Thursday 8 January 2009

Godwin's Law, Israel and human hatred

I can't help noting how Godwin's Law seems to be particularly apposite in modern discussions of Israel.

The original Law, let us remind ourselves, says that "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Just to explain, 'Usenet' was one of the earliest internet discussion fora, and an event with a 'probability of one' is a dead-certainty. In plain English, then, the longer an internet discussion continues the more likely it is that someone will compare something (or someone) with Hitler, the Nazis, etc.

In recent public discourse about Israel, however, far from having to wait a considerable length of time, such comparisons seem to have become de rigeur.  Take these reported 'sound bites': 

“Gaza is a ghetto, in exactly the same way that the Warsaw Ghetto was, and people are trapped in it.” - Ken Livingstone

“[The Israelis] will continue to create a Warsaw Ghetto in the Middle East.” - Brian Eno

“Those murdering [the occupants of Gaza] are the equivalent of those who murdered the Jews in Warsaw in 1942.” - George Galloway

(These are from a thought-provoking article by David Aaronovitch on the whole issue of such comparisons.)

Even more worrying, given the facts of religious history, is the Pope's justice minister, Cardinal Renato Martino, apparently likening the Gaza Strip to a "big concentration camp".

Importantly, Godwin's Law does not say that such comparisons cannot be made. Nor, as is often assumed, does it suggests that anyone invoking Hitler or the Nazis has thereby lost the argument. It is certainly not inappropriate, for example, to compare a military rally to 'Nuremberg' or a policy of true and deliberate genocide (such as took place in Rwanda) to the 'Final Solution'.

The problem is, if Messrs Livingstone and Galloway indeed used terms like "exactly the same way " or "the equivalent of" they are patently wrong on points almost too numerous to list (though Aaronovitch gives it a go).

So why do they do this? (Mr Livingstone seems particularly fond of such comparisons.) It is hard to believe that they, or those using similar language, are historically unaware of the differences. They are not covert 'Holocaust Deniers' who would seriously argue that, in the end, what happened in Warsaw was really no more than what is happening in Gaza - hideously bad, perhaps, but still not part of a systematic and systemic plot to eradicate an entire people.

It is similarly hard to believe that they are self-deluded, simply not realizing their over-extended use of language.

So why is there this frequent and (moreover) narrow use of a particular hyperbole? Why not a comparison with Britain in the Boer War, for example? What drives the speaker to use the analogy? The answer may lie at several levels.

The most obvious, perhaps, identified by Aaronovitch, is the 'doing unto others as you would not wish done unto yourself' syndrome. And, particularly from a Christian point of view, there is considerable validity to this criticism. One of my memories of boyhood films and books about the Second World War is the point where the hero stops someone from mistreating a German with the words, "No! That would make us as bad as them." And one of the great lessons of history is that there is, indeed, a moral high-ground which must be maintained. (Indeed, it is this which continues to fuel unease about the role of Bomber Command in the last war.)

However, such 'high ground' cannot exist in isolation, or be appealed to in a selective fashion. In other words, morality must be part of a wider culture and not become, itself, a selective 'weapon' for bashing one side and not the other. The moral high ground can only be occupied, in the end, by those who generally occupy a moral landscape.

Another factor is the assault on what is seen as a 'victim' mentality which Israel and the Jews use to justify their actions. Yet victim mentalities are widespread and are dangerously deployed in support of all kinds of actions in ways which generally escape criticism. Islamist propaganda uses images of dead Muslim children to stir up hatred against the West generally and Israel and the Jews specifically, in just the same way as Allied propaganda did in the First and Second World Wars.

This goes back to the issue above, about a 'moral landscape'. The danger here is of falling into the fallacy of the tu quoque ('you also') argument: "You have killed our schoolchildren, and so we are justified in killing yours." A moment's thought shows, however, that if killing schoolchildren is wrong, then either it is wrong whoever does it and for whatever reason it is done, or it is only wrong in certain circumstances. The moral issue is then whether it is right deliberately to take actions which lead to the death of schoolchildren because one's own schoolchildren have been killed. But this is to get into subtleties which lie beyond most such conflicts.

One suspects, however, that the reason for the frequency of odious comparisons between Israel and Nazism is itself much more odious, and that is simply that people hate Israel viscerally, and therefore they make the comparison because they feel the same way about Israel as they do about Nazi Germany.

