OK, time to ‘fess up. I shared this as an experiment. If you have some eyewash handy to cleanse your eyeballs afterwards, have a read of the comments. The pro-Hamas mob simply cannot face the fact their side are sexual abusers and rapists. At this point, that fact is beyond reasonable doubt. We have countless, corroborated witness testimonies; we have multiple independent reports. Yes, they haven’t released actual video of someone being held down and raped; which seems to be the standard of proof that the Owen Joneses of this world are demanding - but there’s easily enough evidence out there at this point to convict in a court of law. So why can’t they accept that Hamas are rapists? Some theories, see if you agree: 1) Cognitive dissonance. This is the psychological discomfort experienced when holding two or more conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes simultaneously. They *know* they’re the good guys. Leftist politics is intimately tied to moral judgments (support us = morally good, any other position = morally bad). Hamas being rapists fundamentally challenges their entire view of the world. The cognitive dissonance is overwhelming for them. 2) The backfire effect. This is closely linked to 1). It occurs when individuals confronted with evidence that contradicts their beliefs not only reject the evidence but also strengthen their original beliefs. This reaction is often driven by the desire to maintain cognitive consistency and protect one’s worldview. 3) Disinformation and The Bot Army. Hamas and their backers know that their lads having gone on a sexual abuse spree isn’t great PR. They know western societies broadly care quite deeply about violence against women/girls and the evidence of rape might be enough to lessen support for them. Look at the handles and dates of account creation of a lot of the replies: anon accounts made very recently, sharing riffs on the same message. All of these are bot warning signs. This sea of fake accounts descend on every single post talking about the fact Hamas are rapists, citing the “counter-evidence” planted in the western media by bought Hamas sympathisers and their fellow travellers. Their aim is to throw around enough doubt that it eases the cognitive dissonance of their supporters in the West. 4) The broadly terrible level of knowledge and education about this conflict. Far, far too many people have taken staunch views on Hamas based upon nothing more than what they’ve seen on social media. One of the replies to the post below was amazing: outrage that “Israel has started using the lion as a symbol”. Nuclear-level ignorance. That’s often why replies seem so often mind-numbingly stupid: people take deeply held, impassioned positions, based on no more knowledge than social media versions of events which were designed to manipulate them in the first place. Watch the bots descend in the replies to this, too. https://bird.makeup/@mr_andrew_fox/1802840941520408888
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