While I’m a bit late covering this story since I try to stay off of rickriordan.com since most of Riordan’s posts just anger me, I ran across a post from October 17th that I feel needs to be addressed (you can read the full thing here: https://rickriordan.com/2023/10/from-boston-to-new-york-and-back-again-with-thoughts-about-israel-and-gaza/). To summarize this article, Rick Riordan talked briefly about his time in New York, then went on to talk about the current war, and in doing so made himself look like a complete ass. So today, I’m going to debunk his arguments because they are truly harmful to humanity and we need to hear the truth because if we don’t, then we have let evil rule us.
#1: Letters from Israeli and Palestinian Readers
In his blog post, Rick Riordan opens up his view of the conflict by saying this:
“Over the last eighteen years, I have received many fan letters from young readers, both Israeli and Palestinian, who often told me that my books helped them escape the fear, grief and anxiety they were dealing with at the time. Some had lost family members to violence. Some were writing while in the distance they could hear explosions, gunfire, and the launching of rockets. They used my books as a way to escape into another world, where the monsters were fictional, and where demigods usually saved the day. While I am always glad that my books can help young readers find joy during difficult times, my heart breaks every time I hear about the things they have to deal with.”
First of all, I have reasonable doubts that he’s ever read any of the fan-mail from anyone, Israeli or Palestinian. While there is a (small) chance that he has, he has also said on his contact page (https://rickriordan.com/about/contact-information/) that he and his team do not accept physical fan mail and he has closed off all direct means of communication via email and social media. His claim that he has recieved (and from the context provided, read) fan letters from Israeli and Palestinian fans is purely just him trying to play the virtue-signaling, “I understand your plight!” card.
Secondly, he claims that some fans were writing as they “could hear explosions, gunfire, and the launching of rockets.” While I have no doubt that the Israeli children would be able to hear those things while writing, (assuming they were real people and not just made up for reasons stated above) I have a very hard time imagining any Palestinian children hearing those things. Remember, Palestine is a Muslim nation. They control what you can and can’t write about very strictly (unlike Israel which allows free speech). No Muslim child – unless they are living in America (which I assume the ones he’s talking about aren’t) – would be reading and writing about books about pagan children, born of pagan gods, fighting pagan monsters. If they were caught with that type of material, they would very likely be punished in the same way that Muslims with Bibles are treated…with beheading.
#2: “Whose side are you on?” is the Wrong Question
“I am also quite aware that when anyone, myself included, tries to speak about this issue, the reader is waiting to pounce, thinking, “Yes, but whose side are you on?” That is exactly the wrong question. If there are two sides to this issue, those sides are not Palestinian/Israeli or Muslim/Jewish. The two sides are humanitarian and dehumanizing. Dehumanizing has a long evil history. It is appealing and easy to buy into, because humans are tribal animals. We are hardwired to think in terms of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. We are the real humans, the good guys, the ones with God on our side. Those other people are evil monsters who don’t deserve empathy. Hate mongers have thrived on dehumanizing for as long as there have been humans. It provides them with a purpose, a way to rally support, power and scapegoats.”
No, this isn’t the wrong question. This is just Rick Riordan being a spineless little wevil. This is fundamentaly a fight between Palestine/Israel that in some ways goes back to Biblical times. The children of Esau (who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup) versus the children of Jacob. This is a fight between good and evil. Yes, it is important not to lump the Palestinians together into one group. There are moral Palestinians out there who don’t want to harm anyone who have been caught in the crossfire and there are immoral Jews, but that does not excuse the attrocities commited by Hammas. Just imagine if anyone replaced “Palestinian/Isreali” or “Muslim/Jewish” with “Nazi/Jew” and said that those aren’t the two sides you need to be on.
Doesn’t that seem absurd to you? Does that seem right to you?
Can you really think with a clear conscience that there aren’t two sides to this when you see the images of babies burned alive until there is almost nothing left to identify them with?
Can you really think there aren’t two sides to this when you see the women being dragged into trucks to be taken prisoner while they’re bleeding through their pants from being raped so hard that their pelvises have fractured?
Can you really think there aren’t two sides to this when you see the videos of an Israeli soldier’s decaptitated head being kicked around like a soccer ball by laughing Hammas soldiers?
No. You can’t. Unless you are either extremely ignorant or just pure evil, you can’t look at that and still say there aren’t two sides to this fight.