Of course, one may indeed hate something with good reason. Hate, like wrath, or even violence, may be the appropriate response to the appropriate object. The trouble is that in human hands (or minds), hatred is always fraught with danger. Worst of all, it feeds voraciously on our own desires, so as to prompt the worst of our words and actions. To look at a face full of hatred is to look into the heart from which come "evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly". Only those who know themselves - or rather who know that they don't know themselves - can afford to hate:

Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:21-24, NIV)

For the rest of us, when we feel the thrilling intoxication of hatred rising in our chests, it is time to fall on our knees and ask God to take it from us.

Meanwhile, we must watch out for any expressions of hatred for Israel, not because the Jews are 'God's chosen', or because Zion is his 'holy hill', but because we are human beings, and human beings must never be allowed to hate easily or for very long.

Revd John P Richardson
8 January 2009

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15 comments:

  1. This type of argument used by the likes of Galloway and Livingstone is horrifically offensive, and seems designed to hurt and not just criticise. Excellent article.

    I was wondering what you make of how British churches should respond to the upsurge in antisemitism in the UK.

    My article is here.

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  2. Thanks for the post, John.

    Unfortunately, apologists for Israel do pull all the same propagandist's tricks. I agree that the comparison with Nazi "concentration camps" is wrong. The Palestinian enclaves are more like Boer War "concentration camps" (another Great British invention) but much larger and suffered for much longer periods.

    They are enforced ghetto's as well which suffer prolonged seiges as collective punishment.

    Neither Israel nor the surrounding Arab states have treated the Palestinians as human beings. They have been forced to live off hand-outs rather than produce or build anything. It seems everyone wishes they would just go away.

    One reason for growing anti-Israeli feeling among people in Britain is the evident mismatch in weaponry and resources between the two sides. An atomic power with tanks, jets and laser bombs is taking massive retaliation against the people of Gaza.

    The reminder about vicarious hatred is helpful but we must stop the various ways we support the Israelis and admit that wrong-headed Christians have aided and abetted the colonization of Palestine.

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  3. Very interesting food for thought on your discussion on comparisons and Godwin's Law. Perhaps it is not so much an issue of “hate|” that some feel but more that most are so horrified and appalled at the situations that we become lost in our attempts to describe and find it easier to “liken”. Hate is a word that I try not to use (not always successfully, I admit) but try to believe that when hatred shows itself by who and in whatever way, it is hatred of the action itself and not of the person actioning. Idealistic, I suppose, but a philosophy that I would like to think I practice. A philosophy that does not rely on a particular religion or on secularity – but on a faith in humankind.
    “He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.”
    (Proverbs 26:24-26)

    An article of mine similar to your comparisons, below. (As I do not know how to link it, if you wish to I will leave that bit to you!)

    Sheffield V Beirut
    I do wish people would stop describing the worst areas of our country and communities as “like Beirut”. Areas which are constantly suffering from anti-social behaviour and criminal activity are often referred to in this way. A newspaper report tells us that residents in the Page Hall area of Sheffield say that they are living in a “hell hole which belongs in downtown Beirut, not 21st century South Yorkshire”. Note - not even just Beirut, but downtown Beirut.

    Now I am not for one moment suggesting that Page Hall is not experiencing serious problems (as are many areas, with the numbers of incidents increasing) There are reports of appalling behaviour, with partying till all hours with loud music, people living far too many to one house to be either healthy, safe or legal, car racing, rubbish being thrown on the streets and into others gardens and other totally unacceptable ways of living within a community. They are particularly despondent and despairing that the efforts that were put in last year with Sheffield in Bloom have been wasted, and they feel destroyed mentally and physically. Understandably. I empathise with them and hope that the multi-agencies that need to be involved in these issues, according to police sector commander Andy Barrs, get moving extremely quickly and sort out the situation as soon as possible.

