It seems remarkably odd to me to have a serious “dog in the fight” re: Israel and Gaza, when you’re Joe Six Pack here in the good ol’ US of A.

I mean, I have lots of thoughts. Like, territory won in battle is not just the sort of thing you can ask nicely to have the winner turn over. Or, if you switched sides I’m reasonably sure the bulk of Hamas would want to see Jews (and Christians, for that matter) herded into a giant open-air prison and kept in a state of constant poverty.

Or thinking “It would all be OK if only for (side) not (doing some thing entirely contrary to history and reason)”. How can you honestly think that? I don’t understand the line of thinking that arrives with, “It’s all the fault of Hamas” or “If only the Jews would just stop”.

But doubly so to that if you’re a midwestern white guy. It’s like you don’t get enough religious tribalism in St. Louis. Maybe it’s just an American thing to have to have a side on everything, and take it to the insane extreme.

But now my twitter feed is jammed with retweets of people pro or con, and it’s weird and depressing.