Keeping it real

When I walk into a room with other people in it, I do it with confidence. Sometimes I may not feel so self-assured, but those in the room would be none the wiser. Sometimes I may be hiding a myriad of feelings, but there’s no reason for strangers to know this. 

Am I wearing a mask and not telling the truth? Am I conning people or am I being real? Or am I just getting on with my life – business as usual? 

In Israel this week, as Rolene Marks so aptly describes it, people are worried about an impending war, but they continue as normal. Are they being genuine but wearing helpful, happy “masks” to get them through the day? Or are they faking it? Perhaps a bit of both, but what are their choices? To implode with fear? 

If a person is having a bad day, falling apart at the seams and expecting the world to drop everything to save them isn’t realistic or fair. It also doesn’t really work that way. Though I absolutely advocate for people to get help when they need it – it’s vital for all of us – having a bad day cannot be everyone else’s problem. 

On Purim, this coming Monday, people will dress up as someone they aren’t to celebrate the chag. It’s wonderful because it enables people to be whatever they feel like being. Perhaps I have always wanted to be a princess or a Playboy Bunny. Perhaps this is my and our annual chance to live a dream. 

On social media, most people live their dreams. Rarely do you see people telling you of their awful days. Instead, you see them living their best lives, with perfect sunsets and numerous beautiful moments with loved ones abound. If you believed everything you saw on social media about people’s lives, we would be living in a Purim world always. 

If someone does share their darkest moments – and you rarely see it on social media – people panic. What do you do when someone does that? Reach out? Worry? I don’t know the rules. Suffice to say, however, if it was someone I knew well, I would undoubtedly reach out. They are clearly crying out for help. 

Unfortunately, these days, most people get a lot of the information they consume, factual or not, from the fake world of social media. 

What with the Roedean and King David School saga, while I would hope and believe that by now both schools have moved on, social media doesn’t seem to have. 

Instead, you find the most outrageous allegations against King David and South African Jews. Though I do see people challenging this, so many buy it hook, line and sinker, because it fits the narrative they want to believe. 

In one of the allegations against King David, there were supposedly Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recruitment posters on the walls of the school when Roedean pupils visited a few years ago. Really? Anyone who knows King David and anything about the IDF, will know that’s totally absurd. 

The IDF doesn’t go out to recruit soldiers because Israelis are conscripted into the army. It’s part of life in Israel. Girls and boys reach a certain age and go into the army. They don’t get to question it. They are conscripted whether they love the idea or not. 

Anyone who immigrates to Israel below a certain age, again, has no choice but to join the IDF. For a country facing the constant threat of war, this is the way of life and generally, Israelis and olim accept it. 

So, the idea of a poster pushing the IDF at King David is ridiculous, but you will believe anything if it fits your narrative, no matter how crazy. 

On 24 February, Independent Online (IOL) had a young reporter speaking on social media into what looked to me like a shaving brush, discussing the issue between the schools. Or at least I thought that was the idea, but what she said had little to do with fact and a lot to do with anti-Israel rhetoric. 

Why now, 10 days after the apology from Roedean, and close on a month after the match was meant to happen between the schools? It seems like jumping on the bandwagon long after the storm has passed. 

At this point, there’s enough factual information in terms of the apology and the various taped conversations between headmasters to be able to glean the facts. And, as a fellow journalist, I expect nothing less. However, this reporter maintains that the Roedean principal told King David that the girls couldn’t play because of a time clash, which wasn’t true. The facts are out there. 

“King David accused Roedean of antisemitism because Jewish learners (I’m sure she meant scholars, which is the correct English term) would be representing their school,” she said. Again, not true. And she went on. 

The point is, there’s much misinformation and fake news out there when there’s no need for it. The facts are there, but there are those who don’t want to believe them. 

I would like to wish away antisemitism. I would like it to disappear. But I won’t stand by and watch people misrepresent us and spew fake news stories about us to fit their narrative, and say nothing. 

The convenient mask so many antisemites hide behind, bringing us back to Purim, is anti-Israel or anti-Zionist rhetoric. They swear that they aren’t antisemites but anti-Zionists. So, they aren’t against the three or four Jews that – for some absurd reason – don’t believe there’s a need for a Jewish State and would like it not to exist. 

Time to take off your masks. You aren’t kidding anyone. 

This Purim, we’re all welcome to wear masks, but let’s be real about what’s fact and fiction. Let’s reach out and help those in need, but be cautious about allowing people to spew lies about us. 

Shabbat shalom! 

Peta Krost 

Editor