    I am concerned, though, at the labelling and comparisons that are made and reported in the paper, which will no doubt already have been passed on, and furthered the impressions and misconceptions of a place that I am sure, none of these people have been to.
    The families named as causing the anti-social issue are Slovakian. My geography may not be perfect, but I am sure I am correct in stating that Slovakia is in Central Europe. It borders the Czech Republic and Austria, Poland, Ukraine and Hungary. It’s largest city and capital is Bratislava. Beirut, however, is the capital of Lebanon, a country in the Middle East (sometimes now called Western Asia) and it’s borders are Syria and Israel.
    Ok , I can hear you saying, we don’t need a geography lesson, either. But my point is that if you are going to liken something to something else - be it an area, country person or whatever - then at least make the likeness appropriate. Not only do Slovakian people not generally live in Beirut, but “Downtown Beirut” in 2008 is as far removed in similarities to Sheffield’s less fortunate areas than it is in miles. (or kilometres, if we want to be precise on both sides)

    In 2004, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire stated that anti-social conduct was making people feel like they lived in Beirut. “If they feel like they live in Beirut, they won’t care one bit that we are stamping out gun-crime” he announced. I went to Lebanon that year. I lived in and experienced the poorer towns south of Beirut – and yes, poor there can be really poor. I returned again the next year and whilst I saw many guns, carried by army personnel and the police, I never once feared that I would be shot, just for the sheer hell of it, by a gang standing on the streets. The terrible wars were over by now and so I had no fear of snipers either. Or of being stabbed as I emerged from a café or strolled on the beach. Beirut has it’s less affluent parts and it’s richer parts, as do all cities in the world, and during the war untold damage was done. But it was the same in Sheffield during the war here.
    Today “Downtown Beirut” is a major world tourist attraction. It has a multitude of fine buildings, marbled plazas and fountains and as many top class restaurants, cafes, theatres, and entertainment as anyone could wish for. It also has beautiful beaches kept clean and tidy, and no one stays at home after 6pm in case they get abused on the street by a teenager.

    The situation in Page Hall and many other areas in this country is deplorable. But don’t liken it to Downtown Beirut as the comparison just does not work. It also perpetuates divisive thinking and community and racial disharmony – which surely is what we are trying to prevent.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very interesting food for thought on your discussion on comparisons and Godwin's Law. Perhaps it is not so much an issue of “hate|” that some feel but more that most are so horrified and appalled at the situations that we become lost in our attempts to describe and find it easier to “liken”. Hate is a word that I try not to use (not always successfully, I admit) but try to believe that when hatred shows itself by who and in whatever way, it is hatred of the action itself and not of the person actioning. Idealistic, I suppose, but a philosophy that I would like to think I practice. A philosophy that does not rely on a particular religion or on secularity – but on a faith in humankind.
    “He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.”
    (Proverbs 26:24-26)

    An article of mine similar to your comparisons, below. (As I do not know how to link it, if you wish to I will leave that bit to you!)

    Sheffield V Beirut
    I do wish people would stop describing the worst areas of our country and communities as “like Beirut”. Areas which are constantly suffering from anti-social behaviour and criminal activity are often referred to in this way. A newspaper report tells us that residents in the Page Hall area of Sheffield say that they are living in a “hell hole which belongs in downtown Beirut, not 21st century South Yorkshire”. Note - not even just Beirut, but downtown Beirut.

    Now I am not for one moment suggesting that Page Hall is not experiencing serious problems (as are many areas, with the numbers of incidents increasing) There are reports of appalling behaviour, with partying till all hours with loud music, people living far too many to one house to be either healthy, safe or legal, car racing, rubbish being thrown on the streets and into others gardens and other totally unacceptable ways of living within a community. They are particularly despondent and despairing that the efforts that were put in last year with Sheffield in Bloom have been wasted, and they feel destroyed mentally and physically. Understandably. I empathise with them and hope that the multi-agencies that need to be involved in these issues, according to police sector commander Andy Barrs, get moving extremely quickly and sort out the situation as soon as possible.

    I am concerned, though, at the labelling and comparisons that are made and reported in the paper, which will no doubt already have been passed on, and furthered the impressions and misconceptions of a place that I am sure, none of these people have been to.
    The families named as causing the anti-social issue are Slovakian. My geography may not be perfect, but I am sure I am correct in stating that Slovakia is in Central Europe. It borders the Czech Republic and Austria, Poland, Ukraine and Hungary. It’s largest city and capital is Bratislava. Beirut, however, is the capital of Lebanon, a country in the Middle East (sometimes now called Western Asia) and it’s borders are Syria and Israel.
    Ok , I can hear you saying, we don’t need a geography lesson, either. But my point is that if you are going to liken something to something else - be it an area, country person or whatever - then at least make the likeness appropriate. Not only do Slovakian people not generally live in Beirut, but “Downtown Beirut” in 2008 is as far removed in similarities to Sheffield’s less fortunate areas than it is in miles. (or kilometres, if we want to be precise on both sides)

