Thank you for this. It’s brilliant and I agree with every word. The stupidity of these idiots that call it genocide is appalling. They don’t understand the meaning of the world.
At some level I've begun to understand this phenomenon but I've lacked the words to express the issue in a systematic way. Avi's incisive analysis captures this other war very insightfully.
This is an outstanding essay with brilliant insights. Your meme syntax, “Scientific Malicious Memetic Mimicry” is masterful. The actual genocides and apartheid systems have now been relegated to the sidelines of human history. Their meanings have now been obscured: where every conflict becomes a genocide, every social cause becomes apartheid and every truth is ignored and every lie becomes the narrative of the day. Scary times.
Thank you. Malicious Memetic Mimicry is a phenomenon I have identified and unfortunately see with tremendous frequency. It makes many appearances in my analyses, for it is unpleasantly ubiquitous. My Substack explores complex human dynamics through a memetic model. The Substack is new but the ideas are a long time in the making. Very glad to see them resonate.
Avi, you have done a superb job on defining genocide and apartheid, the context of the words' usage today. Hamas and the anti-Israel, anti-Semites have brought the effectiveness of psy-op/propaganda to a new level. However, there is no brilliance involved. These words are being used in a world where everything is upside down and inside out, where falsehood is labeled as truth, where too many people have lost the ability to think and reason. This is a world conditioned to 5 or 10 second brainwashing, which is as long as peoples' attention span. When you combine this psyop with the fact that Jews and Israel are the universal scapegoat, it carries ignorance to more people and greater distances.
The only thing that Israel and Jews can do is deny, refute, often and with big voices. Do not let the accusations go unanswered. This is as much part of the war as is kinetic warfare.
“There is something uniquely cruel and unmistakably intentional about accusing the descendants of Holocaust survivors of committing genocide. “ Could it be that due to the Holocaust, the Jewish people having been through an actual genocide, makes the far left feel the double standard of, well we saved you and now look what you are doing? As if, to have ones own nation and protect its borders is a crime in its self? That due to the Holocaust any form of defence or war will forever be deemed genocide? This to me feels like the illogical dissonance of much of the left today. When will people forgive the Jews the Holocaust?
Wow. This is so useful, thank you for clarifying this so well. I may have to have a conversation on exactly this soon, and I'm gearing up for it, getting myself confident. This will be so helpful.
Long time reader here! I completely agree. It is a powerful word. And, typically, professional communicators understand the words they use. For his laurels, evidently, this author does not.
Calling this a war implies equal or at least comparable retaliation. There is no legitimate statistic flexible enough to accommodate that implication. That may be why the only graph in this piece is the one tracking the use of a word. Not dead bodies. A graph of Palestinian and Israeli casualties might help you understand the graph you’ve used to outline nothing so much as your own denial of the situation’s gravity.
May there be peace soon. May all people be safe, fed and free. May the mercy our ancestors begged for find the people you now wish death upon.
With all due respect, I think it is you who misses the meaning of the words in that perspicacious essay. A genocide is about intent, not numbers or a graph of casualties. October 7 was a genocide, Hamas intent was to murder, rape in the most barbaric way the maximum possible number of civilians, man, women and children indiscriminatly and take the most possible hostages. This was a genocide. The defensive war that Israel's IDF is waging in Gaza does not intend on the killing of the population but on the obliteration of Hamas. I am not trying to minimise the suffering of the Gazans, it is horrible and heartbraking, but Hamas bears the most responsibility for it, do I need to remind you that they use civilian houses, hospitals, schools, and other public places to store (and fire from) arms and rockets, or surround themselves with children and women? How about the theft of the food and supplies that are destined for the Gazans, but sold at exorbitant prices at the marketplaces?
A war is not about comparable retaliation capabilities, especially in urban fighting wars.
But, yes, let's take a look at the cold, humanless reality of numbers. According to the inflated Hamas numbers, 56,000 deaths. The estimated number of dead Hamas fighters is 20,000, and the estimated deaths from natural causes are 10,000. That leaves us with an estimated number of 26,000 Gazan civilian casualties; the war started 613 days ago, which equals about 42 deaths per day. For comparison purposes, the Iraq War from 2003 to 2006 had over 600,000 violent deaths, that is about 555 deaths per day.
I don't think that anyone here wishes death upon any civilian in Gaza. I am convinced that the IDF is not a perfect army and has had cases of abuse, as it always happens in war.. I am not trying to justify any of this horrific situation, but please keep in mind that it could have been over quickly if Hamas had given back the hostages, and that not even one Gazan civilian helped with finding them.
merci, Jacques. Evidemment je n'étais pas du tout d'accord avec ce qu'elle a dit mais je pensais que cela ne valait pas la peine de répondre. Après avoir lu sa réponse, j'étais sûr d'une de deux possibilités: soit, elle n'a rien compris; soit, elle ne l'a pas lu.
Thank you for this. It’s brilliant and I agree with every word. The stupidity of these idiots that call it genocide is appalling. They don’t understand the meaning of the world.
