Someone asked "Where is the American Outrage on Gaza"?

[TygrBright]

I can't speak for America, any more than a single Palestinian person can speak for everyone in Gaza, or a single Israeli can speak for everyone in Israel.

But I can speak for myself.

I do not have "outrage".

What I have is heartbreak.

My heart is broken that anyone who might want to discuss or support a realistic way to end this conflict is marginalized, silenced, derided or ignored by those who are certain that only one side is right and has justice and history with them.

My heart is broken by the exploitation of the agony of innocents and the claims that the horrors experienced by only one side matter and those experienced by the other side are trivial or false or, worst of all, justified.

My heart is broken by the lack of places where people who want to bypass the rage, ambition, and greed for power of leaders, can meet one another and talk about common human concerns and experiences.

My heart is broken by the roars of anger and pain and the calls for vengeance in the name of justice and genocide in the name of history.

My heart is broken by the sense that nothing I could do or say would change the trajectory of those bent on killing or displacing everyone they perceive as being in the wrong about Gaza.

My heart is broken by the weight of history that has soaked that stretch of land with blood for centuries in the name of group after group of claimants unwilling to extend tolerance and justice to others and/or exercise moderation and consideration in their own actions there.

My heart is broken by failure after failure of diplomacy and nation-building and aspiration subverted by politics, greed, fear, and hate.

My heart is broken by the awareness that my government is not only no longer interested in appearing as a humanitarian broker of peace, but is actively pursuing an agenda of escalating the misery and chaos. And by the awareness that nothing I can say or do will change that unless and until I have the opportunity again to vote for competent and humanitarian leadership in America.

I do not wish a plague on both their houses (for one thing "both" doesn't begin to encompass the number of interests and parties and groups and human beings whose welfare is at stake there.)

But wishing enlightenment on all their houses seems both futile and disingenuous, even if it is meant in utter heartfelt sincerity.

And so I carry my heartbreak in silence, knowing that it will meet with nothing but scorn, derision, and denial from everyone who "knows" what I "should" be doing or feeling or saying, and be ignored by the rest.

heartbrokenly,
Bright

[walkingman]

1. I consider religions to be the destroyers of humanity. They are the primary reason we are not better than this.

[Gaugamela]

3. I think of religion as a parasitic subculture that

attaches itself to an otherwise well-organized and thriving society and tells everyone that they are the essential ingredient that makes it all work. They seek to expand until they can take over and kill the host and replace it with their twisted patriarchal ponzi scheme, kind of like Ridley Scott's Alien, or the Borg in Star Trek. Religion is a vicious alien invasion, in my book.

[nowforever]

13. Fear of the unknown

which is really the fear of death is the element in the human psyche that opens the door to the creation of God to alleviate the fear. Well crafted fiction used to manipulate and exploit others.

[h2ebits]

14. I consider religion--made by man--both literally and figuratively--to be the greatest evil on earth.

[Evolve Dammit]

16. especially when co-opted and the religion distorted for retribution and just pure vengeance. Kinda like USA today

[gay texan]

26. Religion is why we cant have nice things n/t

[Bread and Circuses]

2. Thank you

I’ve been heartbroken and disgusted too. I have donated to a vetted charity. I also send intentions for peace. I saw a protest by young Israeli citizens . Not only is the World letting Netanyahu kill children daily. But,we are funding this with our taxes.

Republicans don’t care about people . They are madman who thrive on sadism, cruelty , and suffering.

The USA is now a fascist state. We protect, we send letters AND nothing.

Genocide is OK if you kill people that the oligarchs want eliminated.

Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, etc. are RICH. They need to get involved in a peace plan. The US is no longer credible.

[Hekate]

4. 💔You speak for me, Bright💔

May we live to see better days.

[TheRickles]

5. Beautiful! Thank you.

[NNadir]

6. Thank you for this eloquent statement that so powerfully expresses exactly how I feel. n/t.

[twodogsbarking]

7. All you stated. Thanks. The sadness hurts us but being there is beyond thinking.

[Biophilic]

8. Finally, a post on this subject that I'm not afraid of and that I support 100%.

Thank you so much for your time and thoughts needed to write something this clear and not designed to start another fight.
Your post makes me want to cry because it speaks to the heart of the tragedy instead of the intractable emotions.

[flashman13]

9. Beautifully said Bright. Personally, I am outraged.

[Gimpyknee]

11. F Netanyahu.

Like Trump, he should be behind bars.

[bdamomma]

22. Let's

make it threesome add Putin too.

[h2ebits]

10. Beautifully spoken. . . .I feel your thoughts in my heart and soul

[barbtries]

12. i just now posted this on fb

along with a link to WHO's press release.

The genocide in Gaza is no better than the Crimes Against Humanity right here in the USA.

It is tiresome to learn of atrocities, injustices, the murder of innocents, the destruction of families, the incessant cruelty and barbarity, day in and day out. But I think it's important to remember that they WANT us exhausted, emotionally bankrupt, in despair and terror, so they can control us. So they can continue their abominations unimpeded.

So it is important to stay informed. It's important to continue caring. Self care is also important, and after I hit post I'm gonna turn on the youtube, watch poker or true crime, and play games on my iPad until I pass out. Not that my dreams are always rosy these days

https://www.who.int/news/item/21-07-2025-who-operations-compromised-following-attacks-on-warehouse-and-facility-sheltering-staff-and-families-in-deir-al-balah

This news came to me today on the heels of the expose by the Guardian about atrocious conditions in Miami FL. The headline alone is just a portion of the crimes being committed in this hellhole; as my sign for last Thursday's Good Trouble stated, "in our name" "on our dime"

even the genocide in Gaza is financed by our tax dollars. It is heartbreaking true but I am also outraged. Righteously!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/21/migrants-miami-ice-jail-abuses

[Ping Tung]

15. Very well said.

[surfered]

17. Well said. Innocents are suffering.

[Buddyzbuddy]

18. Very well said, Bright.

Since it would be futile on my part to express my self as well as you have, I hope you don't mind if I sign on to your statement, not as my own but in admiration of your eloquence which I lack, to express what I too think and feel.
Be well

[Godot51]

19. Our guilt

I was born after the war, a white, catholic boy. I grew up in the 50s and 60s believing in the right of Israel against the rights of the "Arabs".

