Liberal-Democratic Hypocrisy
How the war in Gaza has turned democracy into a hoax
When Russia launched its war of genocide, people all over the world protested against the atrocities being carried out in the name of Russian fascism. Putin’s ridiculous excuses for launching the war and the silent acceptance by the majority of Russians turned the country into an international pariah overnight.
The United States and its allies have repeatedly sanctioned Russia and isolated the country economically and culturally for what is likely to be decades. Russia’s war of aggression and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine warrants such isolation. A weak and corrupt people incapable of fighting back against their despotic leaders, the harsh reaction from the world’s civilized governments is justified.
On October 7th, the moral compass was turned upside down when Hamas carried out a horrific assault against Israeli citizens. 1400 non-combatants were murdered, raped, tortured, and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. The world expected an Israeli reaction, and Israel did not leave us disappointed.
Soon, it will be one month since that day, and Gaza is being reduced to rubble. It is estimated that 8,000 have already died in the fighting taking place in Gaza, with the majority of the dead being non-combatants. I will not go into the way this happened. I will not go into the conflict that can find no resolution since May 14, 1948, when the state of Israel was created. I will not go into Israel’s war strategy.
I will ask one question: Why are the citizens of Western democracies being punished for speaking out against the war in Gaza? For calling for a cessation of the bombings and the ground assault in Gaza?
Many college students who have stood boldly against genocide and in solidarity with Palestinians say they have been doxxed, demonized, targeted, fired, and had their advocacy equated with support for terrorism by colleges and universities, employers, Zionist organizations, and politicians at different levels of government (College Students Face Backlash).
The labeling of the Israeli reaction “genocide” is not something I agree with. The above quote is from a pro-Palestinian source. What to me, however, is shocking is the degree to which students throughout the U.S. and in other countries are being “doxxed, demonized, fired,” etc. What has happened to our 1st Amendment rights that we can’t express anger and disgust about the deaths of women and children and not be retaliated against? Are not such tactics the same ones we so uniformly object to when Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and other dictators resort to them?
Jewish students at Columbia University are fighting back against the hypocrisy.
Around 50 students gathered on Thursday afternoon for “Not in Our Name: Stop Doxxing Now,” a protest led by Jewish students against the “doxxing truck” that arrived outside Columbia’s campus on Wednesday.
The screens displayed photos and names of University affiliates who are allegedly part of organizations that signed a Palestinian solidarity statement, with a label above reading “Columbia’s Leading Antisemites.” Conservative media group Accuracy in Media sponsored the truck at Columbia after unveiling a similar truck at Harvard several weeks ago (Students Protest Against Doxxing Truck).
I was recently walking around the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder. I silently noted aspects of the “Buffs” world that differed from the main campus at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey — where I attended undergrad. The kids walked past and shouted, “Go Buffs,” I was there for a football game, and the gold and black colors were everywhere to be seen. The “culture” of the Buff’s world united all these students, as it similarly unites them at universities all over America.
The microcosm of the university teaches these teens transitioning to adults how to cooperate to support the core values of their chosen university. Respecting the laws, rules, and traditions and learning to be tolerant of cultural differences, socialization, in a nutshell, is a significant part of the mission of modern universities. It is arguably one of the most important responsibilities of the university experience. And yet, successful, well-heeled heads of VCs and companies are bullying our nation’s youth into silence.
A sad precedent is being set: If you, while at school, question the status quo, then you will be punished. If you dare to let intellectual curiosity get the best of you and lead you to a protest of the “violence” in Gaza, then you will be labeled “anti-Semitic.”
I am against the violence in Gaza. I don’t want to see Gaza “turned into a parking lot,” but I can assure you that I am not anti-Semitic. How can we discourage intellectual curiosity among the nation’s youth? Have we grown so accustomed to a media that feeds the nation’s viewers their opinions, on both the right and left, that we feel it necessary to avoid the untidiness of “un-cultivated thoughts?” Is the establishment’s fear of thoughts that don’t prepare us all to be better targets for advertisers, which in turn keeps the world of Big Biz ever rotating, so great that we need to silence curiosity?
The Jewish students at Columbia University who organized the “Stop Doxxing” event at the university’s Morningside Campus on Manhattaan’s Upper Westside rightly bring attention to the dangers of “weaponizing antisemitism.”
Organizers also highlighted the role of Jewish students in leading campus discourse around the escalating violence in Israel and Gaza.
“We know that as Jewish students, we have the ability to speak uniquely about the weaponization of antisemitism. I have a unique ability to call it out,” said one of the organizers. “We’re keeping ourselves safe. We’re keeping our community safe, and we’re protecting those around us as well. We refuse to let this type of behavior occur on our campus (Students Protest Against Doxxing Truck).”
Orwell gone awry
Conferences throughout the world are being canceled, and experienced professionals are being fired and blackballed because they dared to question the necessity of the military strategy of Israel in Gaza. How can such questions result in a person being blackballed or censored? This is the epitome of hypocrisy and obliterates our moral standing when it comes to our unrelenting criticisms of Russia. I am not comparing Russia’s war of genocide and Israel’s response — and I am not calling Israel’s response genocide — I am saying: If we can question the rightness of Moscow’s violence against Ukraine, why can’t we question Israel’s violence, Gaza?
The “doxxing truck” appeared at Columbia’s main campus at the end of October.
The truck with a digital billboard displaying the words “Columbia’s Leading Antisemites” alongside the names and faces of affiliates who were allegedly part of organizations that signed a Palestinian solidarity statement began driving around the Morningside campus on Wednesday morning.
The group behind the trucks, conservative media group Accuracy in Media, also published a website titled “Columbia Hates Jews,” listing 29 Columbia affiliates and announcing that the “list will be continually updated as Accuracy in Media is able to confirm them (Doxxing Truck).”
The conservative group, Accuracy in Media is nothing less than an organization that supports censorship and fears the unpredictability of free and un-cultivated thought.
Why are more organizations and Americans speaking about this very obvious perversion of our right to express our opinions? I will not let the weaponization of antisemitism silence me.
No. Sorry. And just because I am against what seems to me to be excessive force in Gaza, it does not make me pro-Hamas. If you call me pro-Hamas, then you are guided by raw emotions — the main ingredient in why this war is happening to begin with.