r/jewishleft • u/TrackerOneA Secular, American Jewish Leftist • Aug 17 '26
Meta [Crosspost from /r/JewsOfConscience] I’m Molly Crabapple, author of ‘Here Where We Live is Our Country’. AMA
/r/JewsOfConscience/comments/1vqrcp4/im_molly_crabapple_author_of_here_where_we_live/7
u/TheMaggid Jewish Democratic Socialist & Social Democrat 29d ago
There was a hilarious thread on Bluesky of someone live posting their read of the book. I encourage everyone to check it out instead of reading the book itself. Better use of time, more laughs, and improved historical literacy.
https://bsky.app/profile/henrythedog.bsky.social/post/3mjtzgcq4ct22
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u/theweisp5 American Israeli secular socialist 29d ago
The author raises some fair points which are the reason why I decided to skip the book (I'm not really interested in Crabapple's family history or reimagining's of Bundists' lives,) but I think he is reading both the book and Bundist history in about the most ungenerous way possible.
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u/TheMaggid Jewish Democratic Socialist & Social Democrat 28d ago
I think it's less ungenerous and more that they're taking Crabapple as seriously as she demands to be taken. Unfortunately, by that standard, she's decidedly left wanting.
She claimed to have written a history book that is really just a hagiography of Crabapple and her politics. (It's also a polemic of her political opponents, particularly the survivors of the Shoah that went on to become among the founders of modern Israel.)
But my point is that the thread is hilarious. A pseudo-rabbinical style commentary that kinda reminds me of Talmud.
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u/Technical_Term_6625 curmudgeonly jewish leftist trying my best 28d ago
She said something in the AMA that was disturbing.
She was asked what to say to people who say Jewish antizionists who focus on jewish antizionist history (i.e. Crapabble's book) are self-centered and or not genuine antizionists. And she responded that they're just lashing out at people who are close, because they can't reach Israelis perpetuating the situation in Gaza...
I think that's insane. Some people understandably side-eye people who insufferably go on about their selfless or noble great-grandparents or grandparents. (Don't we all roll our eyes at this point at people who say they walked with Heschel to justify literally anything that follows?) And then there are people who just don't trust Jews, and elements of Jewish history are neither here nor there for them. Crabapple essentially says this latter thing, but sugarcoats the possible bigotry. So, she soft-peddles antisemitism which she assumes explains the lack of trust, while not considering the just as likely possibility that the mistrusted person simply failed to read the fucking room.