I saw the same ‘destructive entitlement’ described by Avigail here with Unionists / Loyalists in occupied Ireland who seemed to take perverse pleasure in murdering and injuring Catholics over decades. Of course when the Catholics tried to defend themselves and fight for their rights, they became the aggressors and the poor unionists the victims. An old, tired playbook which results in the hollowing out of an entire people / culture / tribe who cannot function without hating an enemy. Well said again Avigail👍💚
It is in very essence of cults that they need an enemy. Without one, there is no particular reason to huddle together for protection in a tight-knit, psychologically enmeshed, closed group. There are factions within our own societies, especially the right-wing extremists who operate like cults psychologically. Criminal gangs/mafia are also cults. We are such a charming species… 🙄,
"Jewish Israeli citizens truly believe they are under constant threat of annihilation, not merely as a state but as a people." - this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as people who witness their behaviour become outraged at what Israelis are doing in Gaza and the West Bank.
It's interesting and very sad that empathy and remorse are drilled out of people, the very thing that makes us into caring human beings. I can't help of recalling Elon Musk's remark that empathy is destructive to society, or something to that effect, which is incomprehensible to me, and his Nazi salute.
The point that you made about Germany is spot on: "Germany’s historical guilt has transformed into its own form of destructive entitlement: the belief that German suffering in confronting its Nazi past entitles it to enable Jewish Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people."
I think that there's enormous value in explaining this clearly, and trying to bring this issue to the attention of Germans. Psychological defence mechanisms function most powerfully when people are unconscious of them, but when awareness is brought to bear there can be some possibility of change. Tragically, the balance-of-power remains tilted against us, for now, but we have to carrying on trying to change that!
Recently, Israel offered to sell weapons to Germany, saying "we will help you to fight Russia". Israeli officials said that to Merz, who is a grandson of a Nazi officer and a son of a Wehrmacht soldier. Israeli Jews want to help Germany, that perpetrated Holocaust on Jews, to fight Russia that was the main force to liberate the camps and to prosecute Nazis at Nuremberg. This is Zionism in a nutshell. It is a form and a variety of Nazism - and the rest is a marketing campaign.
Thanks for this. Just interviewed someone who is doing protective presence on the West Bank and he referenced the same concept of entitlement. Restacking!
Powerful piece. Don't believe many "outsiders," even the most critical and well meaning, could get to the core psychological "essence" of the phenomenon.
Maybe not, but they should be able to because we already know all of this and when Boszormenyi-Nagy developed his theory he wasn’t referring to a particular group, but to humanity in general. The failure is in the world’s refusal to apply the bleeding obvious to Israel because of the incomprehensible exceptionalism that Israel has enjoyed. Thank you Howard.
Yes, I specifically meant the essence in Israel. Perhaps should have been more explicit, presumed it was understood. And I guess I was saying the exceptionalism blocking the recognition is not solely among Israel supporters. Which is unfortunate.
Such an excellent, clearly articulated explanation and analysis of the bizarre, self-righteous aggrandisement of Israeli zionists, and their deeply offensive, cruel and sadistic relish of other people's suffering at their hands.
I don't know your opinion of Philip Zimbardo, and his book The Lucifer Effect:How Good People Turn Evil, but it really opened my eyes when I read it some years ago. His basic thesis, with examples from studies of sadistic practices at Abu Ghraib, Rwanda and South America are very disturbing because they demonstrate how little we know, or acknowledge, about our own capacity to be manipulated into cruel, violent behaviour. He clearly shows how susceptible any of us can be to group thinking, and what is validated by adherence to the established norms and practices of that group, despite their obvious deadly cruelty and barbarism.
Combining this with your explanation of cult thinking, it sound exactly like the inverted justification and 'morality' of modern Israel, which we now know celebrates and cheers on the mass deaths, humiliation and abject human misery of what they have done to people whose only crime is to have been born to the wrong parents - a fact they can hardly be held responsible for. The mirror that Israelis hold up to themselves with this behaviour is deeply ugly, corrupt and shocking.
Thank you for this article. I don't think it helps me to understand, but it does provide some explanation for what it not understandable. "We suffered persecution, and the holocaust — the ultimate victimisation — therefore we are entitled to..." But what causes such a bizarre reaction to being harmed? The obvious reaction is to say no! Not to me, not to anyone.
