Enemies
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Audio Recording by George Hahn
For any species to endure, it must find reward in two things: sex and conflict. The importance of the sex drive is obvious. But if we’re not wired for conflict, we’ll meet the same fate as if we never reproduced. Evolution is a competition for resources, and conflict is inevitable. The ecosystem isn’t much concerned with who plays fair: Everything is prey to something else; conflicts arise over resources, mates, territory, and pride. We either develop a reward system that deftly chooses battles, or we’ll be consumed by a species that does.
Humans are not immune. We evolved hiding in the trees while stronger, faster, and more sharply clawed creatures roamed the savanna. So we developed a robust neurological system for identifying threats, gauging their severity, and responding quickly, often before we’re conscious of the threat level. But fight-or-flight wasn’t enough to shepherd us out of the forests. First we had to develop our superpower: cooperation. The cocktail that’s made us the apex of apex predators is cooperation on the rocks of conflict. Under threat, we become a “band of brothers,” establishing “sisterhood” to “fight the power” and form “one nation, indivisible.”
Love Thy Enemy
This system, however, is always on. It feels bad to be scared, but good to be angry. Especially good when we’re surrounded by others who validate our anger and direct it toward the chosen threat. This dynamic is often referred to as “tribalism,” but that misses the point. Tribes are defined by their enemies. They help us convert danger and anxiety into brotherhood and glory. Spiritual leaders preach we should love our enemies. Evolution teaches us to love having enemies.
Rallying support under the threat of a common foe is an ancient tactic. Historical foes Athens and Sparta united to fight the Persian Empire, and Rome’s rivalry with Carthage is credited with holding its fractious republic together. The U.S. shaped a half-century of foreign policy on countering the threat of communism. Most profoundly, House Stark and the Targaryen forces allied to combat the undead. But I digress.
We love conflict. As General Lee said at Fredericksburg: “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” This is likely even more true today, when technology and culture have severed so many of our traditional bonds and left young people aching for connection and community. According to a recent UNICEF report, “The proportion of people willing to participate in demonstrations has increased to its highest levels since the 1990s, and the number of protests has also risen in this period.”
Know Thy Enemy
Most rivalries are harmless, but they point to a darker tradition. Because we enjoy unity in the face of threat, we seek out enemies, even if we need to manufacture them. Or we let others manufacture them for us. Scapegoating is the go-to in the demagogue’s handbook.
This week, Donald Trump told Time magazine that he would consider deploying the military against immigrants inside the U.S., characterizing undocumented entry as “an invasion.” He claimed that “over the last three weeks, 29,000 people came in from China, and they’re all fighting age, and they’re mostly males.” He’s right that there has been a sharp rise in the number of Chinese immigrants crossing the southern border — thousands have made it to New York, in fact. The New York Times has been documenting their arrival.
But it takes a warped perspective to see enemies among these people, sleeping in bunk beds, working the dangerous/dirty jobs American citizens don’t want. I see my parents, risking everything to find a better life. Also, these new immigrants are our lifeline. They paid $500 billion in taxes in 2021 and made up 22% of all entrepreneurs. Their children are the most fiscally productive cohort in America. Without immigration, we’d be in population decline, which is the surest way to go into recession and lose influence on the global stage.
On Campus
The conflict in Gaza has reverberated throughout U.S. higher education, catching many flat-footed despite predictions that there would be disruption in academia and that DEI would begin eating its tail and turn racist. U.S. universities have an important legacy of protest. However, there’s been a troubling presence of antisemitism in these campus protests. Its extent is disputed and unclear, but it is happening, and history has taught us there is no such thing as “antisemitism light.” While all forms of bigotry are condemnable, antisemitism carries a unique danger due to the long history of setting up Jews as the go-to, manufactured enemy. It’s essential for any group advocating for a cause to actively combat any hateful messages that exploit our primal instincts to identify fake enemies. I believe the greatest threats to America aren’t its true adversaries, but the voices that tell us to hurt others who pose no real danger. The Jewish girl leaving the library to get a manicure is not your mortal enemy. These hateful messages have such power because they trigger our deep enemy-identification system.
We join movements because of their goals, but also, increasingly, because joining makes us feel good. That’s not an insult — joining is the reason we do everything; it triggers our reward system in some way. Camping out on college quads or barricading buildings is a social aphrodisiac. These experiences generate powerful feelings of common identity and give us the intense sense of “belongingness” we crave — especially among young people who lack the same connective tissue earlier generations enjoyed on campus. Covid and identity politics have sequestered and divided students from one another.
And of UCLA
At my alma mater UCLA on Tuesday night, counterprotesters attacked the pro-Palestine encampment and a multihour pitched battle ensued. Little of this has anything to do with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There’s an African proverb that if a child does not feel the embrace of the tribe, they will burn it down to feel warmth. I wonder how many of the student protesters are burning the village to feel warmth. When enthusiasm overwhelms reasoned analysis, you find yourself on the steps of your college admin building demanding: “The revolution should be catered.” We should, and will, cut a wide berth for 19-year-olds pushing the boundaries of their intellectual freedom and testing limits. Put another way, they pay us to make mistakes in a safe environment. When their expression, however, impairs another student’s right to a safe college experience, they should be suspended or expelled.
