It’s always weird hearing about stuff like this. Cause like, I grew up in and live in the US, so on the one hand, growing up in that and being conscious of the politics of it these days, means I’m aware of the fundamental similarities. But I guess because of the work that liberation struggle did over the time between open Yankee genocide of the natives and today, and the subsequent reforms to dilute and placate that revolutionary energy, there’s a sheen of liberalism on top that teaches, at least some of the time, actually humane values. That’s not to say these values are taught with any kind of consistency or proper political literacy, but they do, to an extent, instill actual moral principles in people, such that if for example a liberal realizes israel is committing genocide against Palestine, they may go “wait a minute, this is a huge violation of the values instilled in me” and start questioning other things too.

Whereas being in a headspace where one can dance to a song like “may your village burn” (explicit incitement of, and favorability toward, murdering civilians) is so ferociously and openly barbaric, it’s like a culture shock even for me, knowing how bad the US is and has been. The closest equivalent I can think of offhand for modern Yankee culture would be a KKK rally, but I don’t think they have much sway anymore. The administrators of the empire certainly wield imperialism in a way that is as violent, if not more so, but I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s not normalized in the culture in the way that it is in israel (it’s arguably more insidious in the US, EU, etc.). And so even though israel is an extension of imperialism and a continuation of colonialism, rather than some kind of aberration, it manages to look worse, to the point that it can shock, in contrast to the veneer of liberalism that the empire adopted in many parts of it over decades.

I don’t know if that makes sense.