The Sunday Snewz Issue No. 28

October 15th, 2023: Reaction vs. Response - Reaction Is Winning

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I promised myself I wouldn’t chime in about the Hamas attack in Israel two weeks ago because I try to hold myself to the standard of knowing two-shits about something before I form an opinion. And broken promises are what make it easy to break promises so I won’t share any of my own personal views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Easy enough really, because the Hamas attack was a terrorist attack and the event itself deserves an empathetic response. It’s quite simple to discuss it without getting into the deeper, underlying conflict between these two self—proclaimed deeply religious people who do an awful lot of killing for followers of God. But what do I know? I’m just a deeply spiritual woman who believes spirituality is a quality of being and religion is an extension of social collectivity and that the two have little to do with one another. Religion is tribalistic in its beliefs and sets parameters of identity, faith, inclusion, exclusion and both social and intellectual authority (McGilchrist, When the Dog Speaks the Philosopher Listens p. 216) Conflicts between religious devotees have occurred throughout history and are as common as family feuds during the holidays. The only difference being families usually stop short of removing the heads of their kinsman while religious fanatics seem to have no limits to their brutality.

What disturbed me even more than the vicious and unspeakable acts committed by Hamas were the comments I came across on Substack. I’ve come to expect vile behavior from those who have made the comments section on Instagram and Facebook their place of employment but I didn’t see the hate coming from Substackers. Substack attracts readers and readers are a notch above the intellectual midgets who circulate in the rectum of socializing called Twitter. (It’s X, I know I know, but that’s just too dumb to say)

“I guess the story of the holocaust was losing interested so the Jews had to come up with something new to whine about.”

This is an actual quote from a thread discussing whether or not this attack had conspiratorial overtones.

Another Substack user started a thread as I’m writing this which asks, “Should Israel exist?…” A few examples of the 63 comments that popped up in the last five minutes include…..

• YES!!!

• Fuck NO!!!

• Israel has as much right to that land as anyone.

• Read the Bible. It’s all mapped out.

• No, Israel has zero right to that land.

• I don’t think it should exist. It’s a fake nation.

I watched in utter disbelief as I saw images of the spoiled, disillusioned students at our nation’s most prestigious, irrelevant and dying educational institutions holding signs with phrases like, “Palestine at any cost!” and took to campus walkways spewing messages of hate.

Crowds gathered in the streets of metropolitan cities across the world over the past two weeks to let everyone know exactly what they think of Israeli’s and Palestinians and violence finally broke out in New York City on Thursday night between hundreds of Pro-Israeli and Pro-Palestinian protestors. About the same time Hamas and Israel were agreeing to a cease fire.

And finally some comic relief thanks to “Queers for Palestine.” Their smug faces proof that self-righteous anger can be perversely enjoyable. Constantly being angered by others gives us a comfortable sense of superiority.

What we are watching unfold are reactions driven entirely by emotions. Notice I said reactions, not responses. Reactions stem solely from our emotions, while responses are thoughtful expressions that come after unbiasedly assessing the facts. In the days following the Hamas attacks, people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict allowed their emotions surrounding that conflict to dictate how they reacted, rather than looking objectively at this particular event. Anyone looking at the unspeakable brutality of young women being raped and tortured, families being burned alive and children being butchered would invariably condemn the actions. Yet, that isn’t what we saw. Whether someone argues in favor of Israel or Palestine should be a mute point. Being a human should be enough to see this event as pure evil.

It isn’t events themselves that disturb people, but only their judgements about them. - Epictetus

An atrocity like that which occurred on October 7th inevitably causes extreme emotions but we must learn to pause those emotions before we respond. Many Pro-Palestinians showed complete lack of humanity in their reactions but some Pro-Israelis reacted by turning this event into a platform for their own beliefs about the rights of Israel and lost sight of the event itself. There is a time and place for these debates and this was not it. But this is how we are reacting to every issue we face. The Ukraine-Russia war, abortion, transgenderism, immigration, police brutality, vaccinations, and every other topic du jour. We are living in an age of abundant sensationalized content designed to trigger our negative emotions. From social media, main stream media, all the way to our government, we are being spoon fed content to fuel our emotions and these emotional reactions will crumble our society.