At UCLA, they expel 91% of the (potential) students during the application process. Shouldn’t restricting the access of Jews to campus facilities be on par with not having perfect SATs? Elite universities need to accept, and exit, more students. Finally, there is, in my view, no excuse for any faculty or administrators to disrupt our mission to educate. They have a right to free speech, meaning they cannot be criminally charged for what they say. However, these are adults being paid to do a job, and when they make that job harder for the rest of us, or for the students and their families to even have a commencement ceremony, they should be fired.
Go into the lobby of any organization and start screaming at your fellow employees and setting up a tent in the cafeteria, and see how that turns out. The arrogance and self-aggrandizement of faculty at elite universities, who unilaterally changed their job description to “social engineer,” is obnoxious. You sign the back, not the front, of the college’s checks — do your damn job.
Stupid
UC Berkeley Professor Carlo Cippolla developed a deft construct for identifying the “stupid”: people who hurt others while hurting themselves. We’re all, at different points of our life, stupid. We instinctively turn on our parents (i.e., when we are teens), because it makes it easier to leave the pack, and it’s healthy to question the ways things have been done. “I hate you!” said every teen … at some point. We’re also prone to stupidity and a lack of grace with our spouses and friends. Hate and envy are similar to Wi-Fi: hyperlocal. People who care about us often bear the brunt of our moods and disappointments, which have nothing to do with them. Students on campus who feel animosity for their country, not to mention their fellow students, are hurting others and themselves.
At home, in school, on the job, or in your community, do you register the commitment, goodwill, and love of the people closest to you? Or are you being stupid?
Life is so rich,
P.S. My TED Talk on America’s war on the young was released this week — watch it here.
P.P.S. My lecture on The State of Young People is coming up. Sign up to hear my takes on wealth, government, social media, and more.
1500 characters is all you can type? No wonder I saw others with multiple posts. Not playing that game. I am not a student writing an essay prof.
Zionists attack UCLA students and all Scott Galloway can say is that Jews (by which he really means zionists) are the victims. Sad old man.
It’s amazing how you can acknowledge the reality of the violence of the counter protesters (pro-Israel) and yet claim Jews are being made into a go-to enemy. Jewish Voice for Peace is an organizing part of the pro Palestinian protest movement- which stated purpose is to have the universities divest from companies that are currently profiting from Israeli war crimes. You are intentionally vague in defining what is being protested, who is protesting, and who is behaving violently. Painting a pro Palestinian protest as over 35000 Palestinians have died, nearly 100,000 injured, famine conditions are present and the IDF prepares to invade Rafah, as antisemitic is stupid and morally repulsive. Conflating the state of Israel and Zionism with the Jewish faith and ethnic identity is stupid and intentionally misleading. Feeling animosity towards those who abuse truth to their own benefit or as cover for ideology is an understandable and moral response. Animosity is the appropriate response to those who support and fund genocide. This isn’t all moody teenagers acting out. Also -Why do you not mention the fear the pro Palestinian protesters must have felt when being violently attacked by pro Israel supporters, exercising their 1st amendment right? How do they feel when pro Israel groups are lobbying for retaliation against protestors? Why is it this made up Jewish girl going to get a manicure the only college student deserving of our consideration?
Beautifully articulated & I couldn’t have said it any better..
we need to differtiate the Israeli government from the people who live in Israel. On my travels overseas I have been told many times”we love Americans, but dislike your government”. Demonstrating in this case does not mean you are antisemitiic. Governments should not be based in ethnic or religious foundations.
The people of Israel elected the current Israeli government, the most right-wing regime in their history. Most of them support the current Gaza policy of this government and are therefore implicated in the genocide.
We have met the enemy and he is us.
Put them in safe homes, neighborhoods like the one you grew up in Scott. Like the one that I grew up in. Jewish children. Muslim children.
Such children, Jewish, Muslim, they would become friends. (They would be (they were) your friends, my friends.)
We allow – wait, no – (today) we invite Trojan Horses into our communities.
Bad Actors, forces (of evil) actively working to divide what would naturally be – United. They package and sell – bad faith.
Jew, Muslim. Democrat, Republican. Old, Young. – – – We are not enemies.
“Jesus went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. ‘My House will be called a House of Prayer.”
Our Neighbor is not our (natural) enemy.
The moneychangers. The wolves in sheeps clothing. Those that trade in division. They use all is best with US, they use what is best in us against us. They turn fine wine into burning river.
Be like Jesus.
What would Jesus do?
Throw them out.
Love thy neighbor again. (How about that for a slogan. LTNA.)
Hunt the wolf (not the animal), the human wolves. Train them. Domesticate them – – – if we can. If not, dail 1-800-Kristi.
They’re dangerous animals. Those human wolves.
I stopped reading as soon as you said that life is competition for resources. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Nature is a symbiotic relationship. Yes there are predators and prey, and life and death occur. However, intrinsically nature is designed to work together and collaborate. Darwin was wrong, it’s not survival of the fittest it’s survival of those finding their niche and acting in balance with the environment. We are not hardwired for enemies. The fight or flight response is not always on; this is a symptom of the dysfunction of our modern world. I suggest you go read Jay Gould.
