Season 7, Episode 1 November 19, 2023

On this Episode, we'll hear from JFK, take a brief look at peace efforts in the middle east, and discuss a dilemma for the media.  The epilogue examines the new bigotry in America, and Not the Headlines talks Panda bears and tictok.

Transcript

Hello!  Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube.  If you’re looking for a sheep who follows the herd, you’ve come to the wrong place.  I’m your host, Baaaaab Woodley.  On this episode, we’ll hear from JFK, take a brief look at peace efforts in the Middle East, and a dilemma for the media...but first (Not the Headlines!)

I’ve always felt that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, I’d like to come back as a koala bear.  I just envy their lifestyle.  Hangin’ out in the eucalyptus tree, munchin’ on the leaves, not caring about what time it is.  From what I understand, the eucalyptus leaves also some sort of euphoric effect.  So, unlike humans, when they eat they don’t just get full, they also get fuaaaar out, man.  If you know what I mean.  Ideally, if I were a koala bear, I’d want to be one in a zoo.  Oh, sure, the wild is where you think I’d want to be, but if you look at the sedentary lifestyle of a koala bear, living in the wild is almost too much work.  Worrying about weather cycles and the availability of food.  Not having healthcare.  Hell, as a zoo koala bear, I’ll probably be featured on a postcard.  Yep, being a koala bear in a zoo would be a pretty sweet gig.  Then after being a koala bear, I’d like to be reincarnated back into a human so I can resume The Listening Tube podcast right where I left off.  There are currently nine zoos in the United States that are host to koala bears fortunate enough to land a spot in the display. 
The odds aren’t so good if you want to be reincarnated as a panda bear.  Currently, there is only one zoo in America with a giant panda display.  There were two until last week, when the three pandas who lived comfortable at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. climbed on a plane and headed back to China.  
A story on dcist dot com tells of how the pandas were slowly conditioned to spend time in the large metal boxes in which they’ll make the 19-hour trip.  It’s been done before, so it’s just a matter of following the plan.  
This will be the first time since 1972 that the zoo in D.C. won’t have giant pandas.  The first pair arrived shortly after President Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit China.  They arrived with great fanfare to commemorate the historic visit.  The departure of the current panda pair was quite different.  There was no fanfare.  In fact, the time of the departure was kept secret for, according to zoo officials, the safety of the animals and staff.  The date of the panda’s departure was revealed after the move was already in progress.  So, why was there no opportunity for Americans to say goodbye to some of the most beloved visitors to our nation’s capital?  Why in the world do we have to spirit out of the country three panda bears who’ve lived at the zoo since 2000?  They were obviously happy here.  That’s why there are three of them.  There were two others, as well.  The other two offspring were returned to China at the age of four, as per the agreement.  Ah, yes, the agreement.  Not only does it require any offspring of the visiting pandas be handed over to China at age four, it also requires a million dollars a year payment to China for the privilege of caring for them.  Remember how the first pair of pandas were a good will gesture?  Well, that all changed in 2000.   The last of the original pair died in 1999.  Probably from all that partying like it was 1999.  By then, China realized they could lease pandas to other countries, since they kind of have a monopoly on Giant Panda Bears.  
So, 23-million dollars plus the cost of bamboo later, the zoo in Washington says goodbye to the pandas.  But this is Washington, D.C., so they’re far from finished spending money on pandas.  The zoo plans on spending two and a half million dollars to upgrade the panda habitat.  The story says they’ll replace rock and water features and add new climbing spaces.  To me, it sounds like they’re adding solid gold toilet seats.  And that’s just in the hopes they can agree to a new contract with China to bring back giant pandas to the nation’s capital.  
I wonder if President Biden brought up the subject of panda bears when he met with President Zi in San Francisco recently.   


