Based on the coconut tree from which I fell, my IRL social circle skews heavily towards white, conservative evangelical and Catholic types. I also have an unhealthy obsession with following these same politically conservative white evangelical individuals and groups on social media.

And what’s surprising to me is, since shortly after Oct 7, it seems that the overwhelming opinion of relatively younger (let’s say under 40) people in this demo is at least some sort of soft anti-Israel opinion. The boomers, they still have that Fetterman-esque love for Israel. But younger conservatives… I usually see opinions about how we shouldn’t send Israel any more money, or acknowledging that Israel is committing a genocide. And it seems like it’s the overwhelming opinion from young conservatives, too. I’m sure there’s plenty of younger conservatives that do support Israel, but anecdotally that group feels very small.

That’s not to say I’m seeing a lot of pro-Palestinian sentiment, because I’m not. That’s probably a bridge too far for them. Also probably related to the fact that most Americans are just so incredibly ignorant about what goes on in other parts of the world, they can’t formulate full thoughts on these issues.

For months now, I’ve been all geared up to argue with anyone I know IRL who supports Israel. But it’s just never happened. Either people care or have any opinion one way or another, or they are critical of Israel. Not what I was expecting.

I wonder if AIPAC and Israel realize just how much they’ve lost younger Americans, probably for good (not that they care, they’ll just keep buying off American politicians).

    • Dolores [love/loves]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      5 months ago

      hmmm i seem to remember a map graph that plotted pro-israel sentiment in europe and it was uniformly lower than some years ago, but all i can dig up atm are depressing stats of like half of german respondents liking israel on polls. but even so 50% support is wildly incongruous with the state’s 2,000% support and implementation of fascist policies to crack down on the dissent lol

    • UmbraVivi [he/him, she/her]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Ok that was an exaggeration, but the opinion of the average German does not reflect the unquestioning devotion of the government.

      December 2023: 57% say Israel “pursues its interest with no consideration of other populations”, only 35% say Israel cares about human rights. (But also only 9% say it has no right to exist, so still cucked)

      I also wanna point out that Germany’s pro-Israel propaganda is like 5x more intense than US propaganda. It’s to the point that I regularly see Germans positively compare CNN headlines to the absurd German headlines, such as this example about a recent massacre

      English headline:

      At least 70 Palestinians reported killed in Israeli strike targeting Hamas military chief

      Head of German article:

      Attack on Hamas military boss: On Saturday, Israel’s army attacked a location where they assumed Mohammed Deif to be. Whether he was killed or injured in the process is currently not known.

      US media is a haven of truth compared to German news media when it comes to Israel. CNN sounds like hexbear compared to the Tagesschau. The people here are completely brainwashed and the fact that public opinion is shifting at all is surprising.

      • ElChapoDeChapo [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        5 months ago

        US media is a haven of truth compared to German news media when it comes to Israel. CNN sounds like hexbear compared to the Tagesschau. The people here are completely brainwashed and the fact that public opinion is shifting at all is surprising.

        Reminds me of how I looked at the BBC during the Bush years