What a great text! There is a lack of enforcement that is troubling. Rules and laws are not only to be read. Too much talk and too little action creates a generation that thinks they are entitled to anything and at the same time can’t stand any kind of comment that “hurts” their feelings. Imagine if WW3 becomes a reality and these are the new soldiers…
I agree wholeheartedly.. individuals utilizing their right to free speech & protected within the constitution can voice their opinion regarding an issue that someone else finds mean or negative DOES NOT make it hate speech bc my free speech doesn’t end where their feel’ns become offended & vice versa.. as long as it’s speech isn’t provoking violence or harm upon any others, then we’re protected to freely speak & peacefully assemble.. collectively, humans will never totally get along & always disagree in one way or another, therefore we need to focus on openly debating with ppl who hold opinions varying from our own logically, so that one day we might provide or share some extra knowledge with each other, which could provoke change(s) from either sides possibly influencing a change in some of our older beliefs..
“You can’t fix stupid!”
–Ron White
Really only one thing matters in all of this: STOP THE GENOCIDE!
The ones currently doing the genocide are the IDF. Any talk of legitimacy of protests, counter-protests, free-speech, cops, anti-semitism or what have you, is secondary to the simple fact that Israel is committing genocide. Stop that first, and only then we can do the difficult work of figuring out all the other shit. Pretending to handle all the other noise, while there’s a frickin’ genocide ongoing, is kinda missing the point. Ceasefire Now, or STFU.
oh, you are so funny…
genocide is funny?…..you are so indoctrinated
Just saw your TED talk and I think you are right. The one thing I’d add regarding Social Security is that SSA is, has always been, and was intended to be a program of income transfer from the young to the old. As such it should be viewed as an incentive plan for each generation to leave to the next one an economy that allows them to feed this income transfer comfortably. Generations who have voted, made laws, and run companies since about the 1980s have dramatically and intentionally failed to do this. We cannot expect young people who are struggling financially to hand over their income to comfortably well off old people. It won’t stand. The many ideas that you pitch in your TED talk seem to me to be sound approaches to solving the problem that we Boomers (and some Millennials) have created.
wearing masks should not be allowed. if you are going to protest, be accountable
Agree
Great post, but let me play school teacher for a second: the economic historian you reference was Carlo Cipolla.
The UCLA professors you speak of – the ones who supposedly work for us – have been employed by a different entity for more than a decade now. Their day job is only their side hustle.
The bold and confident manner in which these “teachers” break all the rules shows they have a secure source of income. We need to go upstream if we want to solve this problem.
These protestors are not just protesting Israel’s actions in Palestine. They are openly chanting for the destruction of Jewish people. The message has veered away from what’s going on in Palestine, with protestors unknowingly adopting Hamas principles. Scott is right to call them out.
old new evil and wilful ignorance reign today. how sad
At least now this leftist hatred is coming to light. When it was only conservatives and run of the mill whites who were silenced on college campuses, it did not matter. Thankful we now have a group, the jews, that someone cares enough about to treat fairly.
If Biden really cared about the people at the border, he would tell them not to come, to go back home. No, I don’t think they’re all criminals, but they will go through an ordeal because of their sheer numbers, no matter what we do. The “righteous” position of Biden and his basest of bases is cruelty.
“Go back home”…. Shows how misinformed people are. People who just “Go back home” are risking their life and their family’s life. Do you understand that these are not French people crossing the border because they are tired of eating crepes? The are people fleeing murderous regimes.
I, as a father, would risk life and limb to get my family to a safer environment. Biden is trying to process and requested bipartisan legislation that would help with that processing.
But it was shut down by an “outside” force!
Your contempt for Arabs and Palestinian life shines through yet again, my former role model. There are bad actors in every movement/army. Look at your beloved IDF. Antisemitism is never okay and is abhorrent but you deny the existence of so many Jewish brothers and sisters who stand for Palestine. Have some intellectual curiosity. Why are they doing this? There is a fantastic 6 part podcast series called Fear and Loathing in New Jerusalem by Daryl Cooper. He’s a former member of our US military. Maybe get educated on this issue before you spew nonsense with feaux intellectual Bill Maher. And maybe the vast majority of these kids, the peaceful ones, are going to be considered heroes. This has shades of Vietnam and South Africa and you ought to be disgusted with yourself when it does. Or maybe you’ll be like the other liberals who quietly tries to say you were with humanity after all. Look at how the world views us and grow up. You’re too old to be acting like a child. Pathetic.
Thank you Tommy Ashan. Scott this carefuly crafted piece of work will be a shame for you. For last 25 years long history of setting up Arabs/ Muslims as the go-to, manufactured enemy. You know that and you play
You forget this was all started when Palestinians used US taxpayer money to murder 1,200 innocent people, murdering and raping them, the worst war crimes possible. You said nothing. No one really said anything. But then you expected Israel to do nothing. It has shown more restraint than any modern military force. Your hatred for Israel (Jews? yourself?) eclipses your ability to see what’s really happening i.e. Hamas using its own people – who support them – as human shields, taking 200+ people hostage, hiding amongst the civilian population. Where is the outrage over that? None. They are your Jew and gay-hating brothers and sisters, who oppress women and have nothing in common with you, unlike Israel.
