Nothing To Say

If anyone needs to breach the divide between neighbors this post-election season, it would be my genocide-supporting neighbors with me.

Nothing To Say

by C. A. Matthews

This post will go live on November 5. I wrote it a couple of days earlier, so I have no clue about what the outcome of the US elections are, nor do I really care. I’m just glad it’s finally over so we can return to concentrating on more important tasks—such as saving our fellow humans from being butchered by the American imperialist military-industrial complex in order to steal their land and natural resources, and hastening the death of capitalism.

Having said that, I will now explain the sign on the left in my yard:

I got the “heart [love] your neighbor” sign a few months ago from a local group, Neighbor-to-Neighbor. I thought it was a nice idea to promote neighborly love, and so I said I would put one up in my front yard during the months leading up to the election. The idea behind the sign is to help smooth over the “divide” many people are feeling during this particular presidential election season. Several community events were planned, and we were given a list of things to do order to let our neighbors know that there are “no hard feelings” after the winner of the presidential election is announced. Here are some of the tips:

Intentional Acts of Kindness

Let someone go ahead of you in the checkout line

Take trash bins in for a neighbor

Pick up litter on a bike/walking path

Call an elderly neighbor

Offer someone a ride to the store

Recognize one good thing about every person you meet

Not bad ideas on the whole. I’ve done most of these things before, so they aren’t much of a stretch to continue doing , but I find that last tip a real doozy: Recognize one good thing about every person you meet. This suggestion has become particularly challenging to me after these signs popped up in our neighborhood about a half-month before the election:

Yeah… What good thing can I find to recognize in a person or family who displays a sign supporting a blatant genocide enabler such as “Holocaust Harris”? Do I recognize that they haven’t attempted to kill me (yet)? How do I know people like me aren’t next on their list to be eliminated? (I don’t.) How do I know my new friends in the Palestinian/Arab American community that I’ve met this past year at various protests/marches/events in the area are safe from my neighbors who post pro-genocide candidates’ signs?

You see the dilemma I’m in. I want to act neighborly toward others, but I draw a red line at genocide. I can’t condone it or laugh off since it is morally reprehensible to me. I can’t easily forgive and forget its enablers and supporters.

In case you’re wondering, there weren’t any Trump signs on our street. This part of town is solidly “blue” because there are many blue-collar union workers and retirees, but I personally doubt if there really is that big of a breach to be healed between neighbors who support either duopoly candidate.

According to Neighbor-to-Neighbor, folks could be unhappy with each other since they chose to vote for either the “red” or the “blue” genocide enabler. This neighborhood is apparently all about supporting the blue genocide enabler, but even if there was a Trump sign or two I don’t think it would make any difference. Trump has stated he’d continue to arm Israelis in their efforts to destroy the peoples of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon (plus Syria, Iran, and anyone else who gets in the way).

What real difference is there between the red or blue teams? They both enable and support genocide. They both should be happy with the results of the election no matter which one of their candidates “wins” the presidency. Either way, Israel gets to continue its genocide in Gaza with American aid and armaments.

You don’t believe me when I say they’re on the same side? I don’t know what to say other than Harris tried to “out warrior” Trump in interviews by stating boldly she’d increase US military spending and aid to Israel. Harris has said that she agrees with Biden over starting a war with Russia over Ukraine or a war with China over Taiwan.

Blue and red voters should get along famously with each other. They share a mutual love of bloodshed. There’s no large gap to bridge between them. What was Neighbor-to-Neighbor thinking?

I’m the lone oddball on the block, of course. I have a Jill Stein 2024 People. Planet. Peace. sign along with a large peace sign permanently attached to the front of the house where a dorky brass eagle used to hang. (Read what I did with the brass eagle: The Peace Eagle.) If anyone needs to breach the divide between neighbors this post-election season, it would be my genocide-supporting neighbors with me. They need to be help me not feel so nervous around them what with their apparent endorsement of genocide.

