WELL, IF politics doesnt work out for MK Naftali Bennett, Israels Minister of Communications, he can always pursue comedy instead.
By now most of you have probably seen his catchy campaign Im Sorry video.
Like him or not, agree with him or not, Bennetts video was funny.
To sum it up, you basically see this Israeli hipster guy, his pug by his side, apologizing to the entire Tel Aviv.
Starting with the waitress in a cafe who spills this guys espresso, to the guy who rear ends him, and finally, to the woman who up and takes the rented bike he is clearly about to ride, he apologizes. Theres a wedding party he bumps into on Rothschild Blvd. that he congratulates, only to follow up with apology for interrupting them. In one scene, he is sitting on a bench reading an article in Haaretz titled Israel needs to apologize, as he nods saying to himself they are right.
When the hipster outfit a costume replete with cap, full beard and retro style oversized, dark, plastic frames is peeled off, this hipster is revealed to be none other than Naftali Bennett.
From now on, were going to stop apologizing, he says.
After a few more humorous scenes, the video ends with the slogan, No more apologizing. We Love Israel. Were Joining Habayit Hayehudi (the name of his political party).
ITS A breath of fresh air to see a political point made with humor, instead of the all too many nasty insults that often fly back and forth. Granted, the hipster comes off as a bit of a clueless nebbish, no backbone, a loser who cant get ahead and apologizes for everything, basically for his entire existence, painting a monolithic stereotype of a leftist liberal Tel Aviv type.
Indeed, it is a caricature, but it is pulled off in good humor, tastefully, though.
And realistically, campaign slogans are about stereotypes. This video is an expression felt in Israel by the right-leaning political community in their frustration with the apologetic, perceived as destructively apologetic, posture of the left-leaning political community, about Israel and Israeli policy.
The message I walked away with from this hilarious clip was a reminder of Jewish pride, the rightness of our cause and the importance of national self-value.
Of course, I have seen the video criticized by some on liberal left. For isnt apologizing the hallmark of maturity, emotional strength and a developed adult, whereas a refusal to apologize is seen as a sign of weakness, a more juvenile quality?
Certainly, that is true.
But the two are not mutually exclusive.
Apologizing is a topic fraught with psychological nuance and significance. No doubt the video is simplistic in that sense. After all, it is a brief campaign slogan trying to make a point about Jewish pride and backbone, not a dissertation on the psychology of an apology.
That is why I took the video in the spirit of one of Israels famous satirists, Ephraim Kishon, who authored a book after the Six Day War, So Sorry That We Won. He was responding to some criticism of Israel that came her way in the aftermath of the 1967 war.
USUALLY, WHEN sincere, it is very difficult to say those two words, Im sorry. When it is merited, and said by someone who hurt another, it is viewed as an act combining courage, respect, care, honesty, humility and remorse. At such difficult moments of conflict, those words Im sorry are an act of grace and nobility.
Yet when Im sorry becomes a ubiquitous, if not obsequious, compulsive utterance, expressed for every non-infraction infraction, not only does it lose all meaning, but it is a sign of weakness and unhealthiness.
Beyond that, when apologies are offered on such a constant basis for every little thing, it devalues that side of a conflict as being illegitimate, or forfeiting its right to legitimate disagreement. It is simply reduced to an identity, someone wanting to avoid conflict at all cost, without the strength of conviction to stand for what he or she believes in.
Sincere, remorse-filled apologies for wrongs committed is different from a chronic, reflexive apologizer who cultivates a pushed around kind of identity. That point, made without the hostility of nasty political campaigns, is what Bennett expressed humorously. He pointed out what in his view, is a recent, problematic trend in Israel.
Like every country, Israel has her flaws and struggles, and as the political process keeps unfolding, indeed there will be, I hope, moments of real, vulnerable, true apology, along the way. That is part of growing and developing, and part the repairs Israel will need to achieve over time. True, apology can be a sign of weakness, but it can also be an expression of empathy, feeling sorry in an empathic way for anothers suffering.
The video might be somewhat simplistic, but the truth is, it was a little too familiar sounding. The reason the video is funny is because there is truth in it. In recent years, parts of Israel have lost their balance, backbone and sense of self-worth, to the point of sometimes being ridiculous.
In a political campaign, its good to have a comic reprieve from what unfortunately are all too often positions staked out by stooping to hostile attacks.
Im sorry, but I thought the video was funny.
Copyright © 2015 by the Intermountain Jewish News