Speaking of China, the country of Nepal recently banned the use of the social media site and spy tool tiktok.  Time dot com says the move was made to protect what Nepal officials call “social harmony.”  As it turns out, the Nepalese public was complaining that tiktok encourages hate speech.  The story quotes the country’s minister for communications and information technology as saying tiktok was damaging “social harmony, family structure and family relations.”
How astute of the people of Nepal to recognize what the western world refuses to acknowledge.  The ban is effective immediately, although some internet service providers have yet to cut off access to the app.  
Not everyone is happy, of course.  Some argue it hurts people who rely upon it for income, which may be true.  My question is what did they do before tiktok?  How did they make a living then?  In much the same way that I wonder how Jesus spread the word of Christianity before facebook?  If all you do is provide content to a platform that promotes hate speech and collects data from unsuspecting people then I don’t have a lot of sympathy for you.  If you have a monetizable talent, then the platform shouldn’t matter.  Move your talents to somewhere that isn’t collecting information in order to conquer the world.  If you don’t think it’s fair to the people of Nepal, then perhaps we should get rid of tiktok everywhere so that it’s fair to everybody.  Then we can take a closer look at the other social media networks to try to find a way to make them free to exchange ideas and thoughts while ridding the platforms of a lot of the garbage they feed us.  I understand the role of satire and other forms of playing with our minds and emotions, but perhaps there’s a way to make social media more informative and less manipulative, more fun and less critical, more supportive and less demeaning.  I know that last part might be hard, because people do say some stupid stuff.          

Let’s Go Back liner

1877
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.  At first on foil cylinders, the wax.  Then records came along, and magnetic tape, both in different forms.  Different records spun at different speeds:  78 revolutions per minute, 45 and 33 rpm’s dominated the distribution of sounds.  Tape came in Reel-to-Reel, cassette, 8-tracks, DTS, and then came digital sound recording and playback, allowing all of us to carry around a recording and playback device in our pocket.

1917
Ukraine is declared a republic.  The history of the area now known as Ukraine is so convoluted that during World War II, some Ukrainians fought against the Russians and some fought against the Nazis.  Still others fought for the sheer joy of it.  Today, they’re fighting again, but this time only against the Russians.  Yes, that war is still going on, and a growing number of American legislators are growing weary of the cost of somebody else’s war.  It may have been less expensive if the support given to Ukraine wasn’t so piecemeal.  Ukraine is given enough to stay in the war, but not enough to win it.


1963
In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald is later captured and charged with the murder of both the President and police officer J. D. Tippit. Oswald is shot two days later by Jack Ruby while in police custody.

Play soundbite...

1967
UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted by the UN Security Council, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement.  Huh.  I wonder how that worked out…
Gonna look that up…
It actually led to a lot of peace.  Not right away.  But Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Jordan began to talk via the U.N.  Syria joined the talks in 1972.  Wikipedia quotes the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council from 1968:   "My government has indicated its acceptance of the Security Council resolution for the promotion of agreement on the establishment of a just and lasting peace. I am also authorized to reaffirm that we are willing to seek agreement with each Arab State on all matters included in that resolution."

1969
The Cleveland Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.  Today, the establishment media is struggling to find the tipping point for the publication of photos and video from the massacre in Southern Israel.  Many of the invaders wore body cameras to document their murderous rampage for future bragging rights.  Samples of unedited footage have been recovered and compiled by the Israeli government.  Only a select few have been able to see the footage.  Certain media, government officials and those invited to a viewing of it in Los Angeles, which led to confrontations outside the theater.  Those who’ve seen it say it’s so violent and macabre that you wouldn’t even be allowed to describe it on television.  Some have had to leave the room before the end of the reel.  It’s a tough call for the media to determine what to show us in this situation.  In one respect, showing something so vile, even if it really happened, could lead to traumatizing your audience.  On the other hand, one could accuse the media of hiding the truth to protect the perpetrators.  If they showed the world what really happened, it might stoke such outrage that extreme measures of retaliation might seem justified.    

1974
The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.  It’s important to point out that the Palestine Liberation Organization is not a country.  That’s why they can only watch, and not vote.

1977
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.  Today, Egypt is at peace with Israel.  The Gazans who were able to evacuate the war zone headed to Egypt.

1985
United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations. He is subsequently sentenced to life in prison.  See?  Just because Israel is an American ally, it doesn’t mean one guy can unilaterally decide to hand over our secrets.

You may have noticed a theme in our journey through this week’s history.  I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or there’s a reason why there’s so much history related to Israel and other countries in the middle east.  When somebody in the future looks back on the history we’re making today, I hope they’re as confused about it then as I am today.  I’ll tell you why in a moment.