At some level I've begun to understand this phenomenon but I've lacked the words to express the issue in a systematic way. Avi's incisive analysis captures this other war very insightfully.
Thank you.
This is an outstanding essay with brilliant insights. Your meme syntax, “Scientific Malicious Memetic Mimicry” is masterful. The actual genocides and apartheid systems have now been relegated to the sidelines of human history. Their meanings have now been obscured: where every conflict becomes a genocide, every social cause becomes apartheid and every truth is ignored and every lie becomes the narrative of the day. Scary times.
Thank you. Malicious Memetic Mimicry is a phenomenon I have identified and unfortunately see with tremendous frequency. It makes many appearances in my analyses, for it is unpleasantly ubiquitous. My Substack explores complex human dynamics through a memetic model. The Substack is new but the ideas are a long time in the making. Very glad to see them resonate.
Incredible piece. Thank you!
Avi, you have done a superb job on defining genocide and apartheid, the context of the words' usage today. Hamas and the anti-Israel, anti-Semites have brought the effectiveness of psy-op/propaganda to a new level. However, there is no brilliance involved. These words are being used in a world where everything is upside down and inside out, where falsehood is labeled as truth, where too many people have lost the ability to think and reason. This is a world conditioned to 5 or 10 second brainwashing, which is as long as peoples' attention span. When you combine this psyop with the fact that Jews and Israel are the universal scapegoat, it carries ignorance to more people and greater distances.
The only thing that Israel and Jews can do is deny, refute, often and with big voices. Do not let the accusations go unanswered. This is as much part of the war as is kinetic warfare.
Thank you.
“There is something uniquely cruel and unmistakably intentional about accusing the descendants of Holocaust survivors of committing genocide. “ Could it be that due to the Holocaust, the Jewish people having been through an actual genocide, makes the far left feel the double standard of, well we saved you and now look what you are doing? As if, to have ones own nation and protect its borders is a crime in its self? That due to the Holocaust any form of defence or war will forever be deemed genocide? This to me feels like the illogical dissonance of much of the left today. When will people forgive the Jews the Holocaust?
The only genocide being engaged in is by Hamas
Just like the word “racist”, the left has made the word “genocide” meaningless.
This is true. I’m working on a comic about what genocide is and isn’t and how this accusation against Israel is a blood libel.
Wow. This is so useful, thank you for clarifying this so well. I may have to have a conversation on exactly this soon, and I'm gearing up for it, getting myself confident. This will be so helpful.
Long time reader here! I completely agree. It is a powerful word. And, typically, professional communicators understand the words they use. For his laurels, evidently, this author does not.
Calling this a war implies equal or at least comparable retaliation. There is no legitimate statistic flexible enough to accommodate that implication. That may be why the only graph in this piece is the one tracking the use of a word. Not dead bodies. A graph of Palestinian and Israeli casualties might help you understand the graph you’ve used to outline nothing so much as your own denial of the situation’s gravity.
May there be peace soon. May all people be safe, fed and free. May the mercy our ancestors begged for find the people you now wish death upon.
With all due respect, I think it is you who misses the meaning of the words in that perspicacious essay. A genocide is about intent, not numbers or a graph of casualties. October 7 was a genocide, Hamas intent was to murder, rape in the most barbaric way the maximum possible number of civilians, man, women and children indiscriminatly and take the most possible hostages. This was a genocide. The defensive war that Israel's IDF is waging in Gaza does not intend on the killing of the population but on the obliteration of Hamas. I am not trying to minimise the suffering of the Gazans, it is horrible and heartbraking, but Hamas bears the most responsibility for it, do I need to remind you that they use civilian houses, hospitals, schools, and other public places to store (and fire from) arms and rockets, or surround themselves with children and women? How about the theft of the food and supplies that are destined for the Gazans, but sold at exorbitant prices at the marketplaces?
A war is not about comparable retaliation capabilities, especially in urban fighting wars.
But, yes, let's take a look at the cold, humanless reality of numbers. According to the inflated Hamas numbers, 56,000 deaths. The estimated number of dead Hamas fighters is 20,000, and the estimated deaths from natural causes are 10,000. That leaves us with an estimated number of 26,000 Gazan civilian casualties; the war started 613 days ago, which equals about 42 deaths per day. For comparison purposes, the Iraq War from 2003 to 2006 had over 600,000 violent deaths, that is about 555 deaths per day.
I don't think that anyone here wishes death upon any civilian in Gaza. I am convinced that the IDF is not a perfect army and has had cases of abuse, as it always happens in war.. I am not trying to justify any of this horrific situation, but please keep in mind that it could have been over quickly if Hamas had given back the hostages, and that not even one Gazan civilian helped with finding them.
merci, Jacques. Evidemment je n'étais pas du tout d'accord avec ce qu'elle a dit mais je pensais que cela ne valait pas la peine de répondre. Après avoir lu sa réponse, j'étais sûr d'une de deux possibilités: soit, elle n'a rien compris; soit, elle ne l'a pas lu.