Try Not to Respond

 

Now off FB, X, and Reddit more than two weeks.  FB notices have passed 100.  Only one moment of FOMO when FB emailed me that a very good friend received a comment from one of the HS popular kids who usually does not comment.  Did I miss a condolence?  That would end my hiatus.  My wife shares that good friend.  She reports that he was engaged in significant travel.  That does not need a response from me.

While the economic business model of social media depends highly on emotional provocation, as does televised media, podcasts, and now political figures, often it is better to stay on the sidelines.  

עֵ֥ת לַֽחֲשׁ֖וֹת וְעֵ֥ת לְדַבֵּֽר  as Kohelet observed.

Sometimes not commenting means don't care, as in the many lures to sell me things that come in my email feed. Sometimes I do care.  Respond and React are not the same.  The political messages intend to provoke my reaction.  Responses need to be more reflective.  And as Conflict Entrepreneurs get more sophisticated, responses also need some rationing.

One making rounds this week from a number of sources is an accusation that if I vote my way instead of their way I don't care about Israel and I am a defective Jew.  Very easy to get into that playground mode of Am Not:Are Too.  But merit as a Jew, unlike merit as an Evangelical Christian Nationalist, is not about how you vote.  It is about a vision for how you would like things to turn out with respectable ways of bringing the vision about.  It is about not having victims. It is about either not making enemies, or at least being very selective about which ones.  The essence of Judaism is about how you treat people.  The Conflict Entrepreneurs really missed the boat.

I vote for the candidates they publicly demean, though unsuccessful taking me with them.  I also eat kosher, observe shabbat, share my treasure in ways that make Israel stronger and make Jewish institutions secure.  I don't steal, either property or the genevas da-as of ideas.

While internal conflict is part of Jewish history, so much so that our Talmud was the first enduring document to include minority positions with their reasoning, disconnecting people usually turns out badly.  

Always respond thoughtfully, but also selectively.