What we talk about when we talk about love

(With apologies to Raymond Chandler)

I must preface these posts by saying that what motivates them is a feeling of anxiety in my belly and chest.

One of the reasons the Israeli-Palestinian struggle-embrace (even if the interdependence is not acknowledged) is so intractable is that it is such fertile ground for projection. People from all over the world, when they grow heated about it, are often not really arguing about the substantive issues, or even care deeply for the welfare of the protagonists, but rather are arguing about their own displaced psychic matter, projected onto one or other of the sides and identified with.

The Israelis are me, or the Palestinians are me, their suffering is mine, the injury to them is an injury to me, and so I must do something about it for “I” am on the line

Of course most debates in the public domain work this way, be it pro life vs pro choice, global warning vs climate change deniers, etc. But there is something about “the Jews” which seems to act as a psychic magnet, drawing huge amounts of psychic energy towards them both for, and usually more massively, against.