That's the part that I don't understand. What causes that initial and continuing decision to claim "my injury allows me to be the purveyor of destruction" rather than being the one who puts and end to such?
When Boszormenyi-Nagy wrote about this he also said there is an moral/ethical choice to be made. In humanity destructive entitlement is the norm, which is why trauma is more likely to be transmitted rather than not. Only a small minority of people learn a universal message from their own suffering. Most don’t. Israel’s case is a case study in human psychology. Sadly, it’s neither unique nor special (despite the Israeli cult thinking it is a special case in any domain). There is a lot that can be said about this and why these things are happening. He is what Boszormennyi-Nagy said about this:
“As far as his formative relationships are concerned, the victim’s overentitlement was actually earned and deserved. Yet destiny, i.e., his
human context, will never own up to accountability for past vicissitudes which, in addition, may not even have been consciously perpetrated by anyone. No doubt, the victim’s attempt to take it out on a third person is always unfair. Even though he is entitled to compensation according to the unsettled ledger of past relationships, he is never so entitled in the current instance. Substitutive retribution is ethically always invalid, even if psychologically understandable. Unfortunately, through seeking the remedy to his overentitlement via wronging other relationships, often without knowing, the victim becomes himself an unfair victimizer.” (Same textbook I cite in the article: p. 457)
Thank you for trying to make it clearer. I must be terminally incapable of understanding this, and that it is claimed to be the norm, is just shocking, and incomprehensible to me. It seems so counterintuitive. How could this be true?
I share your dismay Joy, but sadly the evidence is all around us. The world would not be nearly as messy and horrible if trauma wasn’t so easily transmitted generationally, if destructive entitlement wasn’t so common and if more people and groups were capable of learning a universal lesson from their experiences.
I find it interesting that Zionist Israelis question how the children and grandchildren of Nakba victims can still be "refugees" but never question how children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, not to mention distant relatives of Holocaust victims several generations removed, can still be "Holocaust survivors".
Sigh. There I go expecting logic and consistency from Zionist Israelis again. I really should know better by now.
I know, right? There are so many inconsistencies and double standards it would hurt the brain cells of any healthy person. No, there is no logic or reason, if there were we would have some hope. The Zionist position is illogical, reactive and emotive. It makes no good sense, and if you really push a Zionist to the wall, they’d actually admit that they have more right to survive than anyone else on the planet. Theirs is a morally and intellectually bankrupt position and there is no debating it. It’s time we stop trying to understand Israel and simply stop it. Thank you!
Reading Israeli and Western Jewish rabbis texts about ritualistic and sacred "annihilation", I am convinced that it is not just destructive entitlement. It is that people act as if TO AVOID their own suffering they MUST inflict suffering, as must as possible, on others. It is ritualistic sadism, some sort of magical ritual, similar to Kapparot, where one's own sins are magically transferred to an innocent creature, a chicken, that must be tortured in order to take on suffering and thus absolve the torturer from his sins. That was the meaning of crucifying Jesus, too - and the legend that he "suffered for our sins". The more Israeli Jews and their adepts worldwide feel self-hate, the more unspeakable deeds they commit - the more they must torture others, mostly defenseless and innocent, so their pain and suffering absolves these Jews from their sins. That was the reason why they recently tortured lambs, beating them to death with clubs and gouging their eyes out. That was the reason why they recently lynched a donkey and set him on fire.
I have heard a similar thing from serial sadists and r-pists - that they felt "purified" and "cleansed" after committing torture and r-pe.
Lena, I can’t see your comment. Substack wants me to confirm my age with an ID because whatever you wrote is deemed by UK laws for adults only. I have no intention of ‘verifying my age’ to Substack. If you can guess what it is you wrote that’s considered for ‘adults only’ can you please rephrase it? I’d really love to be able to read your comment without showing an ID… 😐
Thaler-Sunstein "Administrative State" (or rules-based order) is really a State exercising extreme parental controls over the citizens. Britain is a lab. They started with Britain during the "pandemic" too. Sage behavior modification group.
