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pjw

@pjw@social.coop

mastodon 4.5.18

Philosophy lecturer and political activist

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Specialize in metaethics, ethics, and philosophy of perception. Dabble a bit in political philosophy.

In my spare time I fight (mostly offline) against Israeli apartheid, and, unfortunately, in recent days, against genocide. Also a member of the Footnotes Collective (https://sites.google.com/view/pjwerner/home)

90% post in English, 10% Hebrew

704 Followers

457 Following

22 Posts

Joined June 20, 2025

Pronouns:

He/him, אתה, הוא

Languages:

English, קצת עברית

Politics:

Leftist without Adjectives

Professional Website:

https://sites.google.com/view/pjwerner/home

pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 2mo ago

Replying to

I don't fool myself into thinking that this is the worst experience at an airport that people commonly have. Israel is a country that has apartheid laws and has plausibly committed a genocide. People in the US are being kidnapped off the streets for speaking Spanish or just being brown. A bit of harassment at the airport is nothing. I guess the reasons I want to share this story are twofold (a) Selfishly, I wanted to vent because I am angry. (b) I know on a place like the Fediverse I'm largely preaching to the choir, but...I'm a straight white guy from the United States. I have felt and continue to be one of the most privileged people in the world. And this small taste of what it is like to be treated, time after time, as an inherently suspicious person, is (ironically and self-defeatingly from the hegemony's standpoint) radicalizing in a way that is hard to articulate. 6/6

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 2mo ago

Replying to

Twice I have needed to speak with the security agent's boss because of stickers that I have on my laptop. Once it was a sticker that said "From Gaza to Sderot (an Israeli city near Gaza), children want to live" (it rhymes in Hebrew). Another time it was a sticker that said "There is no democracy with occupation". It's humiliating and degrading in a way that is extremely difficult to articulate, and instead of becoming desensitized to it, I find anger building in me more and more each time I go through the airport. One time I made the mistake of mouthing off to the supervisor ("Is it illegal to have a political opinion in Israel? I'm just trying to figure out why I'm deemed a threat."). (That was a mistake, but I still managed to escape without an arrest or something.) I know others who have had their phones confiscated - taken to another room to do God knows what kind of analysis. - These are not necessarily activists or political people, by the way. 3/n

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 2mo ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@army_talk_fascism/117017306854840085 I swear, this account is too consistently on point with respect to the American administration that I really need to find the original document and just read it straight through.

mastodon.social

Army Talk 64: Fascism: "Fascism — whether in Germany or Japan or Italy — …" - Mastodon

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 2mo ago

Replying to

Then I was asked to pull my shirt up. Then he said that I have to take my pants off - not all the way off (so its fine!?), just to drop them below my knees. He rubbed my legs. He waved something around my genitals. He - more gently, in fairness - patted around my genitals. At no point did anyone tell me why I was selected for this treatment. Perhaps there was some indication that I had a weapon. I wish I could believe that I thought that was the most likely explanation. But the truth is that, while I don't think this is explicitly recognized in the individual minds of the security workers, this - the vast majority of these procedures - is about sending a message: You are a guest here. You are here because we *let* you be here. Don't get comfortable. Don't start fooling yourself into thinking you are one of *us*. You are suspicious because of your identity alone, and short of marrying an Israeli or becoming Jewish, you can't change that. 5/n

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 5mo ago

The difference between self-care and selfishness is not nearly as clear cut as self-help gurus and tiktokers would have you believe.
So too with concepts like grit (vs. victim blaming), 'setting personal boundaries' (vs. being unwilling to compromise), and other such ideas.

That's not to say that these ideas are not incredibly important and useful; rather, it's to say that simply describing some behavior as one of them is not some kind of get-out-of-jail-free card.

Limiting one's time reading the news so as not to be depressed all the time? Self-care. Being intentionally completely oblivious to the suffering going on around you? Selfish.
So where is the line? Don't let anyone suggest that the answer to this question is simple.

