Sociopolitical thorns

[mtbc]

Recently the BBC repeated The Story of the Jews (2013): over the course of the series it was interesting for me to see the ways and places in which Jewish communities had tried to make their home and the various changes that had forced them to move on. The last episode was something of a relief in that I wondered how Simon Schama would present circumstances surrounding the modern-day nation of Israel. While it kept Palestinian misery at arm's length I thought he still did reasonably in balancing his own views with others' perspectives. I have not read the book on which the series is based.

Separately I have been reading and hearing about other unpleasant ways in which people treat each other: misogyny and its ilk. Goodness knows I am not the most sensitive or sympathetic about some issues that upset people; I can also understand what motivates some bad treatment of others. Still, there are other bad things where I trust that they happen but they really would not have occurred to me: I find them surprising and baffling. The lesson here is that an understanding of some social issues remains considerably beyond me.

Between how puzzling I can find people's behavior and the deeply entrenched social problems that exist in the world I find it hard to even have confidence in any solutions let alone hope or advocate for their implementation.