Agathonia Media

Anyone who accuses Israel of genocide is a vile, filthy antisemite. Period. End of story. They are no different than medieval Christians who accused Jews of killing Christian kids.

To all international health and humanitarian organizations: Faced with an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, we issue this urgent cry to save Gaza’s infants who are facing death from the simplest preventable diseases. The case of the infant Osama Sahloul, who is less than 20 days old and fighting chickenpox amid severe overcrowding, a shortage of clean water, and a lack of vaccines and medical care, is a stark example of thousands of children whose health is deteriorating under the conditions of the blockade. إلى كافة المنظمات الدولية الصحية والإنسانية: أمام كارثة إنسانية غير مسبوقة، نطلق هذه الصرخة العاجلة لإنقاذ أطفال غزة الرضع الذين يواجهون الموت بأبسط الأمراض القابلة للوقاية. إن حالة الرضيع أسامة سحلول، الذي لم يتجاوز 20 عاماً—عذراً، 20 يوماً—من عمره ويصارع مرض جدري الماء وسط الاكتظاظ الشديد ونقص المياه النظيفة وغياب اللقاحات والرعاية الطبية، إنما هي نموذج صارخ لآلاف الأطفال الذين تقهقر صحتهم ظروف الحصار.

Bullshit is more of a hindrance to discovering the truth than outright lies. Little is known about the consequences of Frankfurtian bullshit (i.e., communications with little to no regard for truth, evidence, or established knowledge). Bullshitting behavior may include rhetorical strategies designed to help people appear as if they know what they are talking about in order to impress, persuade, and influence others. Unlike deliberate disinformation, which requires effort to fabricate false claims, bullshit can be produced quickly and effortlessly, making it particularly well-suited to social media’s rapid pace and emphasis on continuous engagement. A potential consequence of Frankfurtian bullshit is a deleterious effect on what people perceive to be true. Three experiments test the insidious bullshit hypotheses (i.e., bullshitting is evaluated less negatively, but has more negative consequences, than lying) in light of an illusory truth effect (i.e., repeated, false statements are easier to mentally process, and subsequently perceived as more truthful, than new statements). Our investigation showed through the application of the illusory truth procedural paradigm that not only is it easier to dismiss lies compared to bullshit, but that bullshit is perceived as more truthful than lies— repeated exposure to bullshit increased its perceived truthfulness compared to repeated exposure to lies. Being exposed to bullshit will have more deleterious effects on judgment and decision making relative to lies. Given the effect size demonstrated in these studies, if bullshit can be a dramatically more harmful form of communication compared to lying, then we must strive to understand its impact on optimal judgment and decision making. In a world where truth-indifferent communication is pervasive and often goes unrecognized, these findings carry a sobering message: the communicators least concerned with truth may exert the greatest influence on what the rest of us come to believe.

The German argument as much as I can make sense of it: “we are to blame for the Holocaust and so feel morally obliged to make sure that Palestinians and Lebanese pay for it”