I had a sense of this, but it's helpful to have the psychology behind it so clearly spelled out and confirmed. I admire your bravery and strength of mind. It's remarkable how strong the Hasbara has been, at least in the US. In the 60s, we literally had no idea that this was going on. Young American Jews and non-Jews alike were entranced with the idea of spending time on a kibbutz. This would be an interesting subject to imvestigate, though much of it is already clear.
I still wonder to what extent this attitude played into Aaron Schiff's horrifically cruel murder of my brother. Many of their Jewish friends supported them in their tale that he didn't know the water was that hot. His hands were tied behind his back. He and his adoptive mother literally got away with murder and he has been living free for the last 53 years, currently in Colo. Our family wasn't in the least bit antisemitic. I remember John muttering "the ovens" when in the schizophrenic state. No one, including me, asked him what he meant.
That’s very kind of you to say, and I remember your tragic story, which is filled with such painful injustice. People need to stop burying their heads in the sand and understand that when they do this, they actively abandon victims. I see the results of this in my work all the time.
So true. Until the mighty powers that support Israel somehow change, I don't see it ending any time soon. And then there's the terrifying Samson option, which is not hard to imagine from a cult, as you referenced, but I avoid thinking about it.
Another brilliant article Avigail. I can only speak for myself, something I find so frustrating, is how Israel, is allowed to get away with what it does. As you said in your article the world is enabling this behaviour, we try but it's not enough.
Well, it’s a species-wide problem. We enable perpetrators at all levels of society, so why not in the international arena. Most victims live and die in suffering inflicting by abuse that is always enabled by others. No abuse would ever be possible if people stood by victims, the moment they realise what’s going on. We are possibly a failed species, although being a person focused on potential, I remain optimistic about what we can achieve. Thank you, Allan.
Oh, no kitty… When you grow up in Israel you are taught that not only are ‘we’ the biggest victims in human history, there are no other victims… Israel can’t risk people starting to feel empathy for others and maybe starting to join the dots. They might be afflicted by what happened to me and people like Daniel Klein, and others… 🙄
This is your best essay yet, Avigail. In my holiday letter to friends and relatives, I spent considerable time writing about Gaza. I intended to generate a response, and so far the responses fall into four categories: 1. I agree with your letter, and we all need to bear witness. 2. I don't like the genocide, but the Palestinians "started it." 3. The Israelis' never-ending war with the Palestinians is like a "family squabble." 4. The real travesty going on in the world today is Putin's "unprovoked" attack on Ukraine. I have now downloaded this essay and will send it as a response to those who ignorantly think 2-3. (Incidentally, there is no connection between level of education and the way these correspondents think about the Gaza genocide or anything else. Advanced degrees apparently do not confer ability to reason.) You will notice, however, that the common thread between those who think 2-4 is a lack of curiosity, attention and knowledge of history, with a strange dollop of being nevertheless convinced they are informed.
Wow, to be honest, I didn’t think it would resonate so strongly with too many people. I thought it might have been too academic and many people wouldn’t relate. But I do believe Boszormenyi-Nagy’s work is timely and timeless, and I wanted to tell people about it and his concept of destructive entitlement that is so central to what we see in Israel and the dynamic of a world that enables it. thank you so much!
I recognise the unfortunate reactions you’re getting. They’s so common. Thank you for not giving up, for engaging and educating people. 🙏🏼
It’s their identity. Victimhood is a fact. If someone is abused their are a victim. But what Israel does is called ‘destructive entitlement’. It’s behaving as if one’s suffering entitles them to inflict suffering on others. It’s how trauma is transmitted from one generation to the next. Israel must be stopped.
Great article! Thanks, Avigail. Really excellent work.
I must respectfully disagree that "the cult can perpetuate itself indefinitely". Everything in creation has a beginning and an end. Utopian projects have a short life span. The Bolshevik experiment lasted 72 years. My gut expects the Zionist project to end something like the People's Temple Agricultural Project in Jonestown, Guyana did in 1978. Only much more destructively. The Reverend Jim Jones had no nuclear arsenal, but we have to assume that he would have used it when he realized that his ego was done for. The psychology is very similar, and as mind dictates outcomes over matter, and the sicker the mind, the more deadly the outcome.