On top of that, Riordan makes the claim that in this fight, we believe the enemy doesn’t deserve empathy. Since he has already made the fallacy that everyone on the side of Israel hates all Palestinians, he thus makes it seem like we think all Palestinians should be wiped off the face of the Earth (I’ll get to the point he makes that confirms this line of thinking in a sec). This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Israel has been nothing but empathetic towards the Palestinians caught in the crossfire of this war, helping thousands of them escape Gaza so that they won’t be trapped there by their government (https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-israel-helps-thousands-of-gazans-evacuate-after-hamas-tried-to-trap-them). Israel has even gone so far as to send out text messages, voice messages, emails, flyers, etc. to warn Palestinians to seek shelter before bombings. They have developed special bombs that they drop on buildings that shake them to warn the people inside. It is Hamas that wants dead Palestinians; not Israel.
It is also ironic seeing Rick Riordan talk about “hate mongers” rallying support, power, and scapegoats when his family has encouraged the fandom to attack anyone who didn’t agree with the Disney+ Percy Jackson adaptation’s race-based casting. What a hypocrite.
#3: Israel isn’t humantarian enough
“It is easy to point to atrocities committed by our enemies, while justifying or minimizing the atrocities committed by ourselves or our allies.”
“Even since I first wrote the post, only twenty-four hours ago, the Israeli government’s brutal retaliation against the entire population of Gaza has reached genocidal proportions. This is not only an atrocity. It is folly.”
Just like I pointed out before, Israel is doing everything it can to get Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way. It is Hammas who is hiding behind innocents – men, women, and children who can’t defend themselves – by building their hideouts and bases beneath homes and hospitals. Yes, the loss of human life is a horrible thing, but Israel is doing everything it can to prevent those unnecessary deaths. They only wish to get rid of those that prove a serious threat to their people. That is not an atrocity. That is restraint.
Ever since the attack, Israel has had every opportunity to bomb the hell out of Gaza in self-defense, but they haven’t. Why? Because they know what is wrong and what is right, something that Hammas doesn’t seem to acknowledge. Israel believes in life; Hammas believes in death. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Islam is a death cult.
The claim that the retaliation of Israel in response to Hammas is genocide is even more absurd. Genocide means “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.” Israel isn’t calling for Jews around the world to murder Palestinians. That would be genocidal. However, Hammas is calling for Palestinians to murder all Jews. That’s genocidal. And it’s not just Jews. They want to wipe out anyone who isn’t Muslim. That would include a certain author who writes about pagan gods and goddesses.
#4: Humanitarianism is our only hope
” But in the long run, humanitarianism is our only hope. If violence could end violence, if we could put an end to “those other people” once and for all, human history would read very differently than it does.”
“Answering misery with misery only creates more fertile ground for extremism, dehumanizing the “other side,” letting hate mongers thrive, stay in power, and reduce us all to our most monstrous impulses. The only real solution is treating each other like equally worthy human beings, and negotiating a peace that allows all parties a chance to live in security and dignity, with hopes for a future that does not include bombs and rockets and gunfire. This means security and support for Israel, yes. It also means a secure Palestine which is allowed to get the international aid and recognition it needs to build a viable state.
Do I think that will happen? Unfortunately, no. Humans are simply too selfish, too ready to blame “the other” for all their problems, too ready to dehumanize, though I also believe, perhaps paradoxically, that most people just want to live their lives in peace and have a chance for their children to have a brighter future. “
And Israel is trying to make Palestine a secure nation by getting rid of Hammas. For decades, the UN have recognized Palestinians in Gaza and Palestine as refugees. Israel has tried to help them by sending them humanitarian aid, but Hammas takes everything and uses them to make weapons, leaving Palestine all the poorer. By getting rid of Hammas, Palestinians will be allowed to live in security and dignity.
Peace talks will not bring about peace. It will only allow Hammas to flee back to Palestine and Gaza like children going to their safe zone in a game of tag. It will allow them to live another day and commit another atrocity.
While the idea that humanitarianism is the thing that will bring about peace is a popular idea in kids’ shows, it’s simply not applicable to real life. Humans are fallen creatures along with the rest of nature. We have been from the day Adam and Eve sinned and will be until we are redeemed. While violence and death is a terrible thing, violence can and must be used by the forces of good to ensure peace, however temporary it may be. Evil will always come bearing wanton death and destruction, and good must respond, for it is the strength of good that keeps evil at bay. Every great author from Shakespeare to Tolkien to Lewis recognized this. It’s time the common man did too.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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