Like most American Jewish kids, I went to a Jewish summer camp. It was a good time: archery, canoeing, crafts, and a first kiss. I forget how many years I went. It was two or three summers in a row, I think.
Aside from the standard Jewish cultural stuff, such as singing, dancing, and Jewish-themed crafting, we did some historical role-playing.
The more they try to incite panic, the more suspicious you should be.
One of these role-playing exercises was when we had to “Escape the Nazis.” The camp counselors played the Nazis, while the kids played European Jews. We had to sneak around to reach the safe area without getting caught.
Looking back with the perspective of a parent, I don’t see the wisdom of this sort of re-enactment. I feel that just learning about the Holocaust was valuable enough. But we all had fun with it, and I don’t think it caused any harm.
But one night, they crossed the line.
In the early morning hours, the camp counselors woke us up. They said it was an emergency and gathered us in the dining hall. One of the lead counselors told us that the Arabs had gotten a nuclear weapon and destroyed Israel.
They told us everyone was dead — vaporized and turned to ash, like the Jews at Auschwitz.
Needless to say, we were pretty freaked out. Some of the kids — the kids who had family in Israel — were crying and wailing, screaming things like, “But what about Auntie Rachel??”
But the counselor calmed us down, and we all stood in a circle, held hands, said prayers, and sang some songs.
But then ... they told us (haha) that Israel did not get destroyed tonight and most of the Jews in the world did not, in fact, get vaporized, but it was important to remember that this was something that could happen, and that's why we — as Jews — need to remain hypervigilant about the people who hate us.
Then they put us back to bed. Good night, kids!
Needless to say, this was pretty traumatizing. Even today, when I see the words "Arab" and "nuclear" in the same sentence, that old anxiety comes roaring back.
However, that old anxiety is immediately followed by anger and resentment over what they did to us. Because this is what brainwashing is.
In the 1980s, when I was a kid at summer camp, no Arab state was even close to getting a bomb. And no Arab state is close now.
In recent memory, I have been told numerous times by authoritative sources that Iran is “two weeks away from a bomb!” so we must “act now!” But several years have gone by, and it doesn’t seem like Iran has a bomb yet.
For what it’s worth, I was also told — by the same authoritative sources — that we needed to remain in our home for “two weeks to stop the spread.” So I’m starting to think “two weeks” is a standard BS timeline. Just like when my wife says she’ll be home in “five minutes.”
And yes, some Arab states had (and have) secret weapons programs. But every competently governed country in the world (including Israel) has a secret weapons program, because they would be stupid not to have a secret weapons program.
But from a rational standpoint, Israel was safe that night. At least as safe as it can be, considering that it is surrounded by hostile neighbors who would, in fact, like to destroy it.
So yes, the threat to Israel is a very real thing. Any Israeli will tell you this. But it’s a complicated issue. Anyone who has delved into the geopolitics of the Middle East knows that it is a complicated issue.
The messy Middle East
For what it’s worth, I like Israel. I want to see Israel and the people who live there thrive. And Israeli children shouldn’t have to hide in bomb shelters while Iranian ballistic missiles are bombarding their cities. And they certainly shouldn’t be slaughtered or kidnapped like they were on October 7. Just like I don’t think anyone should be slaughtered or kidnapped.
Sometimes force is needed — as I believe it was in Gaza — but sometimes not. And often, it is just plain messy.
I believe we can calmly and rationally parse these complex issues. But the point of waking us up in the middle of the night was to remove calm rationality from the calculation and replace it with visceral fear.
They tried to break our little brains. And it probably worked on most of the kids.
Looking back, I suspect there were complaints from parents, because I don’t recall this happening in subsequent years. But my revulsion remains.
This was a counterproductive way to educate us about very real issues. Instead of illuminating the very real danger of anti-Semitism, the experience gave me a deep skepticism of Zionist propaganda and a distrust of Jewish-American cultural institutions.
Today, over 35 years later, I’m a fairly secular Jew. And while we celebrate holidays at home, I have never let my kids set foot inside a synagogue or Jewish Community Center.
Now, I’m sure most people in these institutions are, in fact, earnest and kind and would never intentionally traumatize a child. But the risk remains.
Because there are self-righteous zealots in this world — and it’s not just limited to Jews. They tend to congregate wherever there’s some sort of political cause. Environmentalists, socialists, trans/gay activists — they’re everywhere.
These people are dangerous, and I don’t want them anywhere near my children.
Many years later — long after summer camp, when I was a professional adult — I met a woman at a party. It turned out that she worked for the parent organization of my childhood summer camp.
I told her I went to one of her camps, as did she, and we had a nice conversation.
Then she asked me if I wanted to “get involved,” which really meant “would you like to donate?” I politely declined, and she asked me why.
So I told her. I told her what happened that night in the dining hall, that I don’t approve of those methods, that it’s counterproductive, and that I would hate for this to happen to other children.
She turned white. Just stark white.
Because I had broached a topic that was not to be discussed, she knew this had happened before. But it wasn’t something to be discussed. Awkward and sheepish, she stammered, “Uh, no. We don't do 'Experiential Learning' any more."
The thing they did to us had a name. It was called "Experiential Learning," and it’s quite the euphemism. I’m sure there are many research papers on the topic. But I'll take her at her word. Maybe, as she said, they don't do "Experiential Learning" any more.
They probably don't do it because those types — the self-righteous zealots — found something better. They discovered the media hoax.
Media malcontents
I’ve been around media for most of my adult life, and I knew this sort of thing happened, but the recent federal indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center laid it bare.
It would seem, like a shady tire repair shop scattering nails on the street to cause flats, that the SPLC was allegedly paying neo-Nazis, the KKK, and other hate groups to hold rallies and commit crimes to raise funds and justify the SPLC’s mission of combatting “hate.”
Among other things, the SPLC allegedly funded the organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
How many brains were broken by a bunch of chuds carrying tiki torches in Charlottesville? Was it in the hundreds of millions? More?
It almost broke my brain. Because I watched the mainstream media coverage, and what I saw was blood in the streets. American blood. In American streets.
And I don’t like blood in the streets. Just like I don’t like Israeli blood in Israeli streets. Just like I don’t like to see any blood in any street.
But something didn’t add up. Something was off. Because Charlottesville was portrayed in the media as a morality play, as a simple story of good vs evil. But, as with Middle East geopolitics, nothing is that simple.
The so-called “organizers,” who were cast as the villains, were too cartoonish. There was something fake. The tone was off. It was inauthentic.
Just like the camp counselors were inauthentic that night in the dining hall.
I think about Charlottesville, Russiagate, January 6, COVID, and all the other media hoaxes. It’s all the same thing — with the same pathology. The camp counselors are all grown up now, but the self-righteous zealotry remains — as does their goal. They want you to feel fear. And they don’t want you to think for yourself.
So when you see something in the media that makes you afraid, stop and think. Not that you shouldn’t be concerned, but think it through first. Think about who’s trying to manipulate you and why.
The more they try to incite panic, the more suspicious you should be. Because what you’re probably seeing is just "Experiential Learning" for the rest of us. And it’s best to ignore it.
A version of this article was originally published as an X post.