Oh and by the way, there’s an actual genocide going on in Sudan, right now. But who cares about that, right?
“Kertu el hipócrita”, TODO EL MUNDO, sin excepción condenó el ataque del 7 de octubre. Pero eso no le da derecho a Israel / Netanhayu / sus fuerzas armadas de cometer un genocidio contra la población civil, bloqueando el agua, el alimento, matando periodistas, enfermeras, médicos, destruyendo universidades, hospitales, redes de agua potable, viviendas, campos de refugiados.
¿De qué moderación hablas? No seas ciego ni pretendas que los demás lo seamos
Please my friend, choose any arab country you wish, and fly there for a week.
Than choose any sign you wish to hold, advocating gays, or woman rights, or just Buddhism…stand with the sign in a city corner for 7 days.
now do it in tel aviv.
Call me after
Scott is adept at asking the right questions and instead of preaching the simple answers he acknowledges the nuances and complexities of each seemingly black or white position. He is real
Studnet protest against Israeli atrocities and war crimes = antisemitism ?
You too ..Prof Galloway ?
Who is paying for the tents ? flags ? food ?
Criticizing Israel is not antisemitic — Israel is a sovereign country.
Since the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, a number of countries and individuals have challenged the country’s political legitimacy. Under international law, Israel has always met the standards for recognition as a sovereign state – which goes hand in hand with facing unbiased criticism for its politics amongst other dimensions. Additionally a lot of Jewish students are involved in the protests.
This article is as boulevard as it gets.
I am a big fan of Prof. G, a regular on this blog and I read all of his books, and I disagree on this one.
Using the term “antisemitism” to judge these protests is trying to distract people from what is really happening in Gaza. It’s not antisemitic to call out the government for using the taxpayers money to finance the mutilation of the Palestinian population.
You have kids, you always talk about compassion. Kids in Gaza need that now, the need your real voice, unaltered by political and financial constraints. They need your voice as parents (too many kids are dying), as a scholar (all of the universities in Gaza have been destroyed), and as a normal human being.
I have no idea what this sentence means: “ At UCLA, they expel 91% of the (potential) students during the application process. Shouldn’t restricting the access of Jews to campus facilities be on par with not having perfect SATs?”
Missed opportunity to once again shoutout where some of the antisemitism, within this cohort, is being fomented: TikTok.
To confuse the demonstrations, many of which have been peaceful, with Antisemitism is feeding into the pro Israel at any cost narrative. I am not a stupid student. Nor have I demonstrated. I see the Student’s point and am disappointed in your dismissal Professor G as much as the unfair and misguided United States policies towards Israel. This is not 1945. The United States has given Israel 3 billion dollars a year in aid since Obama. That is our top recipient. Israel doesn’t need our money. They are using our aid to bomb their own citizens who they continue to steal land from. They refuse to create a true democracy by not letting the Palestinians vote. They have bombed utilities and hospitals and killed over 35000 people. This is very wrong. To focus on the behavior of students and not the bombers of Israel is to exercise a very unbalanced point of view.
Thank you for speaking up here noone sees “the Jewish girl leaving the library to get a manicure” an enemy but the “defence” forces killing 15.000+ babies with the US money.
Thnx for speaking up here noone sees “the Jewish girl leaving the library to get a manicure” an enemy but the “defence” forces killing 15.000+ babies with the US money.
Why harass innocent Jewish students then? I can understand if protesters wld have a personal problem with IDF soldiers, but targeting and harassing random Jewish students with no connection to Israel’s army is a tell about their true intentions.
so much ignorance, so much nonsense..and you claim you are a student (and not stupid).
Despite brilliance in everything else, seeing things with clarity, in the end we show who we really are by averting our eyes from what we don’t want to see. Or maybe just another white guy not seeing existence of others by overseeing only what’s familiar to him.
You accurately point out how the USSR was used as an enemy the Western World could mobilize against while they eventually were exposed as a paper tiger. Another, more recent example, is how the Left in the US manufactured an evil monster using terms like White Supremicists as domestic terrorists to mobilize the Democrat party and its base where our history over the last 7 years is a surprising lack of any real evidence of the enemy actually exists. The declaration that the Jan 6 event was an ‘insurrection’ (despite no one among the thousands arrested actually being charged with that) served as the culmination of scapegoating by the Left. Your article would ring even more true had you included that you can ‘know your enemy’ even better when you manufacture your enemy.
Excellent presentation from an 84 year old and parent and caring citizen.
If I was paying for my kid to go to Columbia, and he took part in a protest occupation, then I could understand. If he was stupid enough to expect the University to give him food and water while he was in there as he was on a food plan, I would wonder what sort of Numpty I had raised.
The other unanswered question I have is, “how many of these kids have a clue about the real issues? But then again, as Scott said, we are all stupid at some point, if not confused.
Nice post Dog! Yet, UCLA like these other so called elite schools is fueling hate, hate especially towards Jews, and reinventing what it means to be Anti-American. A+ for all of these horrific accomplishments.
