Of all the images coming out of the Democratic National Convention this week, I think this is the one that will stay with me the longest.
It’s the Pride bracelet that seals this image’s immortality for me. Pride is, in theory, a celebration of marginalized people, of a better world, and, we are continually told, of love. Now its colors adorn the wrist of a Democrat so determined to tune out the names of innocent children who were killed with her party’s support that she covers her ears. So much for love. This is where the most cynical reaches of 21st-century identity politics have brought us.
The rest of the video, which you can watch below, is equally disturbing. One man gleefully mocks the way the protesters are reading out the names of the murdered children. He is giddy, high off of his contempt for people trying to introduce a little reality into the sealed bubble of the DNC. He is pleased with his hatred.
Most people are not twisted and stupid enough to act like this on camera. But there is little functional difference between the behavior captured in this video and the attitude of the Democratic Party writ large towards Palestinians at this convention.
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