I agree that nothing is indefinite and everything has an end. But my wording refers to how things are in Israel and how they have been for the past seventy-seven years. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I believe I know what you mean, and you articulated it magnificently in the article- for a person trapped in a cult, even the less clearly-defined cult of any type of status-quo thinking, it seems like it will go on forever.
It is embedded in human limbic psychology that we create the very conditions we dread. Couples do this in relationships all the time. We cannot imagine what is outside our existing wiring and we keep trying to recreate it, albeit usually unconsciously. We see only what our pre-existing wiring will allow us to see. The way out of it is to choose to change ourselves, to realise that our way of life maybe self-defeating and seek something better. But the sad thing is that most people don’t even try. Israelis are not interested in trying. They believe they need their cult to survive. Anyone who truly changes either leaves or is rejected by the cult. Most people are too limbic to take their chances in the world outside the group.
Indeed all times try men’s and women’s souls. When it’s our time to face the injustices and trouble of our own particular time in history, we each must decide, which side of history we choose to be on.
I don’t think it was ever any better in humanity going back to our early beginnings. Humanity as a whole is a product of trauma and the patterns we exhibit are obvious.
Paine was able to say this in the 18th century because humanity keeps repeating the same patterns over and over again and learning nothing from them. We know how to break them but choose not to. Our technology may have advanced, but our psychology hasn’t. I discuss it in my podcasts and in many of my articles.
Catfish, the thing is that this particular cult is serving the interests of larger state and corporate powers. The impunity given Israel isn’t solely (or even at all) about the collective guilt other nations might feel about the holocaust. I don’t even think it’s solely about the Kompromat Israel has collected over the years… this new holocaust and the greater Israel project is serving the desires and perceived needs of the empire.
I saw the same ‘destructive entitlement’ described by Avigail here with Unionists / Loyalists in occupied Ireland who seemed to take perverse pleasure in murdering and injuring Catholics over decades. Of course when the Catholics tried to defend themselves and fight for their rights, they became the aggressors and the poor unionists the victims. An old, tired playbook which results in the hollowing out of an entire people / culture / tribe who cannot function without hating an enemy. Well said again Avigail👍💚
Thank you!
It is in very essence of cults that they need an enemy. Without one, there is no particular reason to huddle together for protection in a tight-knit, psychologically enmeshed, closed group. There are factions within our own societies, especially the right-wing extremists who operate like cults psychologically. Criminal gangs/mafia are also cults. We are such a charming species… 🙄,
"Jewish Israeli citizens truly believe they are under constant threat of annihilation, not merely as a state but as a people." - this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as people who witness their behaviour become outraged at what Israelis are doing in Gaza and the West Bank.
It's interesting and very sad that empathy and remorse are drilled out of people, the very thing that makes us into caring human beings. I can't help of recalling Elon Musk's remark that empathy is destructive to society, or something to that effect, which is incomprehensible to me, and his Nazi salute.
Thank you, it's a really excellent article!
The point that you made about Germany is spot on: "Germany’s historical guilt has transformed into its own form of destructive entitlement: the belief that German suffering in confronting its Nazi past entitles it to enable Jewish Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people."
I think that there's enormous value in explaining this clearly, and trying to bring this issue to the attention of Germans. Psychological defence mechanisms function most powerfully when people are unconscious of them, but when awareness is brought to bear there can be some possibility of change. Tragically, the balance-of-power remains tilted against us, for now, but we have to carrying on trying to change that!
Thank you Adam and for the edits as well.
Recently, Israel offered to sell weapons to Germany, saying "we will help you to fight Russia". Israeli officials said that to Merz, who is a grandson of a Nazi officer and a son of a Wehrmacht soldier. Israeli Jews want to help Germany, that perpetrated Holocaust on Jews, to fight Russia that was the main force to liberate the camps and to prosecute Nazis at Nuremberg. This is Zionism in a nutshell. It is a form and a variety of Nazism - and the rest is a marketing campaign.
Thanks for this. Just interviewed someone who is doing protective presence on the West Bank and he referenced the same concept of entitlement. Restacking!
🙏🏼
Powerful piece. Don't believe many "outsiders," even the most critical and well meaning, could get to the core psychological "essence" of the phenomenon.
