Confirmation by the Senate of new Supreme Court Judge Kavanaugh is not only an insult to the Supreme Court and the Senate, but also to the FBI with its fake investigation (only looking there where nothing could be found) and the Republican Party (that looked the other way about sexual assault). It shows the bankruptcy of politics that Trump painted which made him great again but also shows that voting for Trump is not the solution. (Yet, it ain’t over ’till it’s over. When appointed, the next phase begins, in which an attempt to impeach him can start. This is just a matter of time. If Judge Kavanaugh would have been innocent and truth-loving, he would have insisted on a thorough FBI investigation clearing his name.) How did they sink so low? Here’s my thought about this.
What strikes me most is that so many Conservatives, Republicans and Manual Laborers can’t wrap their heads around the idea that their perfect right-wing candidate for the Supreme Court is clearly a liar, a pretender, a bully, from his drunken student time and still when the veneer gets taken off. I believe that they genuinely can’t see that.
How come most US high school girls can talk about the persistence and destructiveness of sexual assault today while hardly any of their male classmates can acknowledge the same?
It reminds me of the last presidential election campaign, in which almost no Conservatives, Republicans and Manual Laborers could see the obvious, that Donald Trump is a moral (and environmental and economic) disaster. Even not after the grab-them-by-the-p**** tape came out, putting down representatives of oppressed groups, failure to confront Nazis, destruction of the environment, ballooning the national debt, clearly being a con artist, squandering his father’s fortunes.
It reminds me of intelligent and educated Conservatives who fight the notion and teaching of the Evolution Theory, while a child can see how true it is and how well it works. (Some of our greatest Rabbis (Hirsch and Kook), already two centuries ago, declared that G-d uses natural processes to do His Own biddings so that ET is no problem.)
Further down in history, it reminds me of the O.J. Simpson trial. Blacks just couldn’t see him as guilty. Whites could not see him as innocent. What gives me some hope is that in that case, opinion has shifted after two decades.
Still, I would like to ask, what is wrong with Americans that they so easily get divided into black or white, for or against, loyalty to the wrong guy?
- Is it the prominent history of slavery – you either are owned or free – and if you’re the free guy, you have no empathy with the owned people? Or deeper, is it a lack of empathy for people who think differently from you or look different from you (racism, sexism)?
- Is it the result of a political system where in most cases one only can choose between two political parties or candidates – different from multi-party democracies?
- Is it a reflection of classical Christianity that pits God and the Devil, Heaven and Hell opposite each other? Followed by pitting the saintly and the wicked against each other in movies; the policeman as selfless defender of innocent citizens opposite the ruthless murderer. And the supposedly civilized Whites shooting off allegedly blood-thirsty natives (turning racism, genocide and colonialism on its head). (In Judaism, the Devil is not a second god but rather a G-d-sent Angel who comes to entice to let us fight him and come out victorious and meritorious – hopefully. And the rabbis teach that Hell is for most people a temporary cleansing place before Heaven.)
- Does it come from being taught that sexuality is bad so they feel bad about it and don’t use it to consolidate their relationship (but get sex addicted to compulsive self-centered pseudo-sex) so that they move away from being interested in the other and what they think?
- Does it come from glorifying war? (The Dutch had an 80-year war of independence, centuries ago and since then hardly any, with WW II as exception confirming that rule. (We capitulated within a week.) War and nationalism are costly and should not be glorified.) On the battlefield, typically, one has no time for subtleties. It’s kill or be killed.
- Is it from thinking that only one side can be right, as my teacher, the prominent Dutch psychiatrist P.C. Kuiper, once suggested, a result of the patriarchal system, where always one person has the last word: Father?
- Does it come from advocating the pursuit of happiness? (This is such nonsense as happiness needs as little pursuing as having a skin. Just smile, mean it and you’ll be happy with your share.) Followed up by the advertisement world promoting products because they make you feel good, instead of that they work well? (In the Netherlands, you couldn’t sell a vacuum cleaner on that it makes you feel happy. There counts: does it hoover well and is it not too noisy?)
- Does it come from glamorous Hollywood that idealizes the fake, outwardly beautiful and apparently confidently strong, followed by facelifts and other superficial untruth, stepping on deeper realities?
- Or is it possibly all or most of the above?
I don’t know. You tell me. But just as an outsider I can tell you, this needs to change. It looks bad and it does a lot of harm.
Mental concepts as objective truth and evil are valid, but Creation is more subtle and shaded. Stop defending the indefensible. Stop loyalty toward mostly wrong guys or policies. (I wanted to say as illustration: Abusive Trump still supports Israel but after an anti-Semitic rant by him, and under uncertainty about what “peace process” this US President is going to try ramming through Israel’s throat,” that feels kind of shaky and premature.) Stop blocking out “unwelcome” voices and ideas. Start seeing some gray in your black-and-white picture.
Seeing (conflicting) details doesn’t need to make you less passionate. But it will make that you’re not rallying behind wrong (sub-)causes.
You don’t need to write off as human beings, people who did wrong. You don’t need to overlook flaws in your heroes. You can honor and listen to opponents and search for compromise and middle grounds.
Make Truth and Goodness the banners to humbly follow.
MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. *
As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. *
This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Of the 15 (!) books he has in mind, the next two are about homosexuality in Judaism and new rabbinics. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2600 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog that also may contain updates to Times of Israel posts, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. *
He's getting ready to publicize books on: "Free Will, "Judaism and Homosexuality, "His parents in the Holocaust, "Judaism, "A New Torah Translation and "A New Hebrew Grammar, "Co-Counseling, "Vegan Facts, "Immortality, and more. *
Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He agrees that in a post-truth world, that's irrelevant, but then this is for the record. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. *
Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. *
Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. *
He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. *
He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. *
He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. *
His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. His posts are spell, grammar, and style polished by AI, but all written by himself. *
To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. *
His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