Moreover, supporting Hamas/Palestine Gangs/Terrorists in America is a new low. My father fought in WW2, Battle of Midway and he’d be disgusted by these students, their parents, these schools and most liberals in America.
The best answer may be to forge two new America’s, one that looks like your beloved CA state and UCLA and the other Florida.
This seems like the best approach the more I talk to others and especially our miliary heroes who the left really dislike.
Life in the fart bubble. You made more sense last week when you wanted to burn down institutions to save them.
Not the first time you’ve been shamefully misrepresentative of the opposition to Israel’s actions in Palestine. Not the first time you’ve tried to present protest as antisemitism. Not the first time you’ve implicitly suggested that anyone anti-Israel, or pro-Palestine, is brainwashed and misguided. It’s embarrassing that you’re being this obtuse.
kill the jews( see hamas charter) today for you means opposition.
Showing contempt for Jews who support the annihilation of tens of thousands of women and children isn’t antisemitism. It’s justified anger. Missing this point is not Scott Galloway’s trademark. The Jews are doing exactly what has been done to them for centuries and I can’t see it helping their cause.
why all this ignorant malicious misinformation?
You have a wonderful way of explaining parts of life.
Please add me to your e mail list.
Half the people at these protest have no idea what they are protesting. They are followers looking to fit in. I would love for these protesters to make a meaningful step to help the people of Gaza by moving there. Truth is, these protesters are cowards. Only willing to fight and disrupt the average peaceful person who want nothing to do with this conflict.
There is more than a bit of irony in a faculty member from an elite university’s business school (one that charges students $127K per year for a fairly useless degree, at least in terms of actual learning) calling other faculty at elite universities “arrogant and self-aggrandizing” while espousing anti-free speech views both here and on Bill Maher’s neoliberal lovefest.
Also, evolution has never been defined as a “competition for resources” and it teaches us nothing. Mutation creates variation that selection (whether natural or artificial) can act on to create preferential survival (generally due to increased fecundity) of species vs. other species or individuals within species. The observation of this change over time is evolution. It’s really that simple. But it doesn’t occur in response to anything, other than errors in nucleic acid replication, non-allelic homologous recombination and so on, and it would still take place in the absence of selection (see drift, genetic).
Bill Maher is such a joke. Also it’s very clear that the protest is to bring awareness to Gaza and the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Western journalism focuses on the protest. So there is a clear master at play. Detract from the obvious issue, deny the presence of countless Jewish brothers and sisters in solidarity and continue to fund a genocidal regime in the Likud. Scott should listen to the fear and loathing in new Jerusalem
Big fan, listen to all your stuff. Very grateful. Say your catch phrases out aloud when I’m alone in the car. Is that strange ? Trust your instincts.
On the UCLA demonstrations issue, want to ask for some fact checking and/ or a referrral to your source.
You point out that some counterprotestors attacked the Pro-Palestine protestors. The facts check out for me on that.
Regarding the anecdote you share ( not sure if it’s an anecdote, illustrative or something else) regarding a Jewish girl being obstructed from leaving the library, is there a source where I can corroborate this ? So far, I’ve Googled it and it’s not clear.
Full disclosure….I have a kid at UCLA ( Go Bruins). She’s sharp, balanced and thoughtful. When I called her about the counter protesters, she saifd ” Look at the videos Dad….it was the Zionists”. Then when I called her about the Jewish students being obstructed, she said ” Not true – check your sources”
Thank you Scott for standing up and denouncing the brain washing that is going on in these Universities. Students are being manipulated and because they are so desperate to take part in a movement that they are getting blind, hating their fellow neighbours , refusing to consider what they support might be wrong, forgetting basic principles of a civilized world. They want free speach but do not let the others speak, they want to end racism and are being even worse racists…What is the merit of supporting an unfair and false cause to achieve a fair cause? And all those weak administrations should be fired at once! Enough of this insanity!
a typical zionist, pro-isreal apologist. Much outrage over “free speech” and no outrage over thousands of children murdered in cold blood. Don’t give us the “human shields” argument, you are much too intelligent to believe that.
I guess You are too biased and blind to see the truth staring you right in the face. This time in history is reminiscent of the rise of the Nazis. Good peopkle doing nothing and turning away. Shame on you
Pretty surprised at the lack of objectivity and fairness to both sides in your discussions on this topic. I’m staunchly pro-Israel, anti-oppressor vs. oppressed ideology, and believe higher education (as an Ivy League grad) is in a DEI-infected state. However, that doesn’t mean these protests were violent or stupid. In fact, these protests are increasingly appearing to have been inaccurately characterized out of a misplaced sense of fear resulting in one of the most significant attacks on free speech we’ve seen in the 21st century.
Previously, I’ve found your analysis more objective and empathetic; in fact, it was your then-novel view as a Democrat on needing to engage with Trump’s most virulent supporters and their penchant for fringe ideologies like Qanon that initially drew me to your content. However, characterizing these protestors as “19-year-olds” when many of their spokespeople are graduate students in their late 20s is just a proxy for labeling them as inept. It reminds me of the binary, closed-minded way many of the establishment spoke about Trump’s “deplorables” from 2016– a general ignorance that fueled the eventual outburst of January 6th’s violence; an event that feels starkly similar to how we’ve treated and funneled these radicals towards the storming of Hamilton Hall.
