Re: Boycott Israeli products and companies
once somebody shows you a mirror, they are labelled immature or slave mentality.
it's ok, i am happy here. At least not suffering in the land of the "pure"
First of all a few references to slave mentality that I found on the internet.
**I used to marvel at the Israelites. Moses had just completed his diplomatic mission to Pharaoh, God had delivered unspeakable plagues upon the Egyptians, and after 430 years of slavery the Israelites had escaped through the Red Sea via a narrow pathway of dry ocean bottom. Then, as soon as the drinking water ran out, these recently-freed slaves began to demand that they return to Egypt, where they would have been put back in chains the moment they arrived.
These people--all of them--suffer from a slave mentality. They have been under the whip so long that they are simply unable to conceive of what it means to be free.
The Israelites are a good example (assuming the story is true, which I simply do not know for sure). According to the Bible, the Hebrews had been almost four and a half centuries in slavery. Some seventeen generations under the whip. Those who were set free had been born into slavery, and had no point of reference for what freedom might mean. They knew that slavery was not fun, but it was at least understood. It was comfortable. They knew what to expect. They knew the rules and how to play the game.
But freedom? That was like a big city driver who suddenly finds himself on a country road--where do you go when there are no cars to follow? What do you do when there is no one to give you orders?
After the American Civil War, when the slaves had been set free by proclamation, many of them opted to remain where they were. Perhaps their masters had not been so cruel. They had housing, food, and work. They were willing to accept a little pay to stay put and not be thrust suddenly into the terrifying world outside. (This was especially true of the older people, whose lives had already been wasted in servitude. They simply did not have the energy or the courage to forge a new life, with the attendant fears and unknowns, so they continued to work for their old masters.)
We see the same phenomenon today in the "battered wife" scenario. Women whose husbands have beaten them within inches of their lives frequently will not press charges against their abusive spouses. "He didn't really mean it." "He loves me. It's my fault for upsetting him." "He won't do it again. He promised." But the real truth is--"Where will I go if I divorce him? How will I make a living? How will I feed my children? It isn't very good now, but it might be a lot worse if I leave."
No self confidence.
No self esteem.
No sense of self worth whatsoever.
Lock me up. Feed me. Tell me what to wear. Tell me what to read. Tell me when to shower and shave.
Tell me what to believe.
Take my money. (Here's my wallet--give me back what you think I should have. You are so much wiser than I am.)
I see an analogy with a concentration camp. The inmates are being held without legal or moral justification, and have been locked up for years. Their children are prisoners as well, growing up behind the barbed wire. Subject to beatings, starvation, torture, disease, without adequate food or medicine. Then someone comes along with a key and unlocks the front gate. The guards are removed and the gun towers are dismantled.
But the people remain in their barracks. Freezing. Starving. Suffering.
They refuse to accept freedom.
It scares them.
Freedom was not an option.
Freedom was not acceptable.
They were slaves. It was the only life they knew. Anything else was too frightening, too terrifying.
All any of us can do for them is to be here, waiting, when they find their own way out.
Only then can we offer our assistance.
But many will die on the plantation. It's the only life they know, the only life they can accept. They are slaves for life.**