    In 2004, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire stated that anti-social conduct was making people feel like they lived in Beirut. “If they feel like they live in Beirut, they won’t care one bit that we are stamping out gun-crime” he announced. I went to Lebanon that year. I lived in and experienced the poorer towns south of Beirut – and yes, poor there can be really poor. I returned again the next year and whilst I saw many guns, carried by army personnel and the police, I never once feared that I would be shot, just for the sheer hell of it, by a gang standing on the streets. The terrible wars were over by now and so I had no fear of snipers either. Or of being stabbed as I emerged from a café or strolled on the beach. Beirut has it’s less affluent parts and it’s richer parts, as do all cities in the world, and during the war untold damage was done. But it was the same in Sheffield during the war here.
    Today “Downtown Beirut” is a major world tourist attraction. It has a multitude of fine buildings, marbled plazas and fountains and as many top class restaurants, cafes, theatres, and entertainment as anyone could wish for. It also has beautiful beaches kept clean and tidy, and no one stays at home after 6pm in case they get abused on the street by a teenager.

    The situation in Page Hall and many other areas in this country is deplorable. But don’t liken it to Downtown Beirut as the comparison just does not work. It also perpetuates divisive thinking and community and racial disharmony – which surely is what we are trying to prevent.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Apropos comments generally on this situation, I quote from Canon Andrew (the vicar of Baghdad) White's latest newsletter:

    " I have been pained by the lack of the ability of people to see the pain on both sides.

    In the last few days I have done several radio broadcasts and each time I tried to ensure that the suffering of both sides is expressed. The suffering of Gaza has been nothing less than terrible. Hundreds are being killed when this could have been prevented if Gaza was only prepared to recognise Israel and prevent the constant barrage of rockets against Southern Israel. I not only know both places well, I know the people. On both sides they are wonderful people. In the past few days I have spoken to both and the pain is so real and there are no simple solutions. Meanwhile the pain is still real and continues."

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  6. Wouldn't it be better if the people of Gaza relocated to a palce where there are jobs? Lacking resources, water and work, Gaza makes no economic sense. It is only kept alive by western handouts.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mark Steyn on the resurgence of antisemitism in Europe: 'the oldest hatred' now metastasized -
    http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hamas-gaza-jewish-2277487-muslims-state

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  8. Would this be the same Mark Steyn who broke the story of Barack Obama being raised in an Islamist Madrassah in Indonesia?

    Or would he be the one who prophesied that Europe would drown in a Moslem tide?

    He is one of those propagandists I referred to. Any lie will do as long as it is a neocon lie. And any criticism of Israel is anti-semitism.

    The tragedy is that Zionism has made that identity half-true. How can you criticise a country planted and funded by Jews without seeming racist?

    What grieves me is that Christian Zionism means that the gospel of Jesus has been mixed up with a questionable and violent experiment in colonialism.

    The "oldest hatred" is the hatred of the righteous God in the heart of Satan. The second oldest is the hatred of God's Truth in the hearts of men. While religious cultures like Islam and Judaism refuse to bow to Christ that hatred will express itself in acts of wickedness.

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  9. Mark B - do you have any suggestions of where the people of Gaza may "relocate" to? I am sure that they would be grateful for any reasonable suggestions that you are obviously able to supply.(Remeber - to relocate anywhere, you need two things,basics to most of us: money and a passport.)

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  10. Lexia: the Western world has spent BILLIONS keeping the 1.5 million people of Gaza on the dole. Much of this was stolen by Fatah and Arafat to enrich themselves, while immiserating the Gazans. Hamas has continued to misappropriate the money by using it to obtain weapons to attack Israel.
    Actually hundreds of thousands of 'Palestinians' live throughout the Middle East, although they were expelled by the Kuwaitis who accused them of collaborating with Saddam in 1990. So much for Pan-Arab solidarity. Yet there are literally millions of non-Arab foreigners (mainly South Asians and Filipinos) working in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. The Arab states expelled c. 700,000 of their Jewish citizens after 1948, who ended up in Israel. They should welcome their fellow Arabs and Muslims, many of whom are very adept in building tunnels and small rockets. I'm sure the West would pick up the tab (again).

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  11. semper asked "Would this be the same Mark Steyn who broke the story of Barack Obama being raised in an Islamist Madrassah in Indonesia?

    Or would he be the one who prophesied that Europe would drown in a Moslem tide?"

