How do I turn this into obligatory reading? It saddens me that people who will read this book are probably the people that are already aware of its general theme. However, even through the pain of understanding the terribleness of the system, the hopeful tone is still very important for anyone who thinks about what is happening and is despairing.

Nothing will ever "compensate" or permit forgiveness for what was allowed to start not only in Palestine, but in Congo, Sudan, and several others, but it is in our power to try to stop.

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about how misogynistic 1984 is and I wanted to check in here to see how true that is. I really want to read the book but I don’t want to have to fight my way trough a book where every woman is portrayed in a misogynistic light. So I would love to hear from y’all is it a big problem?

the biggest thing that jumped out to me from this chapter was this quote: “There is an impulse in moments like this to appeal to self-interest, to say ‘These horrors you are allowing to happen, they will come to your doorstep one day.’ To repeat the famous phrase of who they came for first and who they came for next. But this appeal cannot, in matter of fact, work. If the people well-served by a system that condones such butchery ever truly believed the same butchery could be inflicted on them, they would tear the system down tomorrow.” a few sentences later, El-Akkad says “but at least fight against the theft of your soul.”

i don’t know how to convince those who still support the obvious genocidal state that what is happening is genocide, and while it may never happen to them, they are losing something human within themselves to be supporting such heinous acts. but i find it rallying to see more and more people these days who are speaking out against these atrocities.