Honestly, I really don’t have the patience to deal with people who openly praise those who have committed mass murders of innocents. What’s to like about Israel’s bombings of homes, tents, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, and olive groves? Israel has dropped more tons of explosives on Gaza in one year than all of the bombs dropped worldwide during World War II. Why should anyone feel neighborly toward heartless, immoral bastards and their supporters?

A couple of memes I came across online sum up this situation well:

The only people I genuinely trust in the world right now are those who are speaking up for Palestinians. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with the rest of you. But there is something very very wrong with you.

And this one:

Israel is mass murdering the Palestinian and Lebanese people because it is a sick, demented, psychopathic society.

The US is helping Israel because it is willing to sacrifice Palestinian children for its deranged quest for world domination and because it’s occupied by Zy- oh -nists. Period. It is as simple as that.

There is no need to argue, no need to engage. We only need to make this great truth heard everywhere, all the time, unequivocally, unapologetically, without any regard for acceptable norms and narratives.

Be a fanatic for children and humanity. Yes. If you can’t do that, go to hell. I have nothing to say to you, and there is nothing you have to say to me.

You might think these are pretty harsh terms to put upon the relative strangers who happen to live with me on my street, but I don’t think so. Their pro-genocide signs have revealed their inner selves to the world, in my opinion. They had an option. They didn’t have to display these disgusting signs and endorse bloodthirsty candidates, but they chose to do so. They could have put out signs promoting anti-genocide/pro-peace candidates and issues like I did. But they didn’t.

These two statements in particular sum up my feelings:

The only people I genuinely trust in the world right now are those who are speaking up for Palestinians.

If you can’t speak up for an oppressed people, then who will you speak up for? Are you speaking up for the rich and powerful? They don’t need your assistance, and they probably won’t reward you for your sycophantic behavior, either. I have zero respect for either bootlickers or genocide supporters. How can anyone trust you if you’re endorsing such immoral cruelty?

Be a fanatic for children and humanity. Yes. If you can’t do that, go to hell. I have nothing to say to you, and there is nothing you have to say to me.

This really tells it like it is. If you can’t enthusiastically speak out and stand up for the health and safety of humanity—especially children, the most vulnerable members of society—then you’re not worth talking to. You just aren’t. You might not even qualify as “human” if you’re that inhumane or heartless. You lack compassion and empathy. You’re not a very nice person.

How can I really “love my neighbor” if they’re sociopaths and aren’t even capable of loving anyone back?

This is my conscience’s latest struggle. I know we should love each other unconditionally, but it’s damn hard to when genocide enablers/supporters so willfully withhold their love of neighbors both at home (look at our Southern border) and abroad. They withhold their love based on others’ race, creed, or desirable natural resources (that we can steal), such as oil and natural gas reserves off the coast of Gaza. (Read more at The Root of All Evils.)

Maybe I’m misinterpreting my neighbors’ signs, and it’s just that they don’t care to be informed what’s actually happening in the world. They don’t care to know what’s happening in the Middle East, that hundreds of thousands of human being are being ethnically cleansed in their names, just as long as they can continue eat their McDonald’s hamburgers and watch Netflix, but if they knew they’d…?

Maybe my neighbors are happy in their self-centeredness more than they’re true sociopaths. (But how can you tell until it’s too late to stop the next genocide?)

Maybe this is all the oligarchy’s fault. This meme’s message certainly makes a good point:

The oligarchs who control our economy and democracy seek to divide us. They want us to turn on each other so we don’t look up and see where all the wealth and power have gone. Remember: We have more in common with each other than we do with them.

Maybe we’re all okay with the oligarchs dividing us. That could be the common denominator in our sick society.

A fellow protester reminded me recently that I can show love to my neighbors by not condoning their actions to support genocide enablers but by helping them to see things differently. Somehow, I feel this will be a dead end. They’re good with their choices.

No matter who the duopoly installs as president-puppet, the wholesale slaughter of human beings in Palestine will continue with US-provided arms. Does it really make a difference whether or not I talk to my neighbors? We seem to have nothing worthwhile to say to each other.

2025 is going to be an interesting year indeed.

