Blog #377: My Reaction of the Recent Attacks on Israel as a Neurodiverse Individual (Part 1)

As you know, I try to avoid the news as much as possible…I get the fact that social media and the mainstream news is bad for my mental health or anyone’s mental health for that matter. However, the recent news involving a series of barbaric attacks on Israel from Hamas was something that I couldn’t really ignore.

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Just seeing the images of buildings being struck and people getting kidnapped is something that I find really disgusting, with the latter disgusting me the most. In fact, I’m not even posting pictures or videos of news reports of the kidnappings because it’s sickening.

What’s more was that these coordinated attacks targeted citizens, ordinary people like you and me trying to enjoy their normal everyday lives. Also, most of the kidnappings took place at a music festival…A MUSIC FESTIVAL of all places!! Imagine that you are out and about doing something that you love and all of sudden, these barbaric monsters just attack you simply because of your background or your beliefs. Men, women, children being kidnapped brings back a lot of memories of a dark period in our history and it’s disgusting that we are experiencing this all again. Haven’t we learned or knew better?

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David Sharif (1997-2022)

What also infuriates me was that the people who were targeted could have been neurodivergent like myself? Think of what was going through their minds, the fact that they are having sensory overloads, that these savages are so blind that they show no sympathy or empathy whatsoever. The people who carried out these attacks don’t care what you believe, what your difference is or whatever. In fact, you might be someone who is on a pilgrimage or vacation to Israel and you are just randomly targeted because that you simply got put in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It also affects me on a personal level because some of the friends/colleagues in the neurodiversity community either are or have a connection with Israel whether they be of Jewish faith and/or they have family in the region. In fact, my little brother figure in the community, the late David Sharif, had a strong connection to Israel and he probably still has family that are uncertain whether they will live or die.

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“Canterlot Invasion” scene from “My Little Pony: The Movie” (2017)

Now, if you are reading this and are still a member of the Brony Fandom (I’ve been semi-retired since 2019), then you might remember some of the scenes in “My Little Pony: The Movie” (2017) where Canterlot is attacked by the forces of the Storm King and there are some scenes of characters being chained, muzzled, caged or turned to stone. Plus, seeing that these kidnappings took place at a music festival also made me think of this scene.

Since learning of what is going on in Israel and seeing images of people getting kidnapped and tormented, I’ve been getting flashbacks to those scenes and part of the reason why I don’t watch the movie as much as the series is because of those scenes. It’s very sensory overloading in a visual sense.

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This is a very scary time right now for the people of Israel. Sure, it’s been scary at times for so many years, but this takes things to a whole new level. All I can do is hope that a resolution can be found quickly!!

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Catch you all later!!

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