You are reading a State of Dystopia post. These entries deal with current events that put us on the cyberpunk dystopia timeline. Read them now to see the future we’re going towards. Or read them in the future to figure out where things went wrong.
The latest war between Israel and Hamas began with Hamas posting videos of its fighters paragliding into enemy territory, attacking unsuspecting Israeli soldiers in their underwear. The footage — or news of it — was destined to go viral, even if the nature of the attack itself had a more immediate, tactical value.
Days later? Just as I began this post, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted this:
The video he posted contains a minute of footage of buildings being destroyed by airstrikes and smoke enveloping neighborhoods. Netanyahu’s post came hours after his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, announced Israel would intensify its 16-year blockade of Gaza.
“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant said. “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” Shortly after Gallant’s statement, Energy Minister Israel Katz ordered water supplies to be cut as well. Half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are minors; half the population is already food insecure.
Gallant’s statement, like Netanyahu’s tweet, was not some errant comment spoken in the heat of the moment. It was an official statement by a leader of the state, intended to rouse righteous fervor in the good guys and terror in the bad guys. Not unlike the videos recorded and published by Hamas just days before.
This post is short, and intended only to note the sad spectacle of the conflict. I care greatly about global politics and have more than a few thoughts, but I wish to keep things within the scope of the blog.
I will say this much: there are such things as legitimate targets. I have long supported the Palestinian cause and found Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people to be abhorrent. I still do, but that will never justify the apparent massacre of hundreds of festival-goers and related attacks. To condemn the murder of civilians by both Hamas and Israel is not to create a false equivalency between lesser and greater evils: wrong is wrong.
Anyway, it is clear the PR content from both sides of this conflict is not coming out of nowhere. Israel is led by the most far-right cabinet in its history; Palestinians likely fear being abandoned by the Arab World as erstwhile allies talk of normalizing ties with Israel. And as the extremists of each side take charge, it is not only the violence that escalates, but the showmanship.
It is not new for states to publicize war footage. Ukraine and Russia do it — that whole war is already on the internet — and the US has incorporated footage from the War on Terror in various recruiting advertisements. Certainly insurgents are infamous for their use of social media. Countless people have made countless pieces of commentary about the proliferation of combat footage and pictures. Nor is chest-beating unusual for national leaders in times of conflict.
Yet there is something bizarre about the defense minister of a highly developed nation touting his country’s blockade of “human animals.” The whole world is watching this moment: many of us are checking social media and news sites to see the latest destructive developments, unable to look away. And rather than attempt to sanitize things, Gallant and Netanyahu seek to capitalize on this perverse attention — like a mass shooter streaming his crimes online, knowing it’s not just his extreme forum buddies who will observe the spectacle.
Many have speculated as to whether the age of the internet would act as a deterrent to organized violence. Cartels and terrorists may revel in publicizing human rights violations, but states — or so the logic goes — should be embarrassed and reticent to have their crimes exposed. One wonders if we are seeing the opposite: that states are increasingly eager to showcase their own brutality for the world to see.