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Cognitive Reappraisal

As a recovering alcoholic, learning to respond rather than react has been at the center of my sobriety. Living in a constant emotional reactionary state of mind led me to many dark places and if I wanted to stay sober, I had to change this. Emotional reactions put me at risk of relapse, but they damage all of our physical, mental and spiritual health. One of the many reasons I am a grateful alcoholic. Without this struggle I potentially would’ve lived my entire life like a caveman dodging sabertooth tigers.

When we hear or see something that elicits an emotional response, there are a chain of reactions that take place within our bodies. We get an adrenaline rush, cortisol is elevated and our blood glucose begins rise. These are all good and necessary for our survival when running out of a burning house but not so much when we are watching the news or scrolling social media. We have turned a survival process into a daily occurrence and it is making us sick. Ever expanding waistlines, bra fat (IYKYK), insomnia, insatiable appetites, diabetes, heart disease and cancer - all in part attributable to living in our sympathetic nervous system.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.

-Viktor Frankl

The practice of cognitive reappraisal involves taking a pause when we feel our emotions taking control. It means to create space between your own personal emotions and the stimuli to which you are responding. This practice will free you from the emotional rollercoaster in every aspect of your life. From reacting to your demanding and cranium under-developed teenagers to the comments section of Instagram, learning to respond versus react will change your life.

• Practice the pause.

• Reduce unnecessary involvement in matters which don’t concern you.

• Practice 4-7-8 breathing - 4 sec. inhale, 7 sec. hold, 8 sec. exhale.

• Ask yourself if what you are about to say or type is necessary and helpful.

• Put yourself in the shoes of the person in opposition to you.

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Declare Your Independence

Bobby made a bold announcement this week and declared his independence from the two party system that is turning us all into indentured servants. If you missed his speech, you need to watch it.

RFK Jr. will be running as an Independent which means for the first time in U.S. history we have an Independent who has a chance to win. If you think otherwise, you are part of the problem. So long as we believe a two-party system is the only system available we will continue to be devoured by the two headed monster that is fighting itself and demanding we fight one another.

For all my DJT readers, it is my firm belief that if Trump were to become President once again, when his Presidency is over, so will be all of our freedoms. Not because of him but because Democrats are so vehemently opposed to him that they are willing to sacrifice our freedom of speech to ensure nothing like the Orange Man ever gets into office again. Save this issue and if that happens, reflect back here in another four years.

We need a healer. We need someone who isn’t taking advantage of the senior citizen specials at IHOP. We need to declare our independence from corruption, censorship, pharmaceutical capture and the mindset that our countrymen are our enemies. The government is your only enemy at this point. Let’s put it to rest once and for all.

Winning as an Independent isn’t going to be easy. He’s up against massive money and people who would rather see him dead than allow him to dismantle their castles. But he can do it if people like you and I get involved as if our freedom depends on it - because it does.

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As if I didn’t already know how misled our culture is, a startling thought came to mind as I was reading Abigail Shrier’s lastest piece. I was flooded by the realization that the students in university today will be in power when I am busy writing books, traveling and gardening my way into the sunset of my life. Terrifying - if people with the mindset to hang sheets from their balconies that read: “The Illusion of Israel is Burning” are in charge, the likelihood of me doing those things mentioned above in this country are highly unlikely. It is for this reason I wake up and write the things I write everyday. We still have a say in this culture and how we conduct ourselves in the world really does matter. I get it, it feels overwhelming and watching Netflix or isolating within the peaceful walls of your own home is much more appealing. But if you want to live your life with freedom and you want that for your children and grandchildren, you cannot get weary. You must get involved.

Universities to Jewish Students: You're on Your Own

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Chickens for KFC

One of my favorite intellectual satirists, Gad Saad nails the issue of queers for Palestine in an episode of the Saad Truth this week. It’s only two minutes long. Give it a watch.

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You have a choice this week to react or respond. Reacting has never made anything better. Practice the pause. Keep your emotions in check and take personal responsibility to remove self-serving emotions from your behavior. The world will thank you.