I read Leon Uris' "Exodus" and James Michener's "The Source", and, later, Herman Wouk's "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance". I felt those books and their stories strongly.

Driven by the guilt over the United States' complacency during the early period of the Holocaust I rejoiced in Israel's triumph in the Six Day War of '67 and was relieved after the Yom Kipper War in '73 ended.

However, as early as the 80s, cracks in the images, the propaganda, and the narrative began to show. The continuing terrorist attacks justified Israel but the actual plight of the Palestine people did not.

Now I live in a quandary wishing the U.S. had some solution, some hope, and some actual influence. But "we the people" do not. The constant wars have bored us. We cannot focus, we don't want to hear about it, we want some "magical" event to come about.

What? The Rapture? Armageddon? A final solution? We don't know.

Today both sides are represented by a violent, aggressive, single minded minority with the majority trapped in the middle. The U.S. is dominated by a corrupt, venal, ignorant administration with no plans, no concepts, and no desired for any of this to end.

We are as helpless as the peoples of both Israel and Palestine.

[perdita9]

20. Agreed!

I tried to speak with local Gaza activists about this last year, but all they would do was blame Israel and the U.S. for what's going on. You would have thought Hamas didn't even exist.

Yes, I want peace for the entire region and I want the people of Gaza to rebuild their society--a society that includes rights for all residents and hope for a brighter future.

[B.See]

21. excellent post

[TomSlick]

23. Very well said.

Reasoned discussion is difficult when there is wrong on both sides and both sides are convinced that they are right.

I too am left with only heartbreak.

[NH Ethylene]

24. I do feel outrage.

But at 70 years of age, I don't have the energy to sustain it or act on it in any useful way.

So I settle into heartbreak, for all the innocent men and women and children in Gaza who have been killed, for the medical workers who have been shot down, for the babies who are dying of starvation, and on and on.

There is no way to justify this carnage. I'd like to say it will be a haunting chapter of history like the Holocaust is, but I fear it won't ever be in the past, that it will never be resolved.

[Samael13]

25. Im sorry a bit myopic

But as bad as I feel for them unless we find a way to get this country back all the outrage in the world will amount to nothing. Plus alot of Palestinian supporters didnt exactly help them with protest votes and not voting. So again sorry I have to worry about us first before i can be worried about helping anyone else.

[Traildogbob]

27. Excellent posts by all

I feel among friends that Mirror all my emotions.
Religion has welcomed evil for power, of evil has sucked in religion, for power. Either way, Evil is in full control, and innocents die by the masses. Freakin little girls at Jesus camp. No God in sight to protect the followers that get killed as sacrificial casualties, as the cost of Freedom or profit.
And the Jesus Con people, are raking in trillions.
Count Moses Mike as the spokes person for Jesus Cons.

[biophile]

28. Same here

Your observations and feelings are mirrored by many others on this site.

[Lonestarblue]

29. I think most of us here remember the 1985 Live Aid concert. Why is no one doing such a concert for Gaza?

What is needed is someone with the star power of Taylor Swift to hold a concert to raise awareness of what Israel is doing to Palestinians as well as call attention to the lack of aid that is deliberately being hampered by Israel.

[Trueblue Texan]

34. Gaza is still receiving aid of sorts, but when they go to receive it, they are slaughtered. Abhorrent. nt

[Martin68]

30. I have both outrage and heartbreak. They can co-exist, you know. They are not mutually exclusive.

Many Americans are suffering outrage and heartbreak because they feel powerless to stop the killing that is supported in numerous ways by our own government. Many of us feel the same way that the many Israelis who oppose the military tactics in Gaza are feeling.

[Picaro]

31. So well said

I am with you on this.

But wasn’t able to articulate it.

[Skittles]

32. I am disgusted with the entire region

they hate each other more than they care about ANYTHING

"The Holy Land" - fucking DISGUSTING

[Trueblue Texan]

33. Absolutely spot on. nt

[SlowSpeed]

35. Remember the Warsaw Ghetto???

Gaza reminds me so much of what I have read and seen about the Warsaw Ghetto -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto .

Warsaw was the biggest, but I've read that the Nazis had 1,000 ghettos. There are SO MANY parallels with Gaza. The Jews were told to go here, then go there. They were locked in and confined. They were starved. They were sometimes killed indiscriminately. Then their homes, buildings, and infrastructures were bombed and bulldozed.

The Jews were abused once upon a time, and now some of them are the abusers. They see the Palestinian people as Untermenschen, and what should be done with Untermenschen?

And it bothers me when the Talking Heads seem to equate criticism of Israeli actions as the same as "antisemitism". They are not the same thing. Just because Jews suffered once in the Holocaust, does not give them the right to create a holocaust now that they are on top.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

[Pompoy]

36. Please, this is Hamas' and the Palestinians' goal, to turn the world against Israel

Yes, Netanyahu and the Israeli right wingers who are keeping him in power are not good guys, but look how much hell the US unleashed after 9/11. Never mind after Pearl Harbor. We wouldn't stop until our enemies capitulated completely or we had suffered enough.