“There’s a certain way in which Israeli society has become detached from the problem, that they felt, if we can contain it, to the territories, there’s a certain level of acceptable violence we can live with, as long as it doesn’t threaten us existentially.” Julia Ioffe, Puck News, Brian Lehrer show, WNYC, October 13, 2023
Sometimes sentences stop me, because they say what I’m thinking, except they say it well, without the rambling and rants. That’s what Julia Ioffe did in segment, which I linked so you can listen to it, she cuts to the chase and sees a larger picture. This notion, this fact, that there’s a certain level of acceptable violence, against a certain people, is a fact of the world.
How most of the world reacted to, and continues to react, to Hamas’ attack last Saturday in Israel is an example of the unacceptable violence towards people who don’t normally live in fear. This was part of the shock, along with the murders and kidnapping of Israeli citizens, that it could happen to people who thought they were immune, that they played by the rules that offered them safety by the state. Palestinians who live in Gaza fall under the category of acceptable violence. Black and Brown people all over the world are familiar with this notion, as their communities also fall under the category of acceptable violence. For many people, these attacks were not a surprise.
White supremacy has a playbook. Distance and normalization are part of it. The horror of someone killing someone face to face versus someone dropping a bomb from an airplane are different things. Killing someone face to face is a more violent act than, say, bombing people from an airplane. Face to face is more intimate, dropping a bomb has a privilege of distance, both for the pilot and the public, even though the death toll can be higher. We keep the tactics of white supremacy, the language of alienation and dehumanization, the privilege of distance and judgement based on our experiences, situations and standards. We judge people based on if they share our values, oftentimes these values are contingent on access, privilege and wealth. We use the tried and true manner of propaganda, consistently referring to people as “human animals” to separate ourselves from victims, even though we like to think we’re smarter than the influence of propaganda.
We are used to seeing places like Gaza, like Aleppo, bombed to pieces. In the West, these are the dominant images, so it’s got to be second nature for the inhabitants, a fact of life. Yet another layer of quiet, influential propaganda, the normalization of devastation and violence for certain populations in this world. The same fact that Black Americans live with that their loved ones’ murders and harm by law enforcement or so-called patriots often without consequence is another example of this. That’s a fact of life, isn’t it? How could something that happens so often be heartbreaking?
We’ve become so inured to images of Brown people holding dead children amongst rubble like that is their natural environment, collateral damage of a state’s will, and the countries behind it. And when the images and information, or misinformation, differs from that, the event is a tragedy. Like last Saturday.
We are watching it right now as mainstream media uses the most blasé language to describe the war crimes Israel is committing, withholding food, electricity and water to Gaza. They give notice to over a million people to evacuate the northern Gaza as the Israeli ground invasion begins. Some people treat this order like it’s a gift, the real question being, evacuate where? To the southern end of Gaza where the other million people live, also without food, electric and water. That’s it, that’s the option.
We always blame the people with the fewest resources for how they live and the choices they make, as if they have many, if any at all. We expect the people with the least to do the most. And when they can’t, when they don’t satisfy our measures for improvement, they’re not worthy of compassion or life. They deserve what happens to them. We identify with the people whose lives most mirror our own, that’s a fact. We understand their pain, and this pain is a powerful weapon used to dehumanize people who don’t look like us or live like us.
This world is made up of those with power and those without. That’s it. If you don’t have power, you must assimilate towards the powerful. If you don’t, you brought the punishment upon yourself. We mistake subjugation for peace. I see so much media (and I’m actively trying to avoid such sensationalist shit), reporting and language justifying what is happening to Palestinian people, like they’re just a collateral fact to this situation. The Palestinians, they have no defense. They have no rights. They have no options. There is no water. These are facts right now. People send messages telling their loved ones, telling the world, to remember them, like it is a foregone conclusion they will all die. We are witnessing their genocide. Today I heard a report on the news about how bad the “humanitarian situation on the ground”in Gaza is, a gentle euphemism if there ever was. The humanitarian situation on the ground is made of people. Those are people, Palestinian people, not a situation.
Every single word. Every single word of this is also without the rant, it is just facts. I saw something about how much water/electricity Gaza has without all Israel (the israeli government specifically) is keeping from them, the tone of the paragraph being Don't Worry (loud voice), don't pay attention to this (quiet voice) they'll have plenty anyway-- and my eyeballs exploded so I couldn't even breathe long enough to check any facts there, because even if it is a single DROP of water or electricity available to that tiny strip holding all those people, who are also being murdered, it is too much to mention or think about mentioning even under someone's breath.