouraging the most divisive versions of them.
That is the genius of influence operations. They don’t need to give you a new belief. They find one you already have and push.
A divided America spends its strength fighting internally. Russia, China, and Iran benefit when Americans trust one another less, institutions lose legitimacy, and support for allies weakens.
The fix leaves everyone’s politics intact.
Conservatives can remain conservative. Progressives can remain progressive. Gay people can live openly. Transgender people can live openly. Parents can challenge schools. Americans can support Israel or Palestinians. Socialists can argue with capitalists.
We need people who can hold one opinion without accepting an entire package.
Being gay doesn’t determine your position on capitalism. Climate policy doesn’t determine your position on Zionism. Supporting Palestinians should include opposing Hamas if Palestinian freedom is the goal. Supporting Israel doesn’t require approving every Israeli government decision.
Teach definitions. Teach history. Listen to people who have actually lived the realities being discussed. Demand evidence. Apply the same standards to your own side.
In self-defense, confusion takes away options.
A country can lose them too.
A free society depends on people who can disagree and still think for themselves.
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Do something amazing.
Image created using AI.