- Norma Zager
Jewish women are the last to understand warfare, well perhaps sniping. Yet it seems apparent, even to American women of the Baby Boomer generation, GI Joe was a distant second to Hopalong Cassidy or Roy Rogers in the “what-I-want-to-be-when-I grow-up sweepstakes for young Jewish males.
My brother had an obsession with Hopalong. To this day I scour swap meets and antique shows seeking ancient cowboy relics for his birthdays. Neither he nor my other brother ever played with a GI Joe.
And what has this to do with Israeli politics? Just everything. The mindset of a country’s male population is an indicator of how they will succeed in war.
Muslims have a warrior mentality beginning with Mohammed while prophets like Moses, Elijah and Isaiah were never warriors, but men of God. Mohammed and his armies were conquerors. This has contributed not only to their mentality as a people, but as nations of Islam.
When Bruce Willis shouted yippee kayee mother ****er, audiences cheered. It’s a guy thing, an American guy thing. Europeans adopted the cowboy way and Italian spaghetti westerns were a mainstay of Italian cinema.
The Palmach and Haganah had their work cut out for them in 1948 when the British left Palestine. Jews had never formed their own army. They’d had no need. Oh sure Biblical times tell tales of the Macabees and various other famous Jewish Generals like Joshua, but were they warriors or cowboys?
It’s a choice. What is a warrior? Sun Tsu wrote The Art of War, and Asian culture has always maintained a warrior mentality. There were rules of engagement, battle and defense and specifically laid out plans for successful warfare. Japan’s business success is directly related to their warrior mentality. Fans applaud Tsu’s methods and hold them up as a guide for living. War and life are synonymous to his followers. Armies are stationed, fronts are covered, psychology is considered.
Enter the American cowboy. Gary Cooper alone at High Noon, Clint Eastwood and his sombrero, Wyatt Earp and his buddies against the Clantons: hardly a testament to Sun Tsu’s philosophy. Their game plan is always the cowboy way, ride in, shoot up the town and always draw first. Hope your friends have your back and if they don’t, fight it out until the ammunition is gone. Then slide over and take a gun off a dead guy and keep on shootin!
America remains, much to the chagrin of the Pentagon, a nation of cowboys. John Wayne is as much alive today as ever in the hearts of Americans. He is the hero, the lone cowboy who shoots up the bad guys and saves the town. It’s what’s made America great. The belief one solitary man can save the town, build a business, make a difference and stand alone against insurmountable odds. The warriors believe it takes an army, Americans believe it takes John Wayne.
I like the way we think. We are a take-charge mentality, a lone hero culture, a small band of revolutionaries who fought the English empire for our freedom and kicked their butts. I like and want us to come in and take back the town. Americans always need to believe they can conquer the world. We are all John Wayne and no battle at the OK Corral can’t be won.
Israel needs to believe this also. I want to hear young Israeli soldiers screaming Yippee Oy Vey Mother ****ers as they soar over Hamas rockets. Israel may be a tiny nation, but with a belief in the cowboy way they can shoot up the bad guys and take back their town.
Many have difficulty understanding why Americans and Israelis are simpatico. Simple, at this Gunfight at the Oy Vey Corral, they have each other’s backs. America is inside the hotel with a rifle aimed out the window.
If you don’t believe a small band of dedicated cowboys can change the world…remember, they are the only ones who ever have.
In the series “Postcards from Israel,” Ari Bussel and Norma Zager have invited readers throughout the world to join them as they present reports from Israel as seen by two sets of eyes: Bussel’s on the ground, Zager’s counter-point from home. Israel and the United States are inter-related - the two countries we hold dearest to our hearts - and so is this “point - counter-point” presentation that has, since 2008, become part of our lives.
© Postcards from Home, March, 2009
Contact:
aribussel@gmail.com