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 2mo ago

Replying to

I have traveled out of Ben Gurion probably 30 times at this point - so my report here is anecdotal, but with quite a bit of anecdata behind it. If you are lucky, the initial interrogation can be relatively normal - 'did you pack your own bags?' etc. If you are unlucky, you end up answering all sorts of questions about people you know from random places - as I used to live in Jerusalem, I was often asked 'do you know anyone on the *other* side of the city?' i.e. East Jerusalem, the Palestinian part of Jerusalem. Where did you meet these people? What's the most recent time you spoke to them? Let me look at your Whatsapp. etc. Similarly with the secondary screening. If you are lucky, they wave a wand over a bunch of your stuff, make sure there is no 'bomb juice' (or whatever it is those things scan for) and let you go. If you are unlucky, they take everything out of your luggage and begin interrogating you about various items - where did you get them? why are you taking it? etc. 2/n

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

Anarchists, academics, general interested political folks!:
I'm looking for writings on the importance of political imagination for political progress.

I feel like I often come across this kind of thinking in passing in radical literature (e.g. 'even just asking the question about what a world without prisons might look like itself makes it possible'), but I don't know that I know of an essay or book length defense of its importance. Ideas?

#politics #anarchism #leftism #ideology #theory

social.coop

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 2mo ago

Replying to

Today, things seemed to be going well. The initial interrogation was light. I spoke enough Hebrew to, I guess, show that I'm an adopted member of the 'in-group'. The secondary screening started well also. The security agent was treating me like a human, was not asking me weird and personal questions, and it seemed like I was going to get through unscathed. The metal detector didn't go off. The body scan thing didn't seem to react any differently from any other time. The "shoe scan" machine clearly said "OK" in bright green letters. Suddenly I was told to follow someone. First we went to another room, where I had to take my shoes off (the shoes that had just been given the 'Ok'). Alright, whatever - you have to do that in the US as standard practice anyway. Then I was told to follow two men behind a curtain. The man began to firmly rub down my chest and stomach, piece by piece. Then my back. Then I was told to spread my legs so that he could do the same to my legs. 4/n

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

Happy Passover and חג שמח פסח to all. Judaism is not Zionism, and War is not Liberation.

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

RE: @gl33p@mastodon.social

Sometimes people will get up in arms about the criticism of someone doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, but it is important because how we think of a problem shapes what we consider an adequate solution to that problem!

mastodon.social

Preston Austin: "😒 Things like feeding and housing people will cre…" - Mastodon

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

"The Iron Dome has eliminated Israelis’ fear of war.

A technology designed to preserve life has fostered a sense of near-total immunity, turning the catastrophe of war into a tolerable disruption if not a sterile consumer product — something absorbed into daily life with indifference, somewhere between the evening news and a food delivery.

When fear of war recedes, so too does the public’s motivation to bring it to an end. In this environment, technological security does not shorten wars but helps sustain them as a permanent condition."

https://www.972mag.com/iron-dome-intercepting-normal-future/

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 8mo ago

@maj Sorry, do you mean posts that I see in my timeline, or posts that I myself make?

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@natematias Great, thank you!

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@arod This looks PERFECT, thank you!

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@flyhigh Yes! Thank you!

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@adamgreenfield Is there something unique about da Vinci in a world where like, I don't know, 10-20% of surnames are toponymic? Something with Italian specifically? I'm very confused.

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@adamgreenfield I don't know, I mean I guess you can't argue someone out of a pet peeve, but "da Vinci" was a way to distinguish him from other people named Leonardo, and that's where many surnames came from. So why is "da Vinci" different from all of these other surnames that came about in this way? Because Leonardo himself wouldn't have recognized it as such? "Socrates" wouldn't have understood the way we call him in English, is that different? If so, why?

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@adamgreenfield I wasn't calling you wrong, I was asking *why* it is wrong when many other cases of this are perfectly accepted and fine. I don't mind pedantry as long as it isn't grounded in elitist unwillingness to explain and teach others.

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@natematias Thank you! Do you think this work would be relevant to someone not working in the Christian tradition?

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@kdwarn Ah yes! I do but had forgotten about them! I just hope I can understand them...

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pjw @pjw@social.coop

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@maj All good, thank you! Will look and answer

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