Many moderates have criticized Pro-Palestine supporters for their bad-faith argument of comparing the treatment of modern-day Palestinians to Jews in Nazi Germany. However, labeling the isolated, poorly documented, and, at times, performative incidents of antisemitism (ie vocally Pro-Israel, visibly Jewish students trying to walk through encampments) at these protests as “violent antisemitism” is just as weak and overdramatic of an argument. Your citing of a DailyMail article as evidence for antisemitism, i.e., violence in these protests, doesn’t engage with the reality that the protestors include a significant number of Jewish members in their ranks. What about the counterprotesters that started the altercation with the UCLA encampment?
I agree with your sense of disappointment and disillusionment in a group of American students hypocritically supporting a country where their crop tops and female voices wouldn’t be permitted to exist over Israel, the only country in that region protecting those freedoms. I agree that the demands of divestment are unrealistically childish, built upon a false narrative of previous success around apartheid South Africa, and, in my view, are uncalled for based on Israel’s actions. However, that doesn’t mean that these protestors shouldn’t be engaged. It doesn’t mean they’re violent. It definitely doesn’t mean we needed police to clear them out.
Universities have the right to remove protestors to carry out operations, graduate, and protect property. However, rather than act on these valid reasons, leaders justified their politically violent actions against a group of ineffective, harmless, and illegitimate gender studies majors under the guise of stopping radicals, violence, and a broader communist conspiracy. It all feels fragile. Actions are driven out of fear for a generation whose beliefs are increasingly unrecognizable.
PS The tents are sus, I’ll give you that.
Great article. You explained my feelings that have come and gone and continued in my head and I knew not why.
It’s not the content of the protest: it’s the trespassing, breaking campus rules, obstruction, and disruption of the education of other students who do not consent to these activities. That’s where this all goes wrong. The university does not owe the protestors’ behavior a special exemption at the expense of the wider school community. Galloway is correct to call this out.
Your hatred of someone who ‘signs the front of the checks’ of 22,000 employees in 25 countries is clinical.
Envy? Jealousy? Pride?
Out of touch again, Scott.
For somebody who tries to see the things not apparent, this is disappointingly in line with the narrative of the AIPAC-funded political class.
You say “antisemitism is disputed and unclear”, but then focus on an unnamed “Jewish girl”. You say the counterprotestors attacked, but blame the attacked for “burning the village”. You blame the UCLA encampment for restricting access — when in fact no buildings were blocked, though Jews and all students had to use a less-convenient door.
The students demands are clear. Divest from Israel. That’s all. Let’s stop Israel’s unjust grip on — and now it’s unfettered murder and starvation of — Palestinians, just like previous generations did to eventually liberate South Africa.
There has been no reported violence against Jews, except for the Jews protesting for divestment, by the state and by the UCLA counterprotestors. It’s a shame that Jewish students are forced to feel discomfort. Tough price to pay for supporting the ongoing death and starvation on tens of thousands.
Your view of this is way off.
your view(!) is uninformed. !!!!
You didn’t mention that they are protesting this in Israel pretty hard. It’s not getting much traction in the media, though—I wonder why? This is just lazy parroting of a lot the lensed-view of what is going on. It’s not a leap to understand that protesting the actions of a government (i.e. Israel) with the support of the US government for what is being called a literal genocide is a far cry from being anti-jew and anti-Semitic even if a few idiots who are protesting (and in the media) can’t tell the difference.
You must have missed the story where multiple reporters witnessed and reported on Israeli soldiers luring in Palestinian children (the guess was 7-12) with food they planted, almost like mice, and murdering them with US-made weapons we gave to them, all while laughing and making a game out of it.
The kids at university obviously feel like the boomers are not listening to them, and every time you speak about Israel, repeating the same old lines and talking points, you prove the point in spades. They are still young enough to think that maybe we shouldn’t support genocide, no matter who does it or if you think they have a reason.
You write about a crisis with our kids and then drum up this crap when they’ve had enough and decide to take a stand? pfft
and why not mention that they kill children bc they need blood for matzot and such…
“When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals.”
– Edward Snowden
10 children a day lose one or more limbs in Gaza. This has been going on for 200+ days thanks to the bombs and weapons that the American taxpayer is sending Israel to the tune of billions of dollars. Just this one category of atrocity alone – maimed children – is enough to warrant the protests.
But instead of engaging with what the students are protesting and why, here you are, along with the mainstream, corporate media, parsing the specific words the brave students are chanting and writing on their posters.
P.S. And I gotta say, love how the disgusting violence of the pro-Israel crowd is benignly framed as “counterprotestors”. You have a blatant bias. I’m unsubscribing.
Your position goes back only 200+ days. Please include in your outrage the miserable treatment by Hamas of the Gaza citizens since Hamas took power in 2006 in a sham election (hasn’t been another election since). Hamas destroyed the infrastructure left behind by Israel and turned all their resources toward building tunnels and rockets. The Palestinians are just fodder for the Hamas murderous mission to eliminate Israel. They could care less about the Gazan inhabitants. Giving Hamas a modicum of legitimacy is more than they deserve.
