Beginnings

I spent around two hours yesterday with a couple of friends, who asked some seemingly ignorant questions about the Middle East (of course, in relation to Israel). They initially started by saying "Jew", to which I corrected them - but it turns out that neither of them have heard of the phrase Zionism. I was surprised - and envious. So, I began to explain the basic points of what went on in the past century - something I haven't really done, since people I usually discuss these things with have at least an inkling of the relavent histories and ideologies. My main issue was - how to explain what happened without appearing too biased.

One of the points in this discussion was religion - and they were surprised that I was basically "born" into a sect - apparently, they were born atheist (I think they are the first people I have met that hadn't chosen that path independently).

It seemed like they had a politically carefree childhood. Their political concerns (they're from Canada) were much different than mine, and from those people that I usually argue with.

Oh well ...

posted by Lazarus, 7:43 AM