We have all been raised to believe that the state of Israel is a virtuous outpost of the glorious Western Civilization in the barbaric and backwards Middle East. It is a democracy where [Jewish] people are free to be straight, gay, trans, ace ... whatever. Women have political and social and legal equality. And they have cutting-edge electronics. Oh yeah, and a public healthcare system that US-American taxpayers stoically deny themselves.
We also know that trying to eliminate an entire people (whether by erasing their culture and their sense of themselves as a people or by simply murdering them down to the last child) is called genocide. And we are told that genocide is a bad thing because the Nazis did it, the Stalinists supposedly did it, the Chinese Communists are doing it, ... and (maybe) us Canadians are doing it and if so, we should stop it. Hindu-Nationalist BJP leader Narendra Modi has the anti-Muslim progoms in Gujarat brought up whenever the USA wants to criticize him for not supporting NATO. So, genocide, and the racism it springs from, are supposedly bad. As a society we appear to be quite clear about that.
Now, what I'm about to say next might sound antisemitic, but that is not my intention. Neither is it the case. As noted US-American intellectual Ben Shapiro says, "Facts ..." It's simply a demonstrable fact that the Israelis have killed tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children. That they've been blocking food and medical aid to them. That they've destroyed their houses. That they've deliberately destroyed their hospitals and universities and Mosques and Churches. That they've said they want to expel all of them and take Gaza over themselves. That they've been expelling Palestinians from their lands in the West Bank and taking it over themselves, killing many Palestinians in the process.
What the Israelis have been doing is clearly genocide. And they have been quite openly vocalizing their desire to kill every Palestinian if they won't simply move. Which is, by definition, genocide. (Some delicate souls might only go so far as to call it "ethnic cleansing" but it amounts to the same thing.) Israel is to be the home of the Jewish people and non-Jewish people might be tolerated or they might be spit on on in the streets.
And while all this has been happening, the political leaders of Western Civilization have been aiding and abetting it the whole time. They have been financing it. They have been providing Israel with the weapons to do the killing. They have suppressed coverage of the genocide in the media (while reporting dubious stories of Palestinian atrocities with abandon). They have provided diplomatic support and cover for Israel while attacking their opponents with words, smearing them as antisemites and with warships and missiles (in the case of Yemen's retaliatory attacks on Israeli shipping).
So what gives? Western Civilization is a continuing, glorious tradition of individual rights, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, the Rule of Law, the Scientific Revolution, Democracy, and on and on it goes. And Israel is the shining beacon of Western Civilization in the Middle East; peopled by the descendants of the victims of The Holocaust, who would know better than anyone else how terrible a crime genocide is.
And yet, Israel and Western Civilization are clearly perpetrating a genocide.
How can we resolve this paradox? How can we square this circle? How can we make sense of this puzzle? It seems to me that it must just be the case that some genocides are justified and that others aren't. Which means that just because an individual, a political party, or a nation-state (think "Hitler/the Nazi Party/Nazi Germany) killed millions of people in an effort to completely wipe them out, it doesn't mean that their inherently evil.
Every genocide has to be judged on its own merits. And every genocider has to be evaluated according to the specific context that they're operating in and against their alternatives.
So, Joe Biden has provided the weapons for Israel to slaughter the Palestinians of Gaza and to destroy their homes, mosques, universities and hospitals, reducing them to homeless camps and starvation. But Donald Trump would be worse. Biden has done some good things!
Things like investing billions of dollars in the fight against global warming, finally doing something about our deteriorating infrastructure, and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Progressives have been talking about these things for decades. But it was Joe Biden who, despite having only a tiny Democratic majority in Congress, made them more than talking points.
None of these advances were perfect from a progressive viewpoint, but advances they unquestionably were.
So, if the person committing genocide happens to be a "lesser evil" they're worthy of your support.
Purity-Ponies might say that a political culture where a corrupt, racist, corporate-stooge who arms and finances a genocide is the "lesser evil" should be flushed down the toilet. But that is extremist thinking. "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the lesser-evil genocider."