Nice try buddy. The US government didn’t give Hamas American taxpayer money. So what is there to protest? The students, as well as many older Americans such as myself, are protesting and expressing anger and disgust at the US government and institutions because Israel’s massacre is being funded by American dollars. Do ya get that?
And Hamas isn’t in the West Bank. What explains the Israeli settlers’ violence and terrorism there? That’s been going for years.
And since you’re so focused on Hamas, you should consider going after Santayahu and his government who funded Hamas to delegitimize the Palestinian cause.
Yours is a one sided view. The US government has been giving indirect aid to Hamas through the UN and various Palestinian aid groups that Hamas grabs for themselves. Hamas has been raining rockets into Israel to fulfil their stated goal of eliminating Israel and all Jews. This current war was triggered by Hamas invading and performing unspeakable violence, rape and murder on innocent, non-combatant Israelis on Oct 7. The taking of hostages and their treatment adds to their unhumanity. You may not like Israel, but simply stating the ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is not only foolhardy, but will come to a bad end. Hamas, led on by Iran will not stop there. ‘Death to America’ is the watchword of not only Hamas, but Iran. Be careful who you lay down with, as they may kill you in your sleep.
Cool story bro.
Did you address what Israel is doing in the West Bank where there is no Hamas? 700,000+ settlers stealing people’s land, homes, and lives? You didn’t.
Did you address Netanyahoo propping up Hamas for years? You didn’t.
And you’re saying I have a one-sided view?
Hamas or no Hamas, the current government of Israel and the people who support its policies are despicable, and giving despicable people Americans’ hardearned money is going to anger many American people.
You’re just throwing a tantrum because your side can’t get away with the grift anymore. Well, better get used to it.
“Also, these new immigrants are our lifeline. They paid $500 billion in taxes in 2021 and made up 22% of all entrepreneurs.”
I agree with 99% of your article, but I hate the slight of hand conflating ‘immigrants’ with those who enter the country illegally. Trump, as always, is bombastic and over the top, but flooding the country with 100’s of thousands unvetted young men seems like a legitimate concern. These are not the people responsible for 20% of entrepreneurial start-ups.
yup, ignorance (i.e. stupidity), is at the heart of a lot of hurt…especially the misunderstanding about our being interwoven with each other, and that our happiness is inseparable of those around us and that hurting others is hurting the possibility of a shared future…tragic, and such a waste of energy and creativity…
So eloquently put. Wish I had listened to you sooner. Keep with the great conversation.
It seems the Jews are hated / resented for being successful. If you look at the number of patents or Nobel prize winners compared to any other country Jews fight above their weight class. Appreciate Prof G highlighting the stupidity of the students who are spreading the hatred.
no denying your stats about Jewish scientists and Nobel prizes, however scientific history did not start with the Nobel prizes. Are you going to ignore the hundreds of years of Islamic scientific discovery and advancements?
And while we’re at, let’s celebrate their historical contribution to the practice of slavery…if your comment is meant as a measure of historical worth, they both belong in the past. If it’s meant to instill in them some sense of dignity and scholarship, with a view to living peacefully with their neighbors, wanted or not, sounds great, though 50 years of experience tell us otherwise.
did you know the arabs/muslims invented everything?
Great analysis as always. Though not sure how many people will get the signing the cheque reference… know your audience! 🙂
Some might find offence with your article by interpreting your meaning through their way of framing things, but happy to brought your two cents on this complex situation.
Scott, I’ve loved and read your writing for years. I worked at L2 under your team, and was thrilled when you told me once that you loved literature, like myself. This post is terribly disappointing. You have fallen into the trap (here, I give you the benefit of doubt) of distraction. The student protestors have spent the past 7 months seeing photos of corpses, mass graves, and vengeful IDF soldiers. Saying that this is identity politics gone rogue is a horrible misreading. It’s a testament to their restraint that they are making do with peaceful encampments, and not burning down institutions that are funding this moral debacle.
Once, at L2, you got the entire office free Nikes, because the office was full of young people, and you knew how to read young people. It seems like you don’t anymore.
Best,
Dure
Well said! Your insight and exploration of humanity and all of our strengths and weaknesses is spot on, as usual. Thank so much for sharing your wisdom.
It seems you have joined Bill Maher in labelling student protesters stupid and uninformed. Are you denying that many of the young people are protesting the Israeli government’s attacks in Gaza? How do you know that the majority of the protests are anti-Semitic? Granted some of the rhetoric spoken by protesters has been outrageous, but, for the most part, students have left their phones and joined together to speak against irresponsible warfare on citizens in Gaza and the West Bank.
How many of these protests incorporate the slogan “from the river to the sea”?
I always read your newsletter and bought your latest book – almost done and loved it 👍🏻
I disagree with this article/newsletter in many aspects- you can not suggest to dispelling students from universities because they are standing for what they believe. I believe the pro-Palestinian protests include crowds of Jews, Muslims, Christians and others as they see injustice and real time what is happening in Gaza. Let’s not be all so liberal except Palestine.