Related Articles and Other Interesting Links

Servicemembers For Ceasefire (Helps for those who want out of military service) https://linktr.ee/servicemembersforceasefire

How To Go On In A World Full Of Cruelty https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/how-to-go-on-in-a-world-full-of-cruelty

Genocidal Scorecard https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/genocidal-scorecard

Genocide as Colonial Erasure (w/ Francesca Albanese) | The Chris Hedges Report https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/genocide-as-colonial-erasure-w-francesca

The full UN Report Genocide as Colonial Erasure https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/279/68/pdf/n2427968.pdf

"Too Much Evidence" Of Genocide https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/too-much-evidence-of-genocide

‘Intolerable’, ‘dangerous precedent’: World condemns Israel’s UNRWA ban https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/29/intolerable-dangerous-pr ecedent-world-condemns-israels-unrwa-ban

UN Rapporteur: Israel Carrying Out ‘Settler-Colonial Genocide’ Against Palestinians https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241029-un-rapporteur-israel-carrying-out-settler-colonial-genocide-against-palestinians/

US Sitting on Nearly 500 Reports of US Weapons Killing Civilians in Gaza https://truthout.org/articles/report-us-sitting-on-nearly-500-reports-of-us-weapons-killing-civilians-in-gaza/

Gaza Tells Us Who We Are https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/gaza-tells-us-who-we-are

The US has funded 70% of Israel’s war effort for more than a year (in French) https://reseauinternational.net/les-etats-unis-ont-finance-70-de-leffort-de-guerre-israelien-depuis-plus-dun-an/

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs has published a report showing that the US government spent at least 22.76 billion dollars on military aid to Israel between October 7, 2023 and September 30, this year.

About 17.9 billion dollars were spent on direct military assistance to Israel and 4.86 billion dollars in United States military operations in the war zone, including actions against the Houthi forces in Yemen, such as the deployment of aircraft carriers and air defence batteries in the region.

More than USD 251 billion in aid in 66 years…

The Mainstream Western Worldview Pretends The Global South Does Not Exist https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-mainstream-western-worldview

Biden Administration Overwhelmed With Reports of Israel Using Weapons To Kill Civilians but Has Not Taken Any Action https://news.antiwar.com/2024/10/30/biden-administration-overwhelmed-with-reports-of-israel-using-weapons-to-kill-civilians-but-has-not-taken-any-action/

UN: Over 11,000 Pregnant People in Lebanon at Risk Due to Israel’s Aggression https://truthout.org/articles/un-over-11000-pregnant-people-in-lebanon-at-risk-due-to-israels-aggression/

‘Haunted by Our Genocide From Half a World Away’ https://scheerpost.com/2024/10/31/haunted-by-our-genocide-from-half-a-world-away/

Relatives of missing-presumed-incinerated endure “ambiguous loss” https://electronicintifada.net/content/relatives-missing-presumed-incinerated-endure-ambiguous-loss/49736

The West Only Has Pretend Heroes Like Spider-Man And SpongeBob https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-west-only-has-pretend-heroes

They Got 60 Days in Jail for Protesting Israel’s Largest Arms Maker — and Say That’s a “Huge Victory” https://theintercept.com/2024/10/30/elbit-israel-weapons-protest-merrimack/

Ray McGovern's MICIMATT: The Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence- Media-Academia-Think-Tank https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381306491_Ray_McGovern's_MICIMATT_The_Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-_Media-Academia-Think-Tank

Yeah, Yeah, UNRWA Is Hamas. Everyone Israel Hates Is Hamas. https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/yeah-yeah-unrwa-is-hamas-everyone

Hostage https://dianeengelhardt.substack.com/p/hostage

Dissenting officials demand probe of Americans killed in West Bank, Gaza https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgv03x040xo

US & Israel oppose entire world in UN vote to end Cuba blockade https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/us-israel-world-un-vote-cuba-blockade

Biden’s Apology Energizes Push for Truth Commission on Indian Boarding Schools https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-apology-energizes-push-for-truth-commission-on-indian-boarding-schools/

Union Drive at Missouri Cannabis Company Could Impact National Labor Law https://scheerpost.com/2024/10/30/union-drive-at-missouri-cannabis-company-could-impact-national-labor-law/