Column and voice-over by Lee Camp, a human
By now you probably know what’s happened to the musician Macklemore. The short rundown is: He was on a massive tour, opening for Ed Sheeran, and the decision was made to pull him from the tour because he’s outspoken about supporting the Palestinian people during his performances. (One of his most popular songs is Hind’s Hall about Hind Rajab, one of thousands of children intentionally murdered by Israel.) Apparently Sheeran was pressured into canceling Macklemore by Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots football team and the stadium where Sheeran and Macklemore were going to perform.
All of that’s repulsive enough. You have an American billionaire — who’s been prosecuted for being part of an illegal sex ring in his off time — deciding that a musician can’t say anything to support a people who are being genocided with American weapons. Great. I love that for us.
But beyond that, we have other famous multimillionaires speaking out loudly in support of the persecution of the guy who stood against genocide. One of the most striking of these people is Pink, the singer-songwriter who has at various points in her career spoken up for victims of US imperialism. Pink shared a post on social media calling for Macklemore to be canceled from Sheeran’s tour, and she got her wish. (Hooray!)
She’s now playing the victim because some people apparently didn’t like that she effectively endorses genocide. (I’m not sure what’s gotten into all those haters.) She stated that supporting the genocide in Gaza has been lonely for her.
“I have stood up for other people’s people my whole career, and I know exactly what it costs. And now I’m standing up for my own people, and I thought I knew going in how lonely that would be. And it’s lonelier than that. But I’m doing it anyway.”
I mean, you have to feel for her. After trying to protect innocent people from the massacres created by the US empire, this one time she decides to sign off on one of our genocides — the most egregious in a long, long time — and it turns out it’s lonely. I’ve always said that genocide lovers should see ramifications for their crimes, but we can all agree loneliness is a step too far.
Pink claims she’s standing up for her people, the Jewish people, but of course this is both provably untrue and fucking stupid. I’m Jewish. I’m opposed to genocide. I’m opposed to apartheid states. I’m opposed to ethnic cleansing. I’m opposed to land theft. I’m opposed to racism. And all those reasons are the reasons I oppose every - single - thing - Israel does. When you try to shut down awareness of Israel’s unbelievably vomitous crimes — and awareness is what Macklemore is bringing — you are not defending Jews. You are only defending the murder of innocent people.
A) There are millions of anti-Zionist Jews like me. There are also millions of Christian Zionists. In fact, there are more Christian Zionists inside the US than there are Jews in the world. So don’t pretend like “pro-Israel” equals “pro-Jews.”
B) Israel makes all Jews around the world provably less safe. Not more safe. By convincing everyone to conflate Israel with Judaism, Israel has gotten millions to think that Jews all support genocide and hatred and racism and bombing innocent people. Therefore, millions of people around the world hate Jews in general thanks to Israel. Those people are wrong to do that. And their ignorance should be laid squarely at Israel’s feet.
C) You cannot claim you’re protecting Jews by covering up genocide and canceling those who inform people about it. You have protected no one except the genocide perpetrators. Congrats. Feel proud.
Strikingly, Alecia Moore (AKA Pink) doesn’t realize she has become the monster she once fought against. She’s reenacting the lyrics to her song “Dear Mr. President,” which she first released during the Bush administration, except now she’s the soulless person in power unable to see their own sociopathic behavior for what it is. Here are some of the lyrics:
Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
—
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?
—
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
—
Dear Mr. President, were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
—
Let me tell you ‘bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away.
So, Alecia, were you a lonely girl? Are you a lonely girl? Are you proud? How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
Let us know in the comments section.
Wow, powerful video and thanks for the great article Lee! F*** yes!! 🙌 I am disgusted and disappointed in PINK that’s unacceptable
Pink said she's "standing up for my own people." That's the thing I keep asking about... and that nobody ever seems to be able to answer.
I've placed this comment in other articles' comment sections as well. And I really mean this as a serious question, and yet nobody ever bothers to answer me.
I have absolutely no idea what it means to be a "cultural Jew." I've heard people say that they are "cultural Jews". When somebody says that they're not religious and/or that they don't believe in god, but they feel culturally Jewish... what the fuck does that even actually mean?
And let's be clear about one thing: there is absolutely no genetic component to being Jewish. None. Not to Judaism, not to Christianity, not to Islam, not to any religion at all. There is no such thing as a "god gene". There is no "Jewish blood." Religion is a set of beliefs and practices that people adopt... it is not something carried in your chromosomes. Whatever "Jewish identity" is, it is NOT biology... a big fat genetic ZERO... none... zilch... all complete choice!! You can choose to just drop whatever religion you were identifying with before, anytime you'd like, and never identify with it again… or choose no religion at all… Whatever the hell you wanna do… Since there's nothing biological or genetic about religion… So many people seem to have such a difficult time with this concept… And yet it's so basic and easy to understand… There is nothing in any religion that is carried in your chromosomes… PERIOD!
But here's the thing... the question isn't really "what is Jewish identity?" The question is: what is religious identity at all?
Because the word itself implies a boundary. To say you identify as something is to say there is a something-else that you are not. If there's no boundary, there's no identity... just a word that gestures at a feeling. So when someone says "I identify as Christian" or "I identify as Jewish" or "I identify as Hindu," the first thing you should ask is: what is the boundary? What makes this distinct? And if they can't name it, then there is no identity to identify with. It's a label with nothing behind it.
Because I would ask the exact same thing of anyone who says they "identify as Christian" or "identify as Muslim" or "identify as Hindu." What does that actually mean? What is the thing you're identifying with? If you don't practice the religion, don't believe in the god, don't follow the rules... what's left? And how is whatever remains any different from just being a human being who happens to have been raised in a particular place?
The silence is always the same. Nobody can name it. Nobody can define it. It's just a word people use as if everyone already knows what it means... when nobody actually does.
The "Jewish" case is just where this is CURRENTLY doing the most damage. It's the version of the question that has a live genocide attached to it right now. But the underlying problem is the same everywhere: people claiming an identity they can't define, and using it as a reason to treat others as less than human.
So if it's not the religion, and it's not genetics, and it's not a set of practices or beliefs... if it's just a feeling, a loyalty, a LEARNED sense of belonging... then how is that any different from what every other religion, every other tribe, every other group of human beings does? Everybody feels in some way attached to their own set of people that they have made the CHOICE to identify with. That's not unique. So what makes this one special enough to be worth defending a genocide over?
And if you can't name it... if you can't define what that identity actually is... then why would you ever embrace it in the first place?!?!