Which of course means that (as reasonable, unhypocritical adults) we now have to re-evaluate Adolph Hitler, to see if there might have been some justification for his actions. Because for decades there has been this blanket condemnation of genocide and so Hitler was condemned because he attempted to commit a genocide. But the Israelis (and their foreign supporters such as the Canadian political/media establishment) have show us that sometimes genocides are justifiable. It would be unfair, even childish then, to not give Adolph Hitler his day in court. Furthermore, it is being argued (with increasing frequency) that protests against Israel's genocide of the Palestinians (besides being misinformed) might be rooted in antisemitism. It stands to reason then that condemnation of Nazi Germany's genocidal policies might itself be grounded in germanophobia. Unjustifiable bigotry (as opposed to justifiable bigotry such as that of the Israelis towards the Palestinians) should be condemned. Because.
Once again, Caitlin Johnstone is on hand to provide guidance on the vexing issues of the day:
We’re always hearing international conflicts framed as a battle between Free Democracies and Evil Autocracies. What is the difference between a Free Democracy and an Evil Autocracy? Well, let’s look at the situation in Gaza to help us understand the distinction.
In Evil Autocracies the leaders commit genocide for hateful and racist reasons, whereas in Free Democracies the leaders commit genocide for noble and righteous reasons.
In Evil Autocracies the police are summoned to break up student protests in order to ensure the safety of the government, whereas in Free Democracies the police are summoned to break up student protests in order to ensure the safety of the students.
In Evil Autocracies the government monitors political speech on university campuses to suppress dissent, whereas in Free Democracies the government monitors political speech on university campuses to suppress “antisemitism”.
In Evil Autocracies the government controls the media and ensures that it only reports information which serves their interests, whereas in Free Democracies it is billionaires who do this.
In Evil Autocracies they imprison journalists who report inconvenient facts, whereas in Free Democracies they do this also, but mostly they just kill them with airstrikes.
In Evil Autocracies they massacre civilians with bullets and blades, whereas in Free Democracies they massacre civilians with military explosives and siege warfare, like civilized people.
In Evil Autocracies political speech is heavily restricted by the government, whereas in Free Democracies political speech is heavily restricted by Silicon Valley in collaboration with the government.
In Evil Autocracies they mow down disobedient civilians and bury them in mass graves, whereas in Free Democracies they mow down disobedient civilians and bury them in mass graves, and then their allies solemnly say they’re waiting for more information about these very serious allegations.
In Evil Autocracies they bomb hospitals, schools and religious centers, assassinate cultural leaders and journalists, and deliberately target civilian infrastructure in the name of inflicting death and terror, whereas in Free Democracies they bomb hospitals, schools and religious centers, assassinate cultural leaders and journalists, and deliberately target civilian infrastructure in the name of self-defense.
In Evil Autocracies they flagrantly disregard international law, whereas in Free Democracies they flagrantly disregard international law.
In Evil Autocracies they drop bombs on areas full of civilians because of genocidal bloodlust, whereas in Free Democracies they drop bombs on areas full of civilians because of “human shields”.
In Evil Autocracies you’ll get thrown in prison if you go on TV and speak out against the government, whereas in Free Democracies nobody who would speak out against the government is ever allowed to have a TV job.
In Evil Autocracies people are afraid to speak out against war crimes, injustice and oppression because they’ll be punished, whereas in Free Democracies people are afraid to speak out against war crimes, injustice and oppression because they’ll be accused of hating Jews.
In Evil Autocracies they arm terrorists with AK-47s and RPGs to help them inflict violence and suffering upon the innocent, whereas in Free Democracies they arm terrorists with war planes and 2,000-pound bombs to help them inflict violence and suffering upon the innocent.
In Evil Autocracies people are kept too brutalized and cowed to rise up against their rulers, whereas in Free Democracies people are kept too propagandized and indoctrinated to rise up against their rulers.
In Evil Autocracies the media feed the public a nonstop deluge of propaganda and people know it’s propaganda, whereas in Free Democracies the media feed the public a nonstop deluge of propaganda and people think it’s the news.
Hmmm. That did not provide the clarity that I was hoping it would. As near as I can tell, Ms. Johnstone appears to be insinuating that there are no important differences between evil autocracies and free democracies. Especially when both of them slaughter innocent men, women and children, and especially when they slaughter those innocent men, women and children in the tens of thousands or millions because they're a targeted demographic that the slaughterers are trying to wipe out.
So, perhaps, at the end of the day, we should continue to despise and denigrate the racist, mass-murderer Adolph Hitler, and we should do the same to detestable scumbag Netanyahu and the doddering, senile, corrupt, racist asshole Joe Biden, and all the little Eichmann's like Crystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre.
USE THIS: Gaza Shows Us The Difference Between Evil Autocracies And Free Democracies – Caitlin Johnstone
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