jslynschapterverse's Book Journey

TL; DR: A must-read important work of our time confronting and debunking the myth of the perfect victim.

Some longer thoughts:

perfect victim · the myth/belief that survivors/victims have to fit within a certain mold and/or behave a certain way in order to be credible, defensible, heard, or a true victim; a belief that dismisses some and diminishes the stories of others if they do not fit into the narrow and oppressive standards set forth by that mold; something that no one can be and that is unfair of us to ask anyone to be, especially in the face of genocide and colonial oppression.

In trying to force people to be perfect victims, we force them to engage in politics of appeals.

And that’s the central focus of El-Kurd’s book, reminding us that nothing justifies genocide or occupation. And Palestinians shouldn’t have to be “defanged,” nor should they have to justify their stances/stories to make them palatable for Western/outside audiences.

This book is a demand for dignity, and a rallying cry for its readers and Palestinian allies.

perfect ally · the myth that scares people into believing onlu those who are poli-sci majors and/or extremely well-versed in all the nuances, aspects, and stats surrounding a certain issue in order to make change/take a stand to help others.

There’s also no such thing as a perfect ally. So don’t feel the need to be one.

Stand with Palestinians and do so even if it’s imperfectly.

How people resist, how they show up as advocates, doesn’t have to be how anyone else envisioned it. It should just be in respect for the also imperfect ways others show up (as victims/survivors or allies).

Notes on my reading experience:

This book was a buddy read and my friend did have a valid point that this sometimes read like essays. El-Kurd mentions that the book, in its argument, began as a lecture/talk. And I do agree that certain sections read more academic in tone than others. But El-Kurd also injects humor and asides that still made even more “academic” sections “easy” to read. (Easy not in terms of subject matter)

Tandem read/note on audiobook rating: I read a physical copy alongside the audiobook. Mohammed El-Kurd narrates and does an excellent job. But the footnotes are not included in the audio, and while additions that clarify facts and info are not critical to understanding the text, they were great additions. There were also some fun asides in the footnotes.

Beautifully written. So many quotes and ideas that I will be discussing during our buddy read debrief.