How Are Leftists Like Teens Who Don’t Practise Safe Sex?

I have come to the conclusion that Israeli leftists are just like teenagers who don’t feel the need to use condoms to protect against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unwanted pregnancy. Here is why:

Leftists must have a lot of confidence in themselves and, perhaps more remarkably, in Israel’s enemies, to accuse Israeli right-wingers of baseless fear mongering. Israeli and Jewish leftists seem to think that if we just give up Judea & Samaria peace will ensue: terrorists will no longer have any reason to blow us up or stab us or attack us with their cars and they will live happily ever after alongside us Jews.

I do not know what they think is meant when Palestinian Arabs shout “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

From The River to The Sea PALASTINE will be Free
#ElQudsIsPalestinesCapital pic.twitter.com/BVWvS8Bqvm

— Mohamed Younes (@Myounes32) July 24, 2016

But I think it may have something to do with the fact that they consider us Jews as occupiers, not just of Judea & Samaria, but of all of Israel.

#PalestineBeautiful
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” pic.twitter.com/XrkjhfM3yn

— Kar ProPal (@purplhaze42) August 7, 2016

It seems to me that leftists are in a kind-of cognitive dissonance regarding this small thing. And that is why I have come to the conclusion that leftists are just like adolescents who don’t feel the need to use condoms to protect against STDs and unwanted pregnancy.

What’s the connection, you ask? The risk to the teenager who does not use a condom is, of course, a potential STD or pregnancy. The risk to the left-winger who does not take seriously the right’s assessments of danger is the aiding and abetting of terror or war. However, convincing either the teenager of the wisdom in using contraception or the left-winger of the wisdom in regarding the Palestinian Arabs with respectful suspicion rather than unfettered empathy is a sometimes seemingly insurmountable challenge. Cognitive errors are not easily challenged.

If the worst comes to pass, neither has a problem explaining that it wasn’t their fault. For example, I worked with teen mothers who said they got pregnant while “on the pill,” not batting an eyelash as they told me that they sometimes would forget to take it for only two or three days (or more) any particular month. They were okay, they argued, there must have been something wrong with their prescriptions.

And the Leftist? Terror and war can be explained by the despicable behavior of the Right – you know, the occupational force otherwise known as the IDF, the apartheid wall, and checkpoints. No need to reconsider their own basic hypotheses when you have a ready scapegoat to exploit.

Let us look now at the best case scenario for both the carefree teenager and the self-righteous leftist. It is important to remember that:

1. because something CAN happen, does not mean that it necessarily will; and
2. if preventative measures are successful – NOTHING HAPPENS.

The problem with this is that when nothing happens, both the teen and the Leftist come to the conclusion that the fear was misplaced – that there never was any danger in the first place.

A version of this post was first published on Israellycool on 29 May 2016.