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We’d all save a lot of time and confusion if people used specific terms instead of “Zionist” and “Zionism.” The word “Zionism” means so many things that it’s basically useless as a descriptive term.
Like, if you want a 2 state solution based on 1967 borders, you could be considered a Zionist because you support the existence of a Jewish homeland on the former British Mandate for Palestine. But young people — especially the college student protesters — seem to mostly use it to mean modern, expansionist Israel annexing land for settlements, keeping Palestinians stateless, etc. Someone born in 2004 doesn’t remember a time when Israel was facing existential threats. It’s always been a regional hegemon.
It’s also unfortunate how the term has been co-opted by Israeli fascists in much the same way American fascists co-opt words like “liberty” or “patriot” or whatever. The meaning of a word or symbol can change real quick if an extremist/terrorist group uses it.
I didn't realize that this was headed to a frustratingly pointless disagreement about a label until it was too late.
You'd think I'd learn. I try to explain myself - to provide enough context that people can grasp the point I'm trying to make - and over and over, it's all for naught because someone just grabs onto a label, substitutes the strawman that label's attached to inside their own brain , then responds to that instead of what I've actually said.
Though anything but young, that's the way that I use it. And it's even the way I use it historically - not to refer to the broader set of people who favored the establishment of a Jewish homeland, but specifically to refer to, for example, Begin and those Irgun assholes, who paved the way for Netanyahu and Likud and all of the overt evil in which they engage.
And again, I should know better. Likely the best solution is to just stop using the term entirely - add it to the list of emotive terms that have been rendered useless, alongside "fascist" and "capitalist" and "socialist" and "libertarian" and, most recently, "liberal."