"In the light of recent worldwide terror attacks targeting Jews, world media almost came to the brink of realizing that words mean things. Several major outlets were reportedly stunned to discover that "global intifada" means killing people around the globe – as opposed to just a description of youth activism. After months of thinking that "intifada" referred to interpretive dancing, the press faced the possibility that slogans sometimes function as instructions.
"Institutions of higher learning responded in their customary dialect: Harvard upgraded antisemitism from "unfounded concern" to "complex context," which is academia's way of admitting something exists while insisting it's rude to describe it. The new guidance encourages students to process hate as an ambience, like humidity.
"University officials issued statements condemning violence and urging students to avoid "harmful specificity," "jumping to adjectives," "noticing patterns," or "assigning motives" to motives. As one tenured professor noted, violence is bad, but clarity is worse: "Please do not name anything, describe anything, or connect anything to anything."
"NPR, always first to sanitize a noun, rebranded antisemitism as "community tensions," added somber piano music, and reminded listeners that the real danger is "escalation" – particularly the escalation of accurate description. Hate is regrettable; noticing it is polarizing.
"Cable anchors tried to square the circle: hate is wrong, but also "understandable" under certain editorial guidelines, especially when it arrives wearing ethnic clothing. To condemn evil is a slippery slope, because it might imply someone is responsible.
"A media panel then concluded "from the river to the sea" refers to peaceful nature hikes and inclusive trail access, since nothing says "peace" like a collection of euphemisms. By general consensus, chants are never what they say they are – until people get killed, at which point everyone acts shocked and demands we "come together" by not asking obvious questions.
"As for media consumers, their opinion could be summed up in one random street interview: "First they tell you it isn't happening. Then it happens. Then they tell you it's complicated. And finally they warn you not to notice the pattern, because pattern recognition is now a form of hate.' "
