Sar Shalom
Today's Atlantic has an article about convincing people. The main example of the article is how liberals could convince non-liberals to support liberal policies. However, the principle would also apply to how Zionists such as ourselves could convince those who aren't committed Zionists. The essential principle is that you have to work from the "ethical code" of your audience rather than your own ethical code. Studies show that one of the main values of conservatives is group loyalty while liberal care about fairness. Yet, often conservative Jews try to convince their liberal co-religionists they are obligated to support Israel because of loyalty to the tribe. That argument is never going to work. What might work would be to reframe what it means to be fair in a way that is more favorable to Israel, thus appealing to their sense of fairness and achieving at least part of the desired result.
The Day of the Dhimmi is Done - Michael Lumish, PhD, proprietor. (mike.lumish@gmail.com)
Unfortunately, ideology seems to trump ethical codes in my experience. There are far too many examples to list but many have been covered here time and time again.
ReplyDeleteCall it value system then. Whatever you call it, it is what shapes the ideology.
DeleteStudies must have it backwards. Liberal Jews are very much into group loyalty, except their group is Progressive movement. And anti-zionism (especially for Jews) is de rigueur if you are to be accepted. The only way to "convince" them would be to change the Party line, but that's a battle lost years ago.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that there exists anyone who'd mind can be swayed anymore. We are the ex Hebrew Slaves in the Wilderness and it will take an entire generation of all of us to die out before any change can occur.
ReplyDeleteDoes the name Kassem Hafeez mean anything to you?
DeleteI'm not sure why it's the conservatives' responsibility to convince the liberals of anything at all on the basis of just loyalty. I think the fairness argument is made all the time, and my recent experiences tell me that the "left" puts a premium on loyalty to its brand. This has been an ongoing theme and problem for those Jews who have liberal leanings and support Israel. Haven't we heard this complaint enough already, that the price of membership in the current "progressive" left is searing criticism, usually involving defamation, of Israel, and zionism?
ReplyDeleteI was reading in Israel Matzav about the large-ish economy of Israeli companies white labeling their goods and services to Arab countries. They remove all references to anything remotely Israeli or Jewish. The Arabs are happy, the Jews make a good living. I'm not sure that's an entirely bad idea for so called Hasbara. Why fight against the riptide? Israel 21C website does a great job of non polemic advocacy for example. Just highlight the good things because they are good.
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