Please always represent both side of the problem as you mostly do it in your newsletters and books. That’s why we respect your work so much!
Thank you
Any “nation” can not be omitted from the international attention it so seeks, even if that attention is criticism.
I can only imagine you must be owned to have written something this unctuous and “stupid”.
I hope you can reconcile your morality moving forward. In the very least, focus on your areas of expertise — which do not include not geopolitics.
While there are isolated incidents of inappropriate comments, the sweeping accusations of antisemitism that you and many pundits emphasize are a small fragment and do not reflect the entirety of a largely legitimate movement. It’s crucial to recognize that while some protests may exhibit antisemitic elements, many do not, a point you overlook.
Furthermore, it’s essential to differentiate between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. These concepts are not interchangeable, contrary to some narratives promoted by official sources. You can explore some of these conflations in documents released by the Israeli government, such as the “The Israel Project’s 2009 Global Language Dictionary”.
Let me preface this by saying that I am a fan (I signed up to receive this newsletter), a follower on social media, and a pre-release buyer of your book. On many occasions, I have seen you point out the anti-Semitism that can be present during the recent demonstrations. I’m just wondering if you are amplifying a vocal minority? I honestly don’t know the answer because I have not been to one of the demonstrations. But can it be the case that the many of the protestors are anti-Israeli war tactics in Gaza and not anti-Semitic? I am certainly not downplaying the history of anti-Semitism in the world, but I don’t think I’ve heard you address the plight of the average Palestinian once on social media, TV or in your newsletters. There has to be room to hate what a government/military is doing without being accused of hating the ethnicity of the citizens.
Criticizing specific policies or tactics is fine, but that’s now what chanting “globalize the intifada” or “from the river to the sea” is. Despite my strong opposition to Netanyahu and settlement expansions in the West Bank, I understand that these are not the root causes of the conflict, and you would too if you informed yourself better. The hostility against Israel predates these issues by decades, and while Israel has complicated the peace process, the primary resistance has consistently come from the Palestinians, who have rejected numerous peace proposals (look up Olmert’s 2008 proposal; Barak’s 2000 proposal; the 1947 UN partition plan and the 1937 Peel Commission proposal, just to name a few). If we aim to end the occupation, how do we ensure self-rule for Palestinians without extremist groups like Hamas turning it into a base for terrorism, as happened in Gaza? October 7th was the culmination of many years of Hamas weaponizing every bit of creativity and financial aid sent to Gaza. You want to give them more freedom and resources, assuming this was… what, a one-of thing? Please, please inform yourself better. It’s very easy for you to demand, from the comfort of your home, that Israel just lives with this threat forever, but until you start thinking about the realistic outcomes of your demands, and how to address them, Israelis are not likely to take you seriously.
“The hostility against Israel predates these issues by decades”
Are you seriously saying that with a straight face?
That is the issue from the start
Palestinians rejected very one sided unfair deals after many, many concessions from their part. Please read the complete history of these peace deals and not the abbreviated versions
one of your strongest essays…
Your last newsletter totally disregarded the fact that 30k Palestinians have been slaughtered in what many are calling a genocide. You have a problem with students protesting genocide bc it gets in the way of professor’s jobs? Please take me off your list
Because many use the term genocide does not make it true. The right word is war. War is ugly, but not all wars are genocide. By incorrectly, using this term, you cheapen it and that is bad for situations where it does occur. See Holocaust by Nazis, Yazidis by Daesh, Armenians by the Turks, Rohingya by the Burmese. If Israel was trying to commit genocide, the casualties would be so much higher and the war not focused on Hamas, which it is. Most deaths are combatants or people who could have left an area except for a blockade imposed upon them by Hamas so they couldn’t leave. That is a testament to the fact that there is no genocide except that in which you fabricate for shock value and generally learned by you on TikTok or Instagram. Release the hostages and end the war. It’s so simple.
the right word is “war crimes” if you have issue with Genocide.
Dear Professor,
Your articles are consistently enlightening and informing. I look forward to reading them.
But, I cringed at the reference to the jewish girl leaving the library for a manicure. Could she have just as likely been headed to sports training, a part time job or just going to class.
The manicure reference made me uneasy, possibly echoing some negative stereotypes of jewish women being self absorbed and materialistic.
Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but the reference seemed out of alignment with your beautifully crafted writing.
Wonderful deflection from the whole point, that these kids are protesting an obvious genocide, happening in real time. Sure, maybe some idiot said kill the Jews or something like that, one out of thousands, but, otherwise, I can’t see the “antisemitism” that you and many of your pundit colleagues hide behind. They are appalled at the massacre in Gaza. It’s simple. Don’t make it complicated.
And the counter protesters at UCLA that came in like gangbusters? They disrupted a peaceful protest, acting like the thugs they were, waving Israeli flags. Most likely inspired by a foreign leaders call to action against free speech in America the other day. He owns our media, our Congress, and our school administrations. Does he own you?
Total deflection & a clever disguise to hide gene code by zionists (not Jews)…
Lost your objectivity in the annuls of infamy…
Always gotta throw in some TDS….
have i said this already?