Where Does Blogging Go From Here? Part One - What Even Is "Here"?

This isn't Part 8 because it would be weird to have three or four Part 8's.

So what's your solution?

The rallying cry of centrist dipshits. Pointing out that the incredibly harmful systems in place are not fixing the problems they are meant to fix, but are instead creating a lot of new extra problems - this is forbidden unless you have a perfect solution to replace it. It's a very familiar tactic to criminal justice reform activists, who are constantly told that reducing police budgets cannot be done unless you have a proven plan to eradicate all crime anywhere ever. Mere mountains of data showing that community support programs and social services like supportive housing do a much better job at reducing crime - that doesn't count. You need to prove that it will 100% work in the specific municipality it is proposed for and that the results aren't impacted by any other potential variables and remain robust for decades and also you'll never be allowed to test it anywhere ever. That sort of thing.

So it's a dumb criticism. No, I don't have a magical plan with a 100% guarantee of peace in the Middle East - and even if I did, there is no plan so compelling and easy to implement that it obviously will go forward with zero resistance or pushback from anyone. I mean - no one even gets this as answer to "where do you want to go for lunch?" And this level of justification is never required for plans like "give Israel $14 billion in weapons - also remove any Congressional oversight or even any knowledge or awareness of how that money is spent".

That said - it is a good question that warrants some consideration. What is our solution? What is even our ask other than "stop killing civilians". I mean - "stop killing civilians" is valid enough ask by itself, but it is reasonable  to think about what this means. Also, "stop killing civilians" should always be acceptable and it is frankly bonkers that there's a push to silence these calls by equating them with supporting terrorists. It is literally the opposite of terrorism!

It's a huge question, so let's tackle it in steps. Step one is the immediate request. So what is the ask? We already know the outlines of the immediate demands:

• A ceasefire. A real official ceasefire with observers and a guarantor nation.
• Unimpeded access for international humanitarian aid - including fuel for hospital generators.
• Release of all the hostages taken on October 7th. And any other hostages Hamas is holding.
• Release of the thousands of Gazans imprisoned by Israel.

Articulable defined items that directly address the issues. The hostage/prisoner exchange is the most complicated - obviously some Israeli hostages have been killed in the past four weeks. Israel has been bombing the hell out of Gaza this entire time. While it certain it looks like Israel's assault has been indiscriminate, they had to have known about at least some Hamas facilities and resources. Places where Hamas could imprison their hostages - and also high priority air strike targets for Israel. As for the prisoner release - not every Palestinian taken by Israel is a political prisoner. Palestinians can also be criminals, and maybe some of them do actually belong in  jail. Still - these types of exchanges have occurred before - although never on this scale. And the other two demands are clear and understandable. These are what the demands were two weeks ago and they will be what the demands are two weeks from now.

Two weeks from now? Well, I wanted to ensure you got the usual dosage of doom that characterizes this new fever fountain of blogging. Blogging never changes after all - including the doom.

Yes, I believe that we'll still be in the current status quo (except with much higher death rates and way more doom ) in two weeks. A ceasefire will only occur when Israel agrees to it and they have indicated that they think this war is going to be long and difficult. So any ceasefire will have to be pushed by the international community - and specifically, by the US. Israel appears to not give a shit what other nations think (other than possibly for purposes of petty revenge - such as denying Irish and Brazilian passport holders access to leave via the Rafah Crossing like they allowed for other foreign nationals) - but the US does have power here. Specifically, billions of dollars of power. I certainly hope to be wrong about this - but I think two weeks before seeing any real movement on a ceasefire is super optimistic.