    When Jewish children can't safely attend public schools in parts of Europe for fear of Muslim violence, it sounds as though the "Moslem tide" is indeed lapping at Europe's social foundations.

    semper again: "He is one of those propagandists I referred to. Any lie will do as long as it is a neocon lie. And any criticism of Israel is anti-semitism."

    And nothing Mark Steyn can say is right, because... hey, you know... he's one of THEM. A "neocon." A Jew.

    "Semper" is one of the propagandists to which the original article refers, one of the anti-Semites who are managing to slip their hatred of all things Jewish under society's radar as pretended outrage over the events of Gaza - never mind that Hamas is now murdering its own people who dare object to missile barrages from the Gaza Strip. A good question, and one which isn't really answered by the allegedly unbiased coverage from the Gaza Strip is "who kills more Palestinians, day in and day out? Israel or Hamas?"

    Hamas, you see, has made it a crime to object to terrorism emanating from the Gaza Strip - so Gazans must acquiesce in violence against Israel or die.

    When the so-called mainstream media depends on Hamas cameramen for on-site video of events in the area, it's a neat question whether or not ANY of this coverage qualifies as "unbiased" by the standards to which the press used to adhere 30 years ago.

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  12. semper asked "Would this be the same Mark Steyn who broke the story of Barack Obama being raised in an Islamist Madrassah in Indonesia?

    Or would he be the one who prophesied that Europe would drown in a Moslem tide?"

    When Jewish children can't safely attend public schools in parts of Europe for fear of Muslim violence, it sounds as though the "Moslem tide" is indeed lapping at Europe's social foundations.

    semper again: "He is one of those propagandists I referred to. Any lie will do as long as it is a neocon lie. And any criticism of Israel is anti-semitism."

    And nothing Mark Steyn can say is right, because... hey, you know... he's one of THEM. A "neocon." A Jew.

    "Semper" is one of the propagandists to which the original article refers, one of the anti-Semites who are managing to slip their hatred of all things Jewish under society's radar as pretended outrage over the events of Gaza - never mind that Hamas is now murdering its own people who dare object to missile barrages from the Gaza Strip. A good question, and one which isn't really answered by the allegedly unbiased coverage from the Gaza Strip is "who kills more Palestinians, day in and day out? Israel or Hamas?"

    Hamas, you see, has made it a crime to object to terrorism emanating from the Gaza Strip - so Gazans must acquiesce in violence against Israel or die.

    When the so-called mainstream media depends on Hamas cameramen for on-site video of events in the area, it's a neat question whether or not ANY of this coverage qualifies as "unbiased" by the standards to which the press used to adhere 30 years ago.

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  13. Hmmm.

    What an irony that a post on avoiding terms based on hatred has led to a discussion motivated by so much hatred (of Jews, neo-cons, Muslims, Fatah etc).

    Logs and specks?

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  14. First of all, Mark Steyn is (as far as I know) a Canadian Gentile who was educated in the UK and changed his surname to embrace a punchier pseudonym. He is reticent about his origins so he might be secretly Jewish but not publicly. A deceiver is a deceiver whatever his religion or genetic inheritance.

    The reason I write about neocon lies is because the underlying NeoConservative philosophy posits the need for a public ideology to unite Western states which need not be believed (but must be preached) by the ruling elite.

    Deceit is necessary for government in other words. It is not that I HATE Neocons but I certainly DISTRUST them.

    Stephen Decatur analyses me thus:
    ""Semper" is one of the propagandists to which the original article refers, one of the anti-Semites who are managing to slip their hatred of all things Jewish under society's radar as pretended outrage over the events of Gaza - never mind that Hamas is now murdering its own people who dare object to missile barrages from the Gaza Strip."

    Can anyone seriously have a serious discussion while this kind of comment is made? It is so much easier to slander than answer someone who sees things differently. There are very few heroes left in Palestine/Israel.

    I am sorry to waste comment space on answering ad hominem slurs. We should be looking at the whole history of Terrorism and colonisation in Palestine and asking why Christians have become so identified with a particularly brutal colonial project.

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  15. "When the so-called mainstream media depends on Hamas cameramen for on-site video of events in the area, it's a neat question whether or not ANY of this coverage qualifies as "unbiased" by the standards to which the press used to adhere 30 years ago.",

    I believe Israel is refusing entry to TV crews to Gaza. Should we prefer a total news blackout?

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