Phone and email liner

The bigotry on display in America today, as the result of the Hamas attack on the people of southern Israel, has taken me by surprise.  I was taken aback by the utter disdain that many Americans have for people of the Jewish faith and the country of Israel.  I knew that white supremacist groups didn’t like Jews.  I could never figure out why, except that Hitler didn’t like them.  I don’t think a lot of white supremacists even know why they have a beef with Jewish people.  They’re just sheep following a deranged and antiquated ideal.  You can’t call it a philosophy.  Hitler used the Jews as scapegoats; someone to blame for the ills of society.  Those men who marched in Richmond, Virginia a few years ago, chanting, “Jews will not replace us” had no clue that there’s not a single Jew who would want to replace any of them.  White Nazism is a lost cause led by the lost and followed by the really lost.  
There was a time when a white supremacist could lead a double life:  one as a respected citizen, unassuming and seemingly moderate, while at the same time, leading a division of the KKK, preaching hatred and bigotry.  Sometimes they would be discovered.  But today, things are different.  It’s harder to keep secrets.  Bigotry is more easily revealed and discovered.  When civic leaders are exposed as bigots, people are often surprised.  As was I.  In hindsight, I’m surprised that I haven’t seen a single white supremacist group make a statement supporting Hamas, or condemning Israel for their reaction.  One might think that white supremacists have the same hatred for Jews as Hamas.  The kind of hatred that inspires you to plan an attack and kill as many of them as you can, including civilians and children and the elderly in cold blood.  I guess not.  Now, there might have been a statement from some obscure white supremacist somewhere on the dark web in support of Hamas, but there haven’t been any reports about it.  The other surprise was the number of average people who exposed themselves as bigots.  Not just bigots, but hypocrites.  
When I see the people on tv at so-called pro-Palestinian rallies, I see the same kinds of people who are the first to cry racism at the drop of a hat when it comes from white people.  Even though that by definition, there’s nothing wrong with separating ourselves into different groups.  It’s bigotry we should be fighting, not racism.  Referring to bigotry as racism is not only inaccurate, but is also indicative of sheep-like behavior.  Anyway, it’s the same people I saw rioting in the summer of 2020 and donating millions of dollars to Black Lives Matter.  Money used to buy southern California real estate for its leaders.  The same people who blamed all of society’s ills on the policies of old white men have now become the most blatant and obnoxious bigots on the planet.  The same people who demanded not just equal rights, but outright equity, are now the same people who are calling for the extermination of a country and it’s people.  Unlike bigots of the past who hid under cone-shaped hats and long white robes, today’s bigots don’t even try to hide.  Sure, they use terms like “pro-Palestinian” to cover their tracks.  If you look closely, there really aren’t any “anti-Palestinian” groups.  Even the Israelis are willing to work with their neighbors in the pursuit of peace.  The Trump administration’s Abraham Accords is proof of that.  Nobody’s calling for the extermination of Palestinians, despite what the protesters are screaming.  Calling President Biden “Genocide Joe” is simply unfair and untrue.  The only attempt at genocide going on here is the attempted genocide of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.  Chants of “From the river to the sea” by pro-Palestinian protesters are no different from the chants of “Jews will not replace us” by white supremacists in Richmond.  But some how, the liberal half of American society feels it’s okay to be bigots on this particular occasion.  
Supporting the civilian population of Gaza is one thing.  Steps are being taken to help them, despite Hamas’ reluctance to let them get out of the way.  A tactic the most ruthless use to increase the body count for public relations purposes.  Trucks bringing aid to the people of northern Gaza have been moving in an attempt to relieve some of the suffering.  One could argue that the people themselves deserve to suffer, as they elected Hamas to lead them, knowing their agenda of the elimination of Israel.  It’s the children I feel sorry for the most.  They don’t deserve to suffer.  But these rallies, while labeled as pro-Palestinian, are in substance, pro-Hamas.  And when you support Hamas, you support the elimination of the Jewish people.  It doesn’t get any more bigoted than that.  Yet, somehow, a large segment of society and government has found a way to justify hatred and bigotry.  They somehow justify what Hamas did to innocent people on a Saturday morning a month ago.  The same people who call white supremacists Nazi’s turned out to be Nazi’s themselves.  The proverbial pot calling the kettle black.  And their behavior, while not appearing as organized as skinheads marching in formation, is no less a group effort.  What in the world, other than pure hatred, would prompt people to tear down pictures of innocent children taken hostage?  Now, you might say, “But Bob, what’s the purpose of putting up pictures of Israeli hostages in the United States?  It’s not like we’re going to find them here.”  That’s true.  The only thing a picture of a hostage thousands of miles away can do is remind you that they’re still missing.  The people who are putting up the pictures want you to remember.  The people who are tearing them down want you to forget.  And these people aren’t just your everyday vandals and rabble-rousers.  These are people with Doctorates and distinguished colleagues of all stripes.  Professors and lawyers and college students on the path to intellectual supremacy, which they will tell you is much different than white supremacy, while the evidence tells us a much different story.
