Can Love Conquer Ignorance?
Probably Not, But Let’s Drink
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I recently read the book The Humans by Matt Haig, which essentially follows the premise that humans are dumb as hell - but they know how to love.
It’s hard to argue with all of that.
Last week, I saw a viral social media post claiming to show China air-dropping aid to Gaza. There were millions of likes and shares and comments about how wonderful China is and how horrible America and Israel are. No one in the comments seemed to question the validity of any of this.
All it would take is the most rudimentary Google search to see that it was completely fake. It was an old video of an American plane dropping that aid. I even saw a video of a man in Gaza pleading with his followers to not believe this video.
But this is where we are.
People also fully believed the validity of an AI-generated video of Taylor Swift tearing into the president on geo-political policy matters. It has still not occurred to the vast majority of this nation to perhaps question what we see in a world where with the quick click of a button you can create a video of George Bush, stark naked and eating a ham sandwich, and people will say “I wonder if he put mayo on that?”
Even my boomer dad, who regularly forwards me spam emails about magic diet pills, is suspicious enough to ask me if they are legitimate. But this isn’t the elderly falling for all of this - it reaches across age, religion, race, gender, and political affiliation. We are sailing on a ship of fools.
I always thought maybe artificial intelligence would be used for slicing meat at the deli counters or filling our gas tanks, but alas, humans are the worst. AI has sucked the livlihood out of our creative industries (hire me, please?), but it hasn’t made the DMV line any shorter. And its most pervasive use is distorting reality for an ever-gullible public.
I firmly believe that TikTok should be banned, or at least sold - as this new Chinese propaganda reinforces. It’s been the home of the absolute worst anti-Semitic conspiracy theories for some time, with a captive audience of our youth. Reporting them is futile, as the app regularly tells us that even the most heinous Jew hatred “does not go against their community standards.”
I know that banning TikTok won’t stop the avalanche, but it would be a decent step.
But the misinformation and altered images and lies continue to push hate. And hate leads to violence. And violence leads to death.
Just look at this one example of an international shadowy influencer network, “the prototype for a new kind of diffuse, cross-border cognitive warfare that Israel and Jewish communities around the world are not yet prepared to confront.”
But, still, we love.
Recently I gathered with a couple dozen amazing humans at the Queers Against Antisemitism Joy + Resilience Happy Hour in Philadelphia. As an openly bisexual woman, this was a space I needed, as most Pride events feel deeply unwelcoming for the Jewish community.
Several people were understandably afraid to attend after the D.C. shooting outside the Jewish Museum - and, of course, 19 months of targeted attacks on our spaces. But once I arrived, I felt safer than I had in months.
While I lived to regret drinking too much at the party (after 25 years of going to gay bars, how am I only learning about the “gay pour?”), I deeply enjoyed the in-person connection with friends I had only known from group chats and Instagram follows.
One trans woman revealed that she came all the way from Cleveland to attend this event because it’s been so hard for her to find community close to home. Another queer woman shared that she had recently moved here from Portland because of the hostility.
But there were also hopeful signs. A chat with the bartender, who recently discovered 15% Ashkenazi roots through a DNA site, revealed a nuanced and thoughtful opinion on the conflict as he poured us massive glasses of vodka. Another non-Jewish gay man wandered into the event with curiosity and probably left with a hot date.
I talked to my friend’s girlfriend, a lesbian who is in the process of converting to Judaism. There was talk of other converts in our circle, evidence of the rise in conversions post-October 7. Instead of opting out, people are leaning in. Sometimes, it’s out of love for one’s partner, but more often, it is through the love of our culture and the love of God. And, for a religion that instead of proselytizing actually makes it very hard to convert, this speaks volumes.
I have had many conversations about the war with people that have gone poorly. But I have probably had just as many that went relatively well. This is partly because I try to be careful about where it’s even worth giving oxygen. And that is not the comment section on a doctored video.
If more of us, and more importantly, our allies, would talk to people where they are - in real life and outside the echo chambers - maybe we could cut through the noise.
It may be too late, as the ship is sinking. But even underwater, there is still love.