‘High-minded column’
Gary Hooser wrote a high-minded column in a recent edition of The Garden Island in response to two people who reached out to him.
If I didn’t know the back story, I would have been impressed. I’ll address just a few of his statements.
• “It seems supporting an end to the violence by asking all sides to stop the killing is either a stupid idea or one driven by the devil himself.”
That’s not what the writer wrote or intended to say. The writer was trying to point out that Gary may not have had all the facts to warrant a cease-fire resolution to be imposed on Israel. It said “I hope you are speaking from ignorance not evil.” Gary’s response wasn’t “Please share with me what you know.” It was, “Please do not contact me further.”
• “Another scolded me, saying she was offended that I had not responded to her email within three days.”
The courteous thing to do would have been to say, I can’t respond right now, but will as soon as I am able. A little courtesy would have gone a long way.
• “It seems supporting an end to the violence by asking all sides to stop the killing is either a stupid idea or one driven by the devil himself.”
The resolution in question was a little more one-sided than that. It puts the blame squarely on Israel. There is nothing in the resolution calling on Hamas to stop using civilians as human shields, or to stop using humanitarian assistance to fund their war machine instead of food.
•“In my experience, engaging in conversation and debate is only productive when there’s some genuine attempt to understand where the other person is coming from and trying to go to.”
That’s a good point and I agree with him. But he isn’t walking the walk. Rather than engaging, Gary shut them down, choosing instead to write another column.
He says he doesn’t want to engage, but actually chose to engage heavy-handedly by using his access to the paper to complain. In other words, he isn’t playing fair.
I believe that if Gary were really interested in saving the Palestinian people, he would be calling for a resolution to free Gaza from Hamas.
At the very least, he would be continuing a dialogue just in case he doesn’t know everything about the issue.
Vera Benedek, Kilauea
