Israel at War—Reduction and Projection

Many social justice warriors (SJWs) on the Left have aligned themselves with the Islamist terror group, Hamas. Please spare me the argument that taking a pro-palestinian stand is somehow different than directly supporting the Islamists. A clear palestinian majority support Hamas, and an even larger majority are anti-Israel as well as anti-Semitic. Supporting the palestinians in this conflict, not to mention using eliminationist rhetoric that makes any truly moral person cringe (e.g.,"from the river to the sea"), is the equivalent of supporting Hamas.

But the real question is this. Why have SJWs who perceive themselves (incorrectly, I might add) as our moral superiors align themselves with rabid anti-Semites? 

In yesterday's post, I noted an excellent op-ed by Shany Mor who argues that cognitive dissonance reduction is the primary cause. After providing examples of this psychological phenomenon over then past 3 or 4 decades, Mor argues that when leftists are confronted with undeniable atrocities by groups they support, they suffer from cognitive dissonance. After all, they have elevated the palestinians to their most exhaulted level—oppressed and colonized victims—and as such they can do no wrong. But damn ... they raped and tortured young women, beheaded infants, and burned people alive, not to mention kidnapping two hundred civilians as human sheilds.

Sooo ... what do leftist do? As always, they retreat into fantasy, arguing that these atrocities are all Israel's fault. After all, this reduces their cognitive dissonance and allows them to continue to drape themselves in virtue signalling.

Yeah, it's disgusting, but then again, consider the people who are doing it.

But cognitive dissonance reduction is not the only reason that leftists align themselves with a murderous Nazi-like cult who want to murder all Jews. Rabid pro-palestinian activists and their Social Justice Warrior supporters on the left, also share a number of additional characteristics:

• both groups have a desire for authoritarian control of their adjacent populations, i.e., you MUST adopt our ideology or you're a figurative "apostate" that can be cancelled. Islamists take a rather extreme view of cancellation, while SJWs have until recently only tried to ruin an apostate's life and livelihood. With the advent of Hamas' atrocities, however, their only option is to demonize Jews and the tiny Jewish state in the midst of the Arab crescent, so that the atrocities committed by Hamas can be 'equivalenced.'
  
• both groups are fantasy thinkers, who discard common sense, facts on the ground, past history, societal and cultural precedent, and international norms. Instead their worldview identifies only the "oppressed" and others as "oppressors" or maybe "colonizers" and those who have been "colonized" regardless of the gross inaccuracy of those labels. Both groups agree that the oppressed or colonized have no moral responsibility to act in a civilized and peaceful manner because they are part of the "resistance" to the "oppressor."
• both are prone to psychological projection, accusing their opponents of evil deeds that more likely are being propagated by the accuser. In the case of SJWs, this occurs in many other contexts that are not nearly as serious at the Hamas atrocities, but nonetheless represent some cause célèbre for social justice.

Both groups use keywords in a pathetic attempt to try to turn their lies into truth. Abigail Schrier posts a "cheat sheet" for spotting Hamas lies. I think it's also a good guide for spotting the psychological projection that both SJWs and Hamas use to justify themselves. Schrier writes (my additional comments in italics):

• "Occupation!"  Nope. Not one IDF soldier or Jewish person was in Gaza on October 7. In fact, Israel left Gaza 17 years ago. The only occupier, if you're will to suspend disbelief and accept the canard that most palestinians do not support Hamas, is Hamas itself!
• "Settlers!"  The entire massacre occurred within internationally recognized borders of Israel. In actuality, the palestinians want to be settlers in an internationally-recognized Jewish state. Ironically, if they were peaceful, Israel would encourage their settlement, like they have accepts tens of thousands of Arab who are now Israeli citizens. But the palestinian want to eradicate Israel, so there's that.
• "Colonialism!"  Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people for over 3000 years, as one of history's most indisputable cultural and archaeological record proves. You aren't a colonist in your own land. But the palestinians want to colonize Israel and have grown from a relatively small population in the mid-20th century to more that two million people today. Those 2M people have been isolated and rejected by the entire Arab Muslim world who want them to colonize and destroy the Jewish state.

As Israel moves to eliminate Hamas and its barbaric, Nazi-like agenda, the lies and projections from both the palestinians and their supporters among SJWs will intensify. These will be amplified by the Western propaganda media, whose level of irresponsible "reporting" has already made them reviled by those who are able to think critically. 

As this dangerous and dishonest "reporting" continues and grows, just remember it's being brought to you by a propaganda media that sympathizes with those who embrace cognitive dissonance reduction and psychological projection, both clear signs of muddled thinking.