Em-Pathetic

In this next article in my ongoing series regarding world support for Hamas in Gaza, I will address why Hamas has been extremely effective in its use of media and why rational people are mobilized to respond to the 'plight' of the Gazans but unmoved by missiles raining down on Israeli civilians. Civilians and children are unfortunate, inevitable, collateral damage of all wars. Every nation knows this and no nation is as careful as Israel in avoiding the unavoidable while at the same time having its own civilian population under constant threat of deadly rockets. So, again, why is the world moved by broadcast images emerging from Gaza but not Israel?




I am struck by the radically different videos coming out of Gaza compared to Israel. From Gaza, images and video purportedly show injured and maimed children or mothers crying out at the devastation around. Contrast this to videos of Israelis in bunkers smiling, taking selfies or groups of soldiers singing am yisrael chai. I am struck by my wife and then by videos of Gazan militants fiercely denouncing "the occupation", the "genocide", "human rights violations", "war crimes," etc. Contrast this with the calm, rational responses of Netanyahu and Israeli spokesmen explaining in intricate detail all of the extreme efforts to avoid hurting non-combatants (yawn).



Again, I have to open my ape-bible to understand human beings. In 'Our Inner Ape', by Frans De Waal, he describes empathy and the empathetic response as "one of the strongest [emotions] there is...stronger than the ape's proverbial desire for bananas." Empathy is the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another- (dictionary.com).



De Waal's writes, "We celebrate rationality, but when push comes to shove we assign it little weight. As any parent who has tried to talk sense into a teenager knows, the persuasive power of logic is surprisingly limited. This is especially true in the moral domain...Moral decision-making is driven by emotions...we are equipped with an internal compass that tells us how we ought to treat others. Rationalizations often come after the fact, when we have already carried out the preordained reactions of our species...Evolution has equipped us with genuinely cooperative impulses and inhibitions against acts that might harm the group on which we depend."



When we see others in pain, we empathetically feel that pain in our gut. Instinctively, immediately, we have sympathy towards the sufferer and desire to offer consolation. We also have strong impulses to then punish the one who inflicted this pain with which we empathize. These tendencies are and were critical for the success of humans (and some other primates) in groups.



Notice the buzz words used by the Gazans already mentioned above. Every single one evokes a visceral response against those who would have the audacity to do such a thing to another human being. Reporters feel empathy and respond with moral indignation in their tone and speech, thereby spreading the empathy globally via their networks. In essence they are unwittingly complicit in a empathy-fest. Yet the rational discourse coming out of Israel explaining, 'they attack Israel with rockets and are committed to the elimination of the Jewish state,' may all be true but that really doesn't strike a cord nearly as deep. Israel needs to show videos of children and old ladies screaming in terror while running for cover as the sirens go off, show the injuries and bodies of people killed by rockets. Their rhetoric must be desperate like that of the Gazans.



Getting the picture yet? Images of pain and suffering coming out of Gaza win de facto. They activate a person's empathetic system immediately. To expect people to start to understand, why, who, context or rationalize is already too late in the process and frankly asking a lot of mere mortals. And that's why every time Israel justifiably wins at war, it really loses as well.