Maybe not, but they should be able to because we already know all of this and when Boszormenyi-Nagy developed his theory he wasn’t referring to a particular group, but to humanity in general. The failure is in the world’s refusal to apply the bleeding obvious to Israel because of the incomprehensible exceptionalism that Israel has enjoyed. Thank you Howard.
Yes, I specifically meant the essence in Israel. Perhaps should have been more explicit, presumed it was understood. And I guess I was saying the exceptionalism blocking the recognition is not solely among Israel supporters. Which is unfortunate.
Such an excellent, clearly articulated explanation and analysis of the bizarre, self-righteous aggrandisement of Israeli zionists, and their deeply offensive, cruel and sadistic relish of other people's suffering at their hands.
I don't know your opinion of Philip Zimbardo, and his book The Lucifer Effect:How Good People Turn Evil, but it really opened my eyes when I read it some years ago. His basic thesis, with examples from studies of sadistic practices at Abu Ghraib, Rwanda and South America are very disturbing because they demonstrate how little we know, or acknowledge, about our own capacity to be manipulated into cruel, violent behaviour. He clearly shows how susceptible any of us can be to group thinking, and what is validated by adherence to the established norms and practices of that group, despite their obvious deadly cruelty and barbarism.
Combining this with your explanation of cult thinking, it sound exactly like the inverted justification and 'morality' of modern Israel, which we now know celebrates and cheers on the mass deaths, humiliation and abject human misery of what they have done to people whose only crime is to have been born to the wrong parents - a fact they can hardly be held responsible for. The mirror that Israelis hold up to themselves with this behaviour is deeply ugly, corrupt and shocking.
Thank you for this article. I don't think it helps me to understand, but it does provide some explanation for what it not understandable. "We suffered persecution, and the holocaust — the ultimate victimisation — therefore we are entitled to..." But what causes such a bizarre reaction to being harmed? The obvious reaction is to say no! Not to me, not to anyone.
That's the part that I don't understand. What causes that initial and continuing decision to claim "my injury allows me to be the purveyor of destruction" rather than being the one who puts and end to such?
When Boszormenyi-Nagy wrote about this he also said there is an moral/ethical choice to be made. In humanity destructive entitlement is the norm, which is why trauma is more likely to be transmitted rather than not. Only a small minority of people learn a universal message from their own suffering. Most don’t. Israel’s case is a case study in human psychology. Sadly, it’s neither unique nor special (despite the Israeli cult thinking it is a special case in any domain). There is a lot that can be said about this and why these things are happening. He is what Boszormennyi-Nagy said about this:
“As far as his formative relationships are concerned, the victim’s overentitlement was actually earned and deserved. Yet destiny, i.e., his
human context, will never own up to accountability for past vicissitudes which, in addition, may not even have been consciously perpetrated by anyone. No doubt, the victim’s attempt to take it out on a third person is always unfair. Even though he is entitled to compensation according to the unsettled ledger of past relationships, he is never so entitled in the current instance. Substitutive retribution is ethically always invalid, even if psychologically understandable. Unfortunately, through seeking the remedy to his overentitlement via wronging other relationships, often without knowing, the victim becomes himself an unfair victimizer.” (Same textbook I cite in the article: p. 457)
Thank you for trying to make it clearer. I must be terminally incapable of understanding this, and that it is claimed to be the norm, is just shocking, and incomprehensible to me. It seems so counterintuitive. How could this be true?
I share your dismay Joy, but sadly the evidence is all around us. The world would not be nearly as messy and horrible if trauma wasn’t so easily transmitted generationally, if destructive entitlement wasn’t so common and if more people and groups were capable of learning a universal lesson from their experiences.
I find it interesting that Zionist Israelis question how the children and grandchildren of Nakba victims can still be "refugees" but never question how children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, not to mention distant relatives of Holocaust victims several generations removed, can still be "Holocaust survivors".
Sigh. There I go expecting logic and consistency from Zionist Israelis again. I really should know better by now.
