Why can't we all just get along? Well let me tell you.

I'm not going to use this blog post to actually describe why we all can't just get along.  Instead, I would like to discuss my overall political balancing act of the past four weeks.  Considering myself extremely liberal at first, I quickly found that I was much closer to the center than I originally thought.  To some extent, I allowed my self-labelling and my desire to be a "liberal"to shape some of my views, and occasionally found myself defending "my" policies which I actually did not support.  After some discussion in David Mendelsson's class (probably about who shapes history, etc.), I realized that I really needed to be aware of my biases.  To some extent I took that to the extreme; to some extent I didn't do that at all.  Instead I realized the biases in everything I heard around me.  I realized that MY views in the Israeli sphere are actually quite centrist. 

I DO believe in a two-state solution, and I do disagree with centrists, but I do think that Bibi has put the message out there that he is willing to resume serious talks (and while some may argue he is not sincere, I would argue he is unenthusiastic, perhaps because his personal views and what he knows he must do as the leader conflict, or perhaps because he is seeing signs from the other side which indicate that they do not want to negotiate peace).  Sometimes I think it’s easier to fall to the Right, but the Left makes one feel more honorable and noble.  While I’ve tried to see both sides, it’s exhausting.  I prefer to take the slightly more pessimistic yet pragmatic position.