Just an anecdote, but I was a teen in the 00s. I became aware of the conflict my freshman year of college and my impression was that while complicated, among my peers (even Jewish ones) the greater balance of sympathies laid with the Palestinians.
I believe you. But the problem is, young people are mistaken, what this attack is really about. Free Palestine is a myth, Hamas does not care about Palestine, they have not asked for a seperate state, but the destruction of Isreal. I do not advocate the brute beat down by Isreal either
I think things changed a lot after 9/11. At all the anti-war rallies it was common to hear "From Iraq to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime." Also, in the 90s, being globally aware was a LOT harder than even 10 years later, even if you set out to do so. These days, kids may well have played online games with folks in Palestine, or at least neighboring countries.
The world has changed a fair bit in the last 30 years.
As a teenager of the 80s, we were conscious of apartheid in South Africa and the boycotts thereof, and of the starvation in Ethiopia ("We Are The World").
I remember reading the newspaper about the Shining Path in Peru, and about the Iran-Iraq War.
The Falkland Islands War was a big one. The school librarian had a map open showing where the British Navy was on their way down.
Right! Glasnot, and perestroika in Russia, and the Solidarity movement in Poland. And the German teen who flew into Moscow and landed on Red Square.
Ferdinand Marcos going into exile, and his wife's bajillion shoes.
Tienanmen Square.
Oh, and of course the fall of the Berlin Wall back in 1989.
Israel has had a larger prominence in the US mind because of it being the Holy Land. I know people who went there to see where Jesus lived, for example. We also had some teens from a kibbutz visit our high school and talk about their life.
In addition to the newspaper, and the TV news shows, my family subscribed to National Geographic, and well remember https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Girl , a refugee from the Soviet-Afghan war.
Congratulations on your wonderfully diverse and globally conscious upbringing. I do not think it was representative of most Americans experience in recent history. I remember reports in the news after 9/11 that most American children surveyed were unable to locate Afghanistan on a map, with only 17% being able to find the country. Similar abysmal numbers for identifying Israel and Iraq. America was next to last, Sweden had the highest geographic literacy. Basic geographic literacy is key to understanding world events.
Most people in the 1980s couldn't have pointed to Ethiopia on a map, but they knew of the starving children there.
Most people in the 1980s couldn't have pointed to Afghanistan, but they knew Rambo went there in Rambo III, and that Reagan supported the "freedom fighters" there.
Most couldn't have pointed out South Africa on the map, but they knew who Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela were.
Why do you need to know where Palestine and Israel are on a world map in order to be aware of what's going on there?
> I do not think it was representative of most Americans experience in recent history.
Is your understanding of the global consciousness of the 1980s based solely on your perception of geographical knowledge of the era?
Do you really think modern geographical knowledge is significantly better?