I know, right? There are so many inconsistencies and double standards it would hurt the brain cells of any healthy person. No, there is no logic or reason, if there were we would have some hope. The Zionist position is illogical, reactive and emotive. It makes no good sense, and if you really push a Zionist to the wall, they’d actually admit that they have more right to survive than anyone else on the planet. Theirs is a morally and intellectually bankrupt position and there is no debating it. It’s time we stop trying to understand Israel and simply stop it. Thank you!
Reading Israeli and Western Jewish rabbis texts about ritualistic and sacred "annihilation", I am convinced that it is not just destructive entitlement. It is that people act as if TO AVOID their own suffering they MUST inflict suffering, as must as possible, on others. It is ritualistic sadism, some sort of magical ritual, similar to Kapparot, where one's own sins are magically transferred to an innocent creature, a chicken, that must be tortured in order to take on suffering and thus absolve the torturer from his sins. That was the meaning of crucifying Jesus, too - and the legend that he "suffered for our sins". The more Israeli Jews and their adepts worldwide feel self-hate, the more unspeakable deeds they commit - the more they must torture others, mostly defenseless and innocent, so their pain and suffering absolves these Jews from their sins. That was the reason why they recently tortured lambs, beating them to death with clubs and gouging their eyes out. That was the reason why they recently lynched a donkey and set him on fire.
I have heard a similar thing from serial sadists and r-pists - that they felt "purified" and "cleansed" after committing torture and r-pe.
Lena, I can’t see your comment. Substack wants me to confirm my age with an ID because whatever you wrote is deemed by UK laws for adults only. I have no intention of ‘verifying my age’ to Substack. If you can guess what it is you wrote that’s considered for ‘adults only’ can you please rephrase it? I’d really love to be able to read your comment without showing an ID… 😐
this is outrageous!!
I just mentioned serial rapists in the end of my comment, that's all. I will edit, see if you can see it then.
I know! New online protection laws in the UK… 😐
Thaler-Sunstein "Administrative State" (or rules-based order) is really a State exercising extreme parental controls over the citizens. Britain is a lab. They started with Britain during the "pandemic" too. Sage behavior modification group.
I had a sense of this, but it's helpful to have the psychology behind it so clearly spelled out and confirmed. I admire your bravery and strength of mind. It's remarkable how strong the Hasbara has been, at least in the US. In the 60s, we literally had no idea that this was going on. Young American Jews and non-Jews alike were entranced with the idea of spending time on a kibbutz. This would be an interesting subject to imvestigate, though much of it is already clear.
I still wonder to what extent this attitude played into Aaron Schiff's horrifically cruel murder of my brother. Many of their Jewish friends supported them in their tale that he didn't know the water was that hot. His hands were tied behind his back. He and his adoptive mother literally got away with murder and he has been living free for the last 53 years, currently in Colo. Our family wasn't in the least bit antisemitic. I remember John muttering "the ovens" when in the schizophrenic state. No one, including me, asked him what he meant.
https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/a-most-dangerous-method/
Thanks for letting me share this again with, hopefully, a bit more context. You're one of my heroes, Avigail. ❤️🔥
That’s very kind of you to say, and I remember your tragic story, which is filled with such painful injustice. People need to stop burying their heads in the sand and understand that when they do this, they actively abandon victims. I see the results of this in my work all the time.
So true. Until the mighty powers that support Israel somehow change, I don't see it ending any time soon. And then there's the terrifying Samson option, which is not hard to imagine from a cult, as you referenced, but I avoid thinking about it.
They love themselves too much to commit suicide…
I sure hope you're right.
Another brilliant article Avigail. I can only speak for myself, something I find so frustrating, is how Israel, is allowed to get away with what it does. As you said in your article the world is enabling this behaviour, we try but it's not enough.
Well, it’s a species-wide problem. We enable perpetrators at all levels of society, so why not in the international arena. Most victims live and die in suffering inflicting by abuse that is always enabled by others. No abuse would ever be possible if people stood by victims, the moment they realise what’s going on. We are possibly a failed species, although being a person focused on potential, I remain optimistic about what we can achieve. Thank you, Allan.
Note how Zionists get mightily butthurt at the suggestion that there might be other victims out there.
Oh, no kitty… When you grow up in Israel you are taught that not only are ‘we’ the biggest victims in human history, there are no other victims… Israel can’t risk people starting to feel empathy for others and maybe starting to join the dots. They might be afflicted by what happened to me and people like Daniel Klein, and others… 🙄
Excellent and very helpful analysis that I completely agree with. Thank you!
