I think what gets missed too often is how this kind of rhetorical drift doesn’t just shift how others see Israel,it shifts how we start seeing the world, almost without realizing it.
When “proportionality” becomes a body count comparison and “civilian” is treated as an absolute shield regardless of context, it flattens real moral complexity. Worse, it slowly rewires our instincts. We begin to feel outrage at Israel by default, but almost nothing in response to celebrations of mass murder,because one set of violence is coded as “resistance” and the other as “state power.”
That's exactly the right summary. It's precisely these subtleties—like slight shifts in terminology or the stray use of scare quotes—that often pass unnoticed, yet over time they chip away at the foundations, undermining moral clarity inch by inch.
The more I think about it, the more I feel like a lot of people don’t even buy into the narrative,they just get tired of pushing back. When the same type of headline shows up again and again, it wears people down. After a while, it’s easier to go along with the crowd than to ask hard questions.
Do you think this kind of pattern shows up in other conflicts too, or is it something specific to how people talk about Israel?
A good question—I do think this pattern may hold more generally. That said, I've yet to witness moral obfuscation and rhetorical drift on anything like the scale we've seen in the context of the current Israel–Gaza war. While I'm hesitant to fault laypeople, given the complexity of the historical, geopolitical, and ethical landscape, the ignorance, negligence, or at times sheer cynicism of those who ought to know better—including journalists and academics—continues to leave me at a loss for words.
Yeah, I get that. It’s one thing when regular people miss the nuance,most folks are just trying to keep up with life. But when journalists and academics flatten the story on purpose, or just don’t care enough to get it right, it feels like the whole public conversation gets poisoned.
Sometimes I wonder if they even realize how much damage that kind of carelessness can cause. Or maybe they do,and just don’t think it matters anymore.
I think what gets missed too often is how this kind of rhetorical drift doesn’t just shift how others see Israel,it shifts how we start seeing the world, almost without realizing it.
When “proportionality” becomes a body count comparison and “civilian” is treated as an absolute shield regardless of context, it flattens real moral complexity. Worse, it slowly rewires our instincts. We begin to feel outrage at Israel by default, but almost nothing in response to celebrations of mass murder,because one set of violence is coded as “resistance” and the other as “state power.”
That's exactly the right summary. It's precisely these subtleties—like slight shifts in terminology or the stray use of scare quotes—that often pass unnoticed, yet over time they chip away at the foundations, undermining moral clarity inch by inch.
The more I think about it, the more I feel like a lot of people don’t even buy into the narrative,they just get tired of pushing back. When the same type of headline shows up again and again, it wears people down. After a while, it’s easier to go along with the crowd than to ask hard questions.
Do you think this kind of pattern shows up in other conflicts too, or is it something specific to how people talk about Israel?
A good question—I do think this pattern may hold more generally. That said, I've yet to witness moral obfuscation and rhetorical drift on anything like the scale we've seen in the context of the current Israel–Gaza war. While I'm hesitant to fault laypeople, given the complexity of the historical, geopolitical, and ethical landscape, the ignorance, negligence, or at times sheer cynicism of those who ought to know better—including journalists and academics—continues to leave me at a loss for words.
Yeah, I get that. It’s one thing when regular people miss the nuance,most folks are just trying to keep up with life. But when journalists and academics flatten the story on purpose, or just don’t care enough to get it right, it feels like the whole public conversation gets poisoned.
Sometimes I wonder if they even realize how much damage that kind of carelessness can cause. Or maybe they do,and just don’t think it matters anymore.