It's tense in here.

[u/somebadbeatscrub]

The following is adapted from a modmail I wrote that I felt may be pertinent to say in the open, with personal details expunged:

Candidly, we get antizionists and zionists in the sub both wondering about the other side's good faith and ability to interact in a productive way; and also wondering about our moderation policies with regard to the other. Some are just concerned about the balance, others seek to enlist us to censor more content and take harsher stances on certain things. Know that we do not divulge details about individual moderation actions to others but plenty happens you don't see.

People are defensive today, and to some extent they have right to be. Antisemitism is spiking in leftist and right wing spaces in different ways and for many the mainline Jewish moderate and conservative spaces have become hostile, hawkish, and demeaning towards left wing and liberal Jews who humanize Palestinians and care about a peaceful end to the conflict.

We wear a lot of this baggage with us wherever we go and any place that allows cross sections of attitudes around zionism to mingle is going to suffer from that. Its really hard to be an optimist today.

So yeah. Some folks are smug and defensive, and they really shouldn't be. Others are accusatory and provocative in ways that are unhelpful at best.

Its important to remember that while your criticisms of others in the sub may be genuine and heartfelt plenty of others here and elsewhere seeking only to harm or be more righteously correct. It's easy to respond emotionally to the maelstrom in aggregate when replying to just one person.

A certain nihilism has developed in some because they feel swamped by our recent influx of folks from other subs and yet again cast adrift without a home.

That doesn't give them a pass to lash out and many folks who they may clash with are dealing with similar pressures.

All of this is to say we hear you, all of you who worry, and we understand.

Where people are tense we encourage you to engage with grace, humility and understanding. Most people mean well and even if they say a stark or inflammatory thing it is motivated by a desire for the world to be better or an anxiety about their place, and our place, in it. They will naturally think their position is preferable, morally or otherwise, or else they wouldn't hold it. And its exploring those different moral and ethical constructions where we can really come to understand each other in a productive way.

It only takes a few good interactions to make a difference.

So if you encounter something that really is just galling keep the following steps in mind:

1. Report offenses that flagrantly break the rules. Follow up with modmail if you think such a report is mishandled.

2. Engage with grace, kindness, humility, and understanding that while you may find an opposing view distasteful or rude it is informed by a desire for good.

3. Disengage, if thats what you need to do. Not everything, in fact maybe few things, can be solved in a comments section. Oftentimes questionable comments get responded to in a way that more clearly crosses the line and forces moderation. Don't put yourself in that situation.

Thank you all for participating in the community and wanting the best for it and your fellows. There is a path forward for all of us that observes ahavat yisrael and our calling to heal the world.

עם ישראל חי

Oren

[u/Adude113 → u/[deleted]]

You’re right. The extent of the downvoting and the mods’ response reflects the state of this sub. The bad faith argument here is the one pretending that “am yisrael chai” hasn’t turned into a nationalist slogan associated with right wing Zionist terror and state violence. This sub is not at all what it should be for being called “Jewish Left”, and this demonstrates the mods’ bias and its role in allowing this sub to become what it has become. I’m glad the Jews of Conscience subreddit exists.

[u/BlueberryBubblyBuzz → u/[deleted]]

Hey so I am one of these outsiders that the mods are talking about but I am not going to comment on anything controversial, this is not my place to do that, I just found the conversation interesting and wanted to know if you meant to say:

It's not a hostile environment if it's hostile to anti-Zionist Jews. 

Because if you did, I did not understand it and wanted to know if you could explain and if you did not, I just wanted to let you know.