This is your best essay yet, Avigail. In my holiday letter to friends and relatives, I spent considerable time writing about Gaza. I intended to generate a response, and so far the responses fall into four categories: 1. I agree with your letter, and we all need to bear witness. 2. I don't like the genocide, but the Palestinians "started it." 3. The Israelis' never-ending war with the Palestinians is like a "family squabble." 4. The real travesty going on in the world today is Putin's "unprovoked" attack on Ukraine. I have now downloaded this essay and will send it as a response to those who ignorantly think 2-3. (Incidentally, there is no connection between level of education and the way these correspondents think about the Gaza genocide or anything else. Advanced degrees apparently do not confer ability to reason.) You will notice, however, that the common thread between those who think 2-4 is a lack of curiosity, attention and knowledge of history, with a strange dollop of being nevertheless convinced they are informed.
Wow, to be honest, I didn’t think it would resonate so strongly with too many people. I thought it might have been too academic and many people wouldn’t relate. But I do believe Boszormenyi-Nagy’s work is timely and timeless, and I wanted to tell people about it and his concept of destructive entitlement that is so central to what we see in Israel and the dynamic of a world that enables it. thank you so much!
I recognise the unfortunate reactions you’re getting. They’s so common. Thank you for not giving up, for engaging and educating people. 🙏🏼
They turned victimhood into a profession.
It’s their identity. Victimhood is a fact. If someone is abused their are a victim. But what Israel does is called ‘destructive entitlement’. It’s behaving as if one’s suffering entitles them to inflict suffering on others. It’s how trauma is transmitted from one generation to the next. Israel must be stopped.
Great article! Thanks, Avigail. Really excellent work.
I must respectfully disagree that "the cult can perpetuate itself indefinitely". Everything in creation has a beginning and an end. Utopian projects have a short life span. The Bolshevik experiment lasted 72 years. My gut expects the Zionist project to end something like the People's Temple Agricultural Project in Jonestown, Guyana did in 1978. Only much more destructively. The Reverend Jim Jones had no nuclear arsenal, but we have to assume that he would have used it when he realized that his ego was done for. The psychology is very similar, and as mind dictates outcomes over matter, and the sicker the mind, the more deadly the outcome.
I agree that nothing is indefinite and everything has an end. But my wording refers to how things are in Israel and how they have been for the past seventy-seven years. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I believe I know what you mean, and you articulated it magnificently in the article- for a person trapped in a cult, even the less clearly-defined cult of any type of status-quo thinking, it seems like it will go on forever.
And then it doesn't.
It is embedded in human limbic psychology that we create the very conditions we dread. Couples do this in relationships all the time. We cannot imagine what is outside our existing wiring and we keep trying to recreate it, albeit usually unconsciously. We see only what our pre-existing wiring will allow us to see. The way out of it is to choose to change ourselves, to realise that our way of life maybe self-defeating and seek something better. But the sad thing is that most people don’t even try. Israelis are not interested in trying. They believe they need their cult to survive. Anyone who truly changes either leaves or is rejected by the cult. Most people are too limbic to take their chances in the world outside the group.
Exactly! Thank you.
THESE are the times that try men's souls. - Thomas Paine, 1776 .
Indeed all times try men’s and women’s souls. When it’s our time to face the injustices and trouble of our own particular time in history, we each must decide, which side of history we choose to be on.
I don’t think it was ever any better in humanity going back to our early beginnings. Humanity as a whole is a product of trauma and the patterns we exhibit are obvious.
Paine was able to say this in the 18th century because humanity keeps repeating the same patterns over and over again and learning nothing from them. We know how to break them but choose not to. Our technology may have advanced, but our psychology hasn’t. I discuss it in my podcasts and in many of my articles.
Catfish, the thing is that this particular cult is serving the interests of larger state and corporate powers. The impunity given Israel isn’t solely (or even at all) about the collective guilt other nations might feel about the holocaust. I don’t even think it’s solely about the Kompromat Israel has collected over the years… this new holocaust and the greater Israel project is serving the desires and perceived needs of the empire.