Am currently sitting behind Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Newark. So tempted to strike up a conversation from the seat behind him about his blind support for Israel, and his similar blindness to the injustice of the Israeli occupation. What do you think about recent events in Jenin and Nablus, Congressman? Or shall I go first?
But I don’t want to be “that guy.” I also don’t feel like getting arrested today.
I note in passing that Rep. Gottheimer was late to the flight, but was permitted to cut the line and board before everyone else. Not sure why politicians deserve this special treatment, but ours is not to wonder why. Ours is to take our seats and sigh.
Anyway, back to reading Gerald Gaus’s Tyranny of the Ideal. Not much of a tyranny as tyrannies go, but easier to engage with right now than Josh Gottheimer.
Policy of Truth 
Might have been harder to resist if you were sitting next to him
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Yes, true. But one problem was, he had his young son with him (maybe 9, 10 years old). Harder to have this kind of talk with a child sitting right there. The other problem is, I don’t want to be in a position where he can accuse me of harassing him. He holds all the legal cards.
That said, if I had been sitting next to him, I don’t think I could have refrained from mentioning the anti-boycott laws, which now officially, as a matter of explicit government policy, equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. Since he is on record as believing that equation, I think I would have challenged him to make it to my face with my video rolling. I think I might have risked arrest for that, and done it in front of his son. At least I’d like to think I would. Some things are worth an “awkward social situation.” Next time!
The truth is, I am, on the whole, a very polite, even timorous person. Every now and then, I just get pushed too far.
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