I am on a train, watching the blood-soaked fields of Europe woosh by. A Jew on a train in this part of town conjures dark imagery (for some), but I’m on the luxurious Eurostar, headed to Paris for the Rugby World Cup. Six million Jews were slain between the Danube and the Seine, and yet there are thousands who identify as “Holocaust Deniers”.
I try not to write publicly when angry – that’s what Whatsapp groups are for – but 2 weeks have passed, the anger won’t subside, and I can no longer abide.
Publicising my thoughts – regardless of the medium – is a selfish act. It’s about me, me, me. Or more accurately: I, I, I. There are only 3 reasons to post:
Incite
Inform
Influence
I am not here to rile you up; there are enough extremists on both teams. I lack the knowledge to tell you anything you haven’t already heard from the millions of experts in Middle East peace and war.
I am writing because of David Beckham.
Disclaimer: Becks is my hero. Like all men, I want to be him. I am currently watching his Netflix series and I have no doubt that he is a good person. I use his Golden Balls as a symbol. Not a sex symbol, not a fashion icon, not a footballing god – but to represent the most dangerous piece of this tragic conflict: neutrality.
Social media influence fuels modern profit, driven by new-age prophets with millions of followers. It’s not all about the money - brands and celebs also like to support Causes. Is this to show off their virtue, or to truly influence those who worship them?
The bad guys who manipulated the 2016 US elections coined a stunning term: The Persuadables. The choice was Trump or Hilary, so it’s unsurprising that so many voters were undecided. The average person is too lazy or uninterested to do the work required to understand policy, so they identified these swing votes and flooded their feeds with disinformation.
We are fighting an information war, so mind the gap between ‘mis’ and ‘dis’ information. Misinformation is info that’s clearly false, but spread ignorantly. Sky News and the NY Times rashly declaring that Israel bombed a hospital were badly mis-informed decisions (I hope).
Disinformation is intentional. Call it what you will: fake news, propaganda. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet – and the best way to detect the stench of bullshit is the Source. In the old days, the Media would require 2 independently verified sources to report on an event they didn’t witness. These days, a tweet from baby-murdering rapists will suffice.
You should not share any news whose source you have not fact-checked. And you should request this burden of proof from those who share with you.
Silence will not protect you
My wife has been moaning all week – and not in a good way.
“Where is David Beckham?”
My instinct was to defend him. Why should he get involved? It’s not his fight. Man Utd vs. Liverpool, now that’s a rivalry he understands. But Becks wasn’t blessed with brains, and I’m sure he can’t be arsed to research a biblical feud that predates Shakespeare.
But as someone said so aptly last week: there are times when “a plague on both your houses” does not apply.
This is Good vs. Evil, and these Influencers have a moral obligation to pick a side. The majority of their followers have no informed opinion, but when their Idols remain silent – the message rings clearly. If Becks doesn’t think it’s bad, neither do I.
Hamas is an organisation that has beheaded babies, indiscriminately murdered and taken hostage pregnant women, disabled people and Holocaust survivors alike. Yet YouGov says 27% of Brits "don't know" whether it's a terrorist outfit. That rises to 49% of 18-24 year olds. Almost half!
To be neutral is to support the bad guys. We all know the famous Edmund Burke quote:
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
I am not concerned about those who openly condemn Israel. They are hopeless, soulless cowards. Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.
I am talking to The Persuadables.
It is not alright to sit on the fence, when a thousand terrorists broke it down to burn people alive.
As Sam Harris said in his excellent podcast on Moral Equivalence, simply counting the dead bodies is no way of judging this. Intentions matter. It matters what kind of world people are attempting to build. If Israel wanted to perpetrate a genocide of the Palestinians, they could do that easily, tomorrow.
There’s another quote I like, attributed to someone who Hamas would also have wanted dead, because Einstein may have been Swiss, and the greatest mind of his time. But he was a Jew.
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything
We must all face the choice between what is right, and what is easy.
A bloody line has been drawn in the sand of the Middle East.
Pick a side.
“ It is not alright to sit on the fence, when a thousand terrorists broke it down to burn people alive.” beautifully written Ga, as always
Unfortunately, as a Jew living in the Gulf, the majority of the people here - Arab, Christian, atheist, have picked sides due to both mis- and dis-information - and they’ve chosen Palestine. The ignorance is astounding: calls to return stolen land, end ethnic cleansing, anti-colonialism, anti-apartheid… it’s horrific and so factually incorrect. People simply do not know what they’re talking about yet they seem to have the conviction of zealots and the confidence to share, share and share again these views. There is no discussion, no arguing, no educating, no room for facts nor alternate opinions. I’m so disappointed in humanity. For now I’ve removed myself from social media completely because it hurts too much to witness this blind, unjustified hatred.