“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
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“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral@mastodon.ar.al
Thanks aral for the inclusion of a sizeable quote. -
“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral That was very well written! Thank you for sharing it.
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“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
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J jwcph@helvede.net shared this topic
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@aral That was very well written! Thank you for sharing it.
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“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral One wonders how little notice seems to be directed at the extreme irony of this basically being how fascist youth movements have always worked - from the Red Guards of the Chinese Cultural Revolution to, yes, the Hitler Youth...
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“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral Thank you for this, I too noticed this, although in not such a long period, years ago in Israel. I've tried to explain it to friends but you have done a better job than I've managed.
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“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral
This suggests that, analogous to the de-nazification in Germany after WW2, a comprehensive de-zionisation of Israeli society was necessary. However, like in Germany, this can only succeed after a complete defeat of the Israeli army and state apparatus. The problem is that there is no coalition of allied forces in sight who are willing to bring this about. -
“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral Thanks for sharing that. A note in support of the thesis: that same poisonous culture is everywhere in American Jewish kids from certain Zionist contexts, several of whom I encountered waving an Israeli flag on Sixth Avenue outside the Trump victory party in 2016. They were the first supporters celebrating there and very excited about what was to come. And at 16 or 17 already well beyond empathy, curiosity and reason. I imagine, grown up now and advanced in their doubled fascist inculcation, they are quite satisfied with what he and Netanyahu have delivered
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“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral There's a great airport book called The Culture Code, about attitudes worldwide and how to adjust your expectations in dealing with people. There are two countries that are outliers in terms of bluntness, giving you negative feedback in front of others, and other such behaviours which make them come across as assholes to others - Russia and Israel.
I tread very carefully when dealing with people from these countries, and prefer to keep my interactions functional and short.
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“As a Jewish Australian who spent considerable time in Israel, I noticed, decades ago, something unsettling: a hardening of emotional life and a gradual erosion of empathy toward anyone outside the Zionist frame.
This presents itself clearly, especially among the young: a bluntness in moral language, a comfort with power and a way of speaking about others that feels stripped of hesitation. This is not hidden. It is not marginal. It is part of Israeli culture as it is actually lived. You hear it in ordinary conversations, in how people describe daily encounters, in the absence of pause where you might expect reflection. It is not performed for outsiders. It is internal, habitual and widely shared across Israeli society.
People sometimes call it ‘psychopathy’. That’s not quite right. It’s something more systemic than that — and more confronting for precisely that reason, because it is produced openly, not accidentally. The instinct to pathologise it comes from discomfort, from the sense that something is off. But the more accurate way to understand it is not as deviation, but as outcome — the outcome of a specific social and ideological structure.
What is taking shape is a set of conditions that reshape how young people in Israel see others, how they use power and what they come to experience as normal. These conditions are not hidden. They are visible, repeatable and embedded in everyday Israeli life.”#israel #settlerColonialism #ethnicCleansing #apartheid #genocide
@aral
A simple example: a few weeks ago I was walking in the street (not in my neighborhood, but a perfectly "normal" one) with a T shirt that said "peace". It wasn't a protest or a situation where one would expect confrontation. Just everyday life.
A teenager [a total stranger] said to me: "you're wearing a shirt saying "peace"? I hope you burn (שתישרף)".
This article helped me understand how "Normal" that kid was. It takes an outsider to see the pattern. -
Y yongsun@helvede.net shared this topic