Not all of the newly discovered bigots have gone unscathed.  A New York County Public Defender was recorded tearing down pictures of Hamas hostages.  She didn’t try to hide her identity.  Why did she think she had to do that?  Was she offended by a picture of a child who was kidnapped by a terrorist group?  Was she defending the terrorist group?  Was she attempting to silence those who are trying to bring attention to the issue?  Some would say that it’s freedom of speech to tear down a picture of a hostage.  It’s not.  Freedom of speech doesn’t give anyone the right to subdue the speech of others.  If you don’t agree with a poster, you can put up your own poster, but you can’t tear the other one down.  This New York lawyer should know that.  But she took that action anyway.  An action that shows support for a terrorist act committed by Hamas a month ago.  In the video, she’s asked repeatedly why she tore down picture of missing babies.  She never answers the question.  Well, we all have the right to remain silent, don’t we?  At least she remembered that part of the law.  
Her silence is echoed every time somebody tries to get an explanation for why there is such outright hatred for Israel, despite their being the victims of an horrific attack, the likes of which hasn’t happened since the horrors of World War II.  A small group of Democratic representatives at the federal level have demonstrated support for the people who carried out the attack.  But when asked why, they don’t have an answer.  The best they can do is try to turn the tables and blame colonialism or claim Palestinian people are the ones being targeted for genocide, which they are not.  There is no government decree anywhere in the world calling for the elimination of Palestinian people.  There is, however, a decree by Hamas to eliminate the Jewish people.  Yet, somehow, extreme leftists in America feel compelled to support Hamas.  Rashida Tlaib, the lone Palestinian in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been censured by her peers because of her radical statements in support of the elimination of the Jewish state and it’s people.  She continued to claim Israel bombed a Gaza hospital long after it was proven they did not.  She called the term, “from the river to the sea” aspirational.  Meaning the peoples in the region should aspire to eliminate Israel.  The overthrow of a foreign government is not something a U.S. Representative should be advocating.  She accuses the United States of committing genocide for supporting Israel.  Did Rashid Tlaib notice the safety corridor the Israeli army created for the evacuation of Gazan civilians?  That doesn’t seem like an act of genocide to me.  Neither does daily four-hour periods of non aggression by the Israeli Defense Forces, with a three hour notice.  You can be sure Hamas will not stop for four hours a day.  At least not as long as they exist.  They’ve already made that clear.  
Yet for some reason, rallies in the United States, London, Paris and other large cities in primarily western nations have been organized to demand Israel stand down.  Not in the name of peace, but in the name of terrorists.  Nobody at these so-called Pro-Palestinian rallies ever demands peace.  Only a cease-fire by Israel.  Nobody at these rallies ever condemns what Hamas did over a month ago.  Instead they try to justify it.  Never before have I seen such widespread and universally accepted bigotry toward a race or religion of people.  For a Jewish person, it must feel like it did in 1930’s Germany.  But this time, it’s the academics and other elitists and their proteges who are rallying against Israel.  The professors at elite universities have rallied their students and traveled the circuit leading the cheers against Zionism as if Zionism is a bad thing.  It’s the same people who think making America great again is also a bad thing.  “He’s a MAGA Zionist!” is about the same as saying, “..and his sister is a thespian!”  The same people who have been demanding diversity, equity and inclusion have suddenly found a group of people who they think don’t deserve inclusion in the protected groups.  
If a group was formed, and in the charter it’s stated purpose and goal was the total elimination of all transexual people, at any stage of the transition, and one day, after years of careful planning, suddenly began killing people, they would be considered a terrorist group and it would be up to law enforcement to eliminate the group to protect the civil rights of transexuals.  The Biden administration would create a task force to eliminate the threat, and instruct the Department of Justice to use its full authority in support of the cause.  Well, that’s what happened in southern Israel, but instead of transexuals, the victims were Israelis, because they’re Jewish. 
