Looking at the current Middle East conflict and the responses to it in a dispassionate manner can help throw light on a rather odd conundrum.

Of why liberal minded people would ever support radical groups who are antithetical to all liberal values. Or why some atheists would support the cause of fundamentalist believers rather than secular democracies.

The answer lies in the historical oppressor-oppressed dynamic that seems to have a visceral appeal. So whether in race or gender or caste or religion or nations, whoever is seen as the oppressor historically is assumed to deserve whatever punishment they get now, regardless of the merit of the specifics. And the oppressed seem to find common cause regardless of the total incompatibility of their value systems. Such as liberal college grads and feminists supporting radical groups whose ideal society has no place for them.

This is not a rational but a visceral response. So it has to be acknowledged and not argued with. It is what it is. It will pass when it is meant to. We can only pray for both the historical wrongs and the current reactionary responses to those wrongs to both become a thing of the past and humans live sensibly as one interconnected web of life.

And we can individually embody that now to bring about in our own small way the change we wish for.