Though this issue has been hotly discussed over on Bureaucrash Social (in dozens of posts and hundreds and hundreds of comments), we haven’t yet weighed in on the current situation between the governments of Israel and Palestine here on Bureaucrash.com. Not because it’s not important but because it’ll likely open a can of worms. But as it’s responsible for fueling the growth of governments at the expense of individual rights it cannot be ignored.

In an era of quick soundbites many conversations devolve into a false dichotomy: Are you a Democrat or a Republican? Are you for or against gay marriage? Are you for the Israelis or the Palestinians?

For all of these questions it is easy to side with one camp and be supported by its ready-made support system of institutions, ideas, and propaganda. If you are a Democrat then you oppose Republicans. If you are against gay marriage then you oppose those who support it. If you back the Israeli government than you believe the Palestinian government is the aggressor.

Yet it is possible to answer these three questions without adopting either the given stances.

You can support a third party, or choose not to be active in the political process. You can believe that the government has no authority to tell individuals who they can or cannot marry. And you can choose to have views about the situation in Gaza without backing either the Israeli or Palestinian governments. Views that value peace, respect human rights and see that actors on both sides have wronged.

As was said in American History X, “Hate is baggage.” Rather than continue the escalation we should attempt to mitigate the actions by both governments and their supporters.

BTW: In case you didn’t pick up on it, I was trying to differentiate between the actions taken by the governments of Israel and Palestine. Just like many folks in the States don’t agree with what everything the U.S. government does, the governments of other countries often don’t speak for the folks living there. We should not equate someone living in an area as “bad” or “evil” simply because the government that claims authority over them fits that description.

It’s time to loose the “us v. them” mentality that allows governments to thrive. That allows propaganda to be peddled and other humans — kids, and parents with families — to be seen as worthless.

For more on this check out the Stop Statism overview, the Nonviolentists group, and Off the Charts, which addesses related media coverage - all on Bureacurash Social. Also of interest may be the documentary Why We Fight, and though it focuses on the U.S., many of its lessons are applicable to this situation and the Stop Statism swag from our Contraband shop.