And let’s look at the term Pro-Palestinian for a moment.  Did it ever occur to you that there are Palestinian people who are perfectly happy living alongside Israeli Jews?  Are these peace-loving Palestinians being represented at the rallies?  I think not.  So while the press will call them pro-Palestinian rallies, what they really are is anti-Israel rallies.
After the 2001 terror attacks in the United States, the people vowed to never forget.  Those of us who are old enough to remember haven’t forgotten.  Part of those memories for me was the jubilation of people in Arab countries as news of the attack spread around the world.  That’s what the people of Israel are going through right now.  While those who vowed to never forget the terror of America’s 9-11, most of the protesters on college campuses and at big-city rallies have no memory of 2001.  They don’t know they’re now supporting some of the people who cheered when America was attacked.  We seem to have forgotten to at least teach our children about what happened when America was attacked.  Is it too recent to show up in our history text books?  And, as some news reports have shown, many of today’s anti-Israel protesters don’t even know why they’re protesting.  Protesters have admitted they don’t know about the attack by Hamas, or why Israel invaded Gaza.  They only know what social media tells them, and social media has been dominated by groups pushing against Israel.  They portray it as a David versus Goliath scenario, with Hamas being David.  To those people I say, know what it is you’re supporting.  If you show up at a rally, don’t participate in the chants until you know what they mean.  If someone were to ask you why you’re there, have a good answer.  If you find out you don’t agree with what they’re preaching, it’s okay to try to find a hookup before you leave.  Politics makes strange bedfellows.  Learn as much as you can.  The people who speak at social and political rallies are good at what they do.  They know which words to use and what response they’ll get when they use them correctly.  Just like the media writes to sway your opinion, so do speech writers.  You must listen carefully to their message, as their message was carefully crafted.  Full disclosure:  The script for this program is also carefully crafted.  The difference is, I’m not trying to fool anybody.  Too many people are being fooled.  Fooled into supporting those who murdered innocent civilians in Southern Israel.  Fooled into thinking that Israel somehow occupied Gaza.  Fooled into thinking that Israel and the United States are somehow working together to commit genocide of Palestinians.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  
There’s a difference between a cease fire and peace.  The people at the rallies aren’t asking for peace.  They’re asking for permission to continue the mission of Hamas, which would lead to more violence, as the mission is to wipe out Israel.  And if you think the absence of Israel will bring peace to the middle east, history would suggest otherwise.  Peace deals are in place because of the work done by Israel and the United States.  The state of Israel isn’t an obstacle to peace in the middle east.  Israel could be the center of peace in the middle east if not for the factions of Palestinians who oppose Zionism.  When you ask for a cease fire, you want Hamas to be able to say, “Okay, okay...you win...for now.”  Well, Israel has decided to go in another direction, and actually fight for peace.  The only way peace can be achieved in the region is to eradicate the violent group that has vowed to kill.  As for the innocent civilians in Gaza, well, they were fooled, too.  They were fooled into voting into power a group who’s sole identity was destruction.  Just like the Nazi’s fooled the German people and the Jews became their target, today’s elite and academics have exposed themselves as the Nazi’s of the 21st century.  
We still have the skinheads, of course, and those who proudly identify as Nazis.  But to suddenly discover that all these additional people like college professors and college students and politicians are also antisemitic to the point where they proudly proclaim it in a public forum without any fear of reprisals for being racist is a bit of a contradiction.  All of a sudden, those accused of being racist have been joined by those who were accusing them.  These so-called Pro-Palestinian protesters are no better than the white supremacists.  Both groups have an unfounded hatred for Jews.  Maybe they should have a convention together.  You know, a bunch of people from certain middle eastern countries and a bunch of people with brown shirts and armbands hanging out at the Detroit Hilton or the Richmond Marriot.  From there, top brass would convene in Qatar with Hezbolla leaders.  All in the name of socially acceptable anti-Semitism. 
In the meantime, Israel will eliminate Hamas, international cooperation will install a new government in the Gaza strip, and there might be a chance for peace.      

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly.  Copyright 2023.  Thank you for putting your ear to The Listening Tube.  Subscribe today.  I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.