So today I was in the market...

[Frosty Weasel]

So today a few French friends and I took the day to visit Jerusalem's Old City. They wanted me to be the group interpreter because they had no command of Arabic whatsoever, and I had nothing to do anyways.

Other than the usual beautiful architecture and Roman pathways, the Old City also hosts an abundance of shops and street venders. As much as I hate going into dark alleys in Jerusalem, they made me. (women's charm I suppose)

Waiting for the girls, who were marveling at a selection of spices, I walked into a t-shirt shop to see if they had anything I might want.

Here is where the story gets interesting. Next to a wall of Palestine and Che Guevara t-shirts was another wall filled with Israeli Defense Forces t-shirts. I asked the shopkeeper in Arabic why in the world he would carry IDF shirts amidst all the persecution being done by the hands of the Israelis.

His response? A shrug of the shoulders and answering me in Hebrew that IDF shirts sell and that he didn't give a damn as long as his family was fed.

Huh, weird. So I started asking around at other shops and almost unanimously the same response was returned to me: they simply didn't care.

What the hell is wrong with the mentality of these Old City Palestinians in the midst of what is going on in Gaza?

[ExUnoDisceOmnes]

Option #1: Feed your family.

Option #2: Refuse to carry a shirt... and it doesn't really make a difference at all whether or not you decide to carry it in the scheme of things... but you'd prefer not to because you don't agree with what the organization does. Oh yeah, and your daughter doesn't get enough to eat that night.

I would feed my family.

EDIT: Unless of course, you could afford to feed your family without selling the shirt, in which case... well don't carry the shirt.

[ExUnoDisceOmnes]

Maybe he waits for them to buy it, then follows them and mugs them when they leave the store...

[DaringMehring]

Option #1: Feed your family.

Option #2: Refuse to carry a shirt... and it doesn't really make a difference at all whether or not you decide to carry it in the scheme of things... but you'd prefer not to because you don't agree with what the organization does. Oh yeah, and your daughter doesn't get enough to eat that night.

I would feed my family.

That is not a revolutionary mindset, and also poses a false dilemma.

What about "organize with other shopkeepers, consumer groups, etc." ...

[ExUnoDisceOmnes]

That is not a revolutionary mindset, and also poses a false dilemma.

What about "organize with other shopkeepers, consumer groups, etc." ...

You wait until you have a daughter who's starving, then reconsider that.

Yes the politics are very important, but the sale of a few shirts really doesn't make a difference. There are much more effective ways to protest and make a difference that don't endanger your family's well-being.

[L.A.P.]

It's unfortunate that the economic situation does so in a way to force a Palestinian shopkeeper to sell a t-shirt that represents a group that wishes to exterminate him. It's such a horrible and downright evil way of adding insult to injury, it's like a Jewish person having to sell a Nazi t-shirt in order to feed his daughter.

[Sasha]

dont see it much diferent than the countless times i have seen street vendors selling communist/lenin/stalin stuff together with nazi/hitler stuff in easter europe. only thing it tells you anything about is the current triumph of capitalism.

[gorillafuck]

Maybe he waits for them to buy it, then follows them and mugs them when they leave the store...
That's a really silly thing to just assume or guess happens.

[Frosty Weasel]

dont see it much diferent than the countless times i have seen street vendors selling communist/lenin/stalin stuff together with nazi/hitler stuff in easter europe. only thing it tells you anything about is the current triumph of capitalism.
Damn, then what does that say towards the mindset of these shopkeepers I ran into?

Although I suppose it's the same thing as them selling Christian artifacts.

[AnarchoCommunistEyepatch]

That's a really silly thing to just assume or guess happens.

Yeah jokes tend to be.

[psgchisolm]

QSQveJWbQeY

pretty cool.

[Rafiq]

So today a few French friends and I took the day to visit Jerusalem's Old City. They wanted me to be the group interpreter because they had no command of Arabic whatsoever, and I had nothing to do anyways.

Other than the usual beautiful architecture and Roman pathways, the Old City also hosts an abundance of shops and street venders. As much as I hate going into dark alleys in Jerusalem, they made me. (women's charm I suppose)

Waiting for the girls, who were marveling at a selection of spices, I walked into a t-shirt shop to see if they had anything I might want.

Here is where the story gets interesting. Next to a wall of Palestine and Che Guevara t-shirts was another wall filled with Israeli Defense Forces t-shirts. I asked the shopkeeper in Arabic why in the world he would carry IDF shirts amidst all the persecution being done by the hands of the Israelis.

His response? A shrug of the shoulders and answering me in Hebrew that IDF shirts sell and that he didn't give a damn as long as his family was fed.

Huh, weird. So I started asking around at other shops and almost unanimously the same response was returned to me: they simply didn't care.

What the hell is wrong with the mentality of these Old City Palestinians in the midst of what is going on in Gaza?

They are poor, and need a means of supporting their familys.

I don't think someone who is in need to support his family gives two damns about the political morals on the T-Shirts he sells.

[Frosty Weasel]

I don't think someone who is in need to support his family gives two damns about the political morals on the T-Shirts he sells.Political morals? Just this afternoon I heard gunfire in the Arab neighborhood a few miles from where I live. Sure you can sweep it under the rug under the reasoning that they are poor but not when you have relatives getting massacred.

[Rafiq]

Political morals? Just this afternoon I heard gunfire in the Arab neighborhood a few miles from where I live. Sure you can sweep it under the rug under the reasoning that they are poor but not when you have relatives getting massacred.

Look, the guy needs money to support his family.

Leave him alone.

Case closed ;)

[Frosty Weasel]

Look, the guy needs money to support his family.

Leave him alone.

Case closed ;)I feel for him for that reason, but it just makes me so angry he has to turn to that.

[ExUnoDisceOmnes]

That's a really silly thing to just assume or guess happens.

...I was completely serious in every sense of the word when I said that.

[Frosty Weasel]

I suppose I'll go back into the Old City in a week or two and take pictures.

Hell, some magazine will buy them.

[L.A.P.]

Considering the fact that the OP was playing "undercover Communist" at the time they made this thread, do you think they were just trolling?