Introduction to your Summer Months

As some of you may know, I'm leaving for Israel on Sunday, and I will be writing about my experiences there right here on this blog. While I am over there I will be staying in Jerusalem doing Ulpan at Hebrew University along with working as an intern at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. I have decided to move in this direction of the Israeli-Arab conflict with my major for now, and I hope my work will be beneficial to my professional development along with benefiting the world with better ideas for satisfying all parties in this conflict in the hopes of ending it.
A big issue in this is the United States of America. Support of Israel by Americans is important to the state's survival, and Israel is very aware of this. Yesterday I met with the Israeli Consular General of Philadelphia as well as other consular officials in an effort for them to introduce us to other students studying abroad in Israel, help us prepare for our trip, and to prepare us to be advocates when we return to Philadelphia after our return. This is all very reasonable, and I am sure that I will return with this mindset. But my friend Mariel sent me a disturbing video of Americans who were abroad there this past semester that just disgusted me. Here it is:
Quite a bit of disturbing myth in this, but my favorite is the fat (EDIT: I'm sorry, rotund) girl who first appears at the 1:03 mark and claims to be a Political Science major. I will respond to each of her points right now because she is foolish and stupid, and if you happen to know her, let her know my thoughts:
"I think it's really fucked up that he's going to all the Arab states and not Israel"-Simply put, the relationship between the US and Israel will weaken slightly during Obama's time in office, but in the long-term this will do everyone good. And Obama will make a trip to Israel eventually. Plus, the point of this trip was to revitalize the American relationship with the Muslim world, so staying away from Israel is not that big an issue. He never made a point in Cairo to Netanyahu that was as explicit or status-changing as Reagan asking Gorbachev to tear down the wall, so we'll put your total at one ignorant sentence.
"Oh, he's a Muslim for sure, and who even knows if he was born in the United States? We haven't seen his birth certificate yet"-I like how stupid both clauses of this first sentence are. First off, so what if he is a Muslim? The constitution doesn't say that a Muslim can't be president. And being a Muslim doesn't go hand in hand with anti-Semitism.
Secondly, I know he was born in the United States because he has an American birth certificate that we have seen. Some idiots (read: Fox News correspondents/hosts) have said it is fake. The "Birthers" are insane, but whatever. It's fine that some photocopying error caused the Republican Party to start personally attacking Obama's eligibility before the election, but then again they're turning a blind eye to their own party Bristol Palin abstinence education hypocrisy. If you look at John McCain's birth certificate, it says he was born in Panama. Last I heard, Panama was a sovereign state in Central America that was never part of the United States. Even when McCain was born in 1761 (actually 1936). The exception made for him to run for president is irrational and stupid, but it was never questioned because the Democrats continue to have real issues to use in campaigns instead of personal attacks. Anyways, her belief in this combined with the first part of the sentence causes me to grade this one as 1.5 ignorant, stupid sentences, so she is now up to 2.5.
"Bullshit, he's not from the US, he's like a terrorist."-So when every job you ever apply for in the United States (and probably Israel too) sees this video and decides to reject you, you'll know where to get that first job out of college: BORDER MILITIA!
"Just what is he doing for this country so far? Nothing"-You know, more stuff than the last president who helped get Hamas elected as the majority in the Palestinian parliament and slightly derailed the peace process. And he's actually trying to get the country out of the recession that our last president caused. Democrats as presidents are always cleaning up the economy after Republicans fuck it up (see: Bill Clinton getting us a budget surplus after trickle-down economics failed for the 12th year in a row). And why do Republicans make universal health care sound so bad? RED FEAR so that they can keep their lower-income supporters pissed that they pay such high premiums because the bureaucracy is run by for-profit insurance companies instead of the government. If poor people got real facts about socialism, they might realize it would actually be beneficial for them.
I'm a Political Science major, so like...I KNOW MY SHIT."-The first part of this sentence may be true. The second? We're about to find out it was a complete lie. Unless she dissects her poops to find the stuff she digested and harken back to the buffet meal she put away an hour ago.
Interviewer: "Do you know who Benjamin Netanyahu is?"
Rotund Girl: "No"
Hotter friend: "no"
Rotund Girl: "Isn't he the Israel Prime Minister or something? Who is Benjamin Yahu?"
Exactly. You have no idea what you are talking about. You come to Israel, claim to be a Political Science major, and then can't even pronounce the prime minister's name? You are full of shit, or lard. Or Bissli.
My goal is to dispel blind support and make sure it has meaning. We need to see that both sides have faults that need to be corrected. Idiots like this obese woman need to shut up and read up, and not blindly follow something, because then when someone who is actually informed talks to you, you can't respond. You'll have no chance. Calling Obama a pussy or the n-word will do nothing but make you seem more irrational, but calling him out for specific quotes or policy will do much more. So the goal of my posts for the next 2 months are to kill ignorance and spread knowledge. I'll keep you informed about the news and let you know about my surroundings.
And how about that drunk religious hippy at 2:02? He is by far the funniest part of that video, especially because he smartly doesn't say anything.