Attendees flee from terrorists at the Supernova music festival in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Reuters video still.

We’ve had a few weeks to digest what’s happening in Israel and Gaza and, because too many people have too many instant opinions, I won’t necessarily offer one leaning one way or another on the geopolitics of the situation. We already have enough of those.

Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF.

There are centuries of history I don’t understand, influenced by religions I don’t understand, influenced by who owned what land to begin with, all mixed together with hate and fear over there.

Of course it’s not as simple as that, but very little of the situation makes much sense to a guy who thinks organized religion is mostly an excuse to control people and land rights – based on what people happened to get to the land first or who was able to give them the most money to leave – all get trumped in the end by an Earth that will kill us all when it feels like it.

We’re all renting, whether we like it. So maybe there’s room for everyone to have a country.

I occasionally wish another planet would invade Earth sometimes. Because all the flags, and killing each other over dated philosophy, and worshipping of dead people, would vanish. There will be no more “illegal aliens,” because we’ll need each other to fight off the extraterrestrial aliens.

And then all the centuries of bullshit fighting over land and religion will look as stupid as it really is.

Until then, the screaming of the uninformed is tiresome, but I suppose we’ve become used to it (I just read a Republican party official in Georgia is accusing Taylor Swift of being satanic).

I do understand Israel is a democracy and our friend in a region where a lot of countries hate the U.S. I also understand killing children and civilians by any country is dead wrong. That it even must be said in 2023 is just mind-blowing. If it has to happen, at least save it for the people with guns who signed up to fight.

Aftermath of Hamas’ shooting massacre at the Supernova music festival in Israel. pic.twitter.com/5d9tfvkLnZ

— Jane Public (@JanePublic55) October 9, 2023

What do we know about how it feels to be Jewish or Palestinian? Do we understand how being occupied or someone trying to exterminate us feels? The stone-throwers safe in their U.S. glass houses forget we’re mere decades from legal segregation, still haven’t passed an equal rights amendment, allow men to control women’s health in 2023 and built an entire nation on wiping out one race while enslaving another.

Those are just non-negotiable facts, and if you want to dismissively say that was a long time ago, then you don’t deserve an opinion on the mess around 2023 Israel. Because “a long time ago” in the U.S. is nothing compared to “a long time ago” over there.

It’s a snapshot of the situation, but … sending armed men to kill civilians, children and young people at the Supernova music festival is nightmarish, no matter whose flag is being waved in the process.

I always struggle with others’ definition of terrorism. It’s such an overused term. But that is absolute terrorism.

One thing keeps standing out to me: video of young Israelis dancing in the soft light of a coming dawn as Hamas paratroopers are seen floating in the distance. The juxtaposition is nauseating. You watch and want to scream at them to run.

As a father, I was terrified by how much the festivalgoers look like my daughters.

As a music lover, I was horrified at the idea that a festival at which people are supposed to come together for a peaceful shared experience during a time those are in desperate short supply would be targeted by armed terrorists.

More than 260 kids slaughtered. The video is horrifying. The photos of the abandoned cars after Hamas blocked roads to set up human slaughter are some of the most frightening images I’ve ever seen.

Why? What could be worth that?

That’s the part of this I can’t wrench my focus from. I’ve been to more music festivals than I remember. Some of them were among the best times of my life, making memories with friends we still talk about. In a practical sense, I now fear my kids going to music festivals. Add them to the list. I frequently joke about getting one daughter involved in martial arts and buying the other one a Taser. But it’s really no joke. Every time a school or a club gets shot up, my insides scream with pain because I imagine my kids being trapped in that situation, spending their last moments on Earth in a terrified panic that they’re about to be torn apart by bullets from a deranged stranger when all they wanted to do was go out and have a good time.

For what?

Follow music critic Tony Hicks at Twitter.com/TonyBaloney1967.