When the basic agreement that holds society together begins to crumble, which seems to be happening all over the world, rumors and conspiracy theories abound. Even when, or especially when, a rumor is apparently meaningless, it is able to trigger deep-seated fears and prejudices.
A perfect example, which I have already mentioned, took place at the end of August 2023, when a priest known as "Father Antonia" ritually sprinkled holy water on an eight-meter tall statue of Stalin in the Pskov region of Russia. Although the church suffered during Stalin's rule, the priest explained, thanks to that we have a lot of "new Russian martyrs and confessors to whom we now pray and who help us rebuild our Motherland." This logic is only a step away from the idea that Jews should thank Hitler for creating the conditions that made it possible to establish the state of Israel. If that sounds hyperbolic, or like a bad joke, keep in mind that some Zionist extremists close to the Israeli government openly advocate exactly that position.
In order to understand how this perverted argumentation is successful at all, let us first state that in developed countries there is an explosion of riots and rebellions when poverty is reduced. The protests of the 1960s - from the sixty-eighths, sixty eight, in France to hippies and yippies in the United States - took place in the golden age of the welfare state. When people live well, they want even more.
The excess of pleasure brought by social and moral perversion should also be taken into account. For example, the recent Islamic State attack on the Crocus City arena in Moscow, when 144 people were killed. What is terrorism for some, others consider an act of armed resistance in response to the massive destruction that the Russian army has done in Syria. Whatever the case, something significant happened after the attack: not only did Russian security forces admit to torturing the suspects; they showed that publicly.
"In an explicit video posted on Telegram," writes Julia Davis from the Center for European Policy Analysis, "one of the detainees had his ear cut off, which he was then forced to eat." It is no wonder that for some Israeli extremists, Russia is a model for treating arrested members of Hamas.
Russian officials did this not only to deter potential future attackers, but also to give the tribesmen pleasure. "I never expected this from myself," wrote Margarita Simonyan, a Russian propagandist who runs the state media RT, "but when I see how they are brought to the courtroom in swaddling clothes, and even with a caveat, I feel extremely satisfied." The phenomenon is not limited only to Russia. In Tennessee, some lawmakers are calling for the reinstatement of public hangings (at the gallows) of those sentenced to death.
Where does it end? Why don't we just bring back the pre-modern practice of publicly torturing suspected criminals to death? More importantly, how can "normal" people be conditioned to enjoy such a sadistic spectacle?
The short answer is that it requires the unique power of some kind of mythic discourse, religion, or poetry. As Ernst Jinger, an unwilling companion of the Nazis, explained: "Every struggle for power is preceded by the verification of images and iconoclasm." That's why we need poets - they initiate the overthrow, even of titans."
Poetry seems to play an important role in Israel. Haaretz published a story on March 26 explaining "how the Israeli military is using revenge poetry to boost morale." The anthology, published by the Israel Defense Forces, features songs that "express a desire for revenge and describe the struggle in Gaza as a religious war." In a statement dated October 13, the army invited potential authors "to embark on a poetic journey and rekindle the great Israeli spirit" in order to "raise wartime morale."
The fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Amalek (the biblical enemies of the Jews described in the Torah) after October 7 was apparently not enough. It should have been supplemented with contemporary verse. Or maybe Netanyahu's biblical reference conveyed more than he intended. After all, according to the Old Testament, when the Jews wandered up to the hill in Judea under which the Amalekites lived, Jehovah appeared and ordered Joshua to kill them all, including their children and animals. If it is not "ethnic cleansing", then the term means nothing.
It is worth remembering that Germany was known as the land of poets and thinkers - poet and thinker - before she turned to the judges and executioners, Richter und Henker. But what if the two versions are more similar than they seem? If our world is gradually turning into a world of poets and executioners, we will need more judges and thinkers to oppose the new tendency and regain our moral foothold.
(Project Syndicate; Peščanik.net; translation: M. Jovanović)
Bonus video:
