Clarity in the service of decency

The day after Christmas, I intruded on your holiday with a message that I knew was bound to make me some enemies. And indeed, it did. I even lost some long and valued clients over it.

I did it because while we’re all interested in making money and doing things skillfully, we also have to protect the weak against the abuse of the strong. And if we’re not in a position to directly help in a given situation, we at least should make sure that our feet are not on the necks of the weak and that we are not deliberately or inadvertently supporting those whose are.

Strictly speaking, I don’t know that this is a “marketing principle”, but if it’s not, it should be. There are many situations where we’re in the “superior” position to employees, vendors, prospects, and even customers and it’s a fundamental lapse to ever use that advantage to abuse the weaker party. I know all decent people know this intuitively and don’t need this instruction, but somehow in the fog of national and international politics, this common sense principle gets muddled.

I have been accused of being an antisemite by some which just goes to show you that if some people have no arguments they resort to throwing mud. What these people don’t know is that thanks to a happy marriage by my brother two-thirds of the new generation of my family are Jewish. Obviously, I’m not trained in the Jewish faith, but I will assert that Judaism, when practiced as intended, is a religion of honesty, justice, and charity.

This is important for all of us to remember going forward in the weeks, months, years, and decades to come as people contemplate the horror of what is now an ongoing atrocity by any standard.

The current people in control of what the Israeli government is doing- and that includes many members of our own government – are the people responsible for the crimes in question. That they wrap themselves in the Star of David, does not mean they represent the Jewish people or the Jewish faith. They do not.

What is our responsibility?

To educate ourselves and then educate our children and educate those who are educatable that a grave crime is being committed, and THAT all the arguments being promoted to “defend” it are in morally, legally, and logically invalid.  When, hopefully soon, this horror is stopped and remedied, the next step is for the individuals responsible for these actions to be arrested and tried.

For your convenience, I’ve assembled some of the key legal documents of this case. They are all short and readable.

They include: 1) The complete text of the case of South Africa vs. Israel in the International Court of Justice, 2) the text of the Genocide Convention, and 3) the text of the U.S. Genocide Implementation Act (our law which governs how our government is supposed to participate in actions to prevent, stop, and punish genocide wherever it takes place in the world.)

You can get more information about the book here: GenocideTrial.com

– Ken

Crawl, walk, run
Christmas cancelled in Bethlehem
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