I think that “slaughter,” like “genocide” is being used for it’s emotional impact. “Slaughter” is hyperbolic. As is “genocide,” “occupation,” “apartheid,” and (probably) another dozen or so words/phrases used of late to paint Israel as a cadre of monsters. It’s used to elicit an emotional response to whatever subject is being debated. It has been in the arsenal of the anti semitic right wing for well over 2000 years (of late it has been adopted by the anti semitic left wing).
It’s a matter of perspective. What is the purpose of war? In common practice, when one nation goes to war with another their goal is to inflict as much harm on the “enemy” as possible. Likewise the defense nation wants to inflict as much harm on their enemy as possible. In essence all warfare is genocidal by it’s very nature. Witness what is going on in the Ukraine. The “as possible” aspect is dependant upon how well equipped each side is. In this case we have a vastly superior (militarily and technologically, with both equipment and trained personnel) nation, Israel, fighting against a vastly inferiorly equipped nation (palestine). Palestine started this (phase of the war) on October 7th 2023. Prior, every single time Hamas as much as sneezed at an Israeli soldier the IDF sent in aircraft (ok, now I’m being hyperbolic).
Overkill? There certainly has been some of that. I suppose to be fair Israel should leave all advanced weaponry home and equip her soldiers with only what they expect Hamas to have. The fact is that it’s being called a genocide mainly because Israel’s military might is light years superior to Hamas. That’s why Israel is painted as the bad guy, and the reason why American college kids are vandalizing their campuses with the battle cry “Free palestine” having been indoctrinated over the last 25 +/- years by the likes of Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, and other famous progressive voices. In logic theory, this is known as the “bandwagon fallacy,” which is to say that if famous, popular, progressive “Billy” proclaims that nation “B” is committing wholesale slaughter against nation “A” for whatever his reasoning says it is, then it absolutely MUST be true simply because his reputation demands it. This is then swallowed by 5 and then 10 and then 1000 and then 10000 folks until a critical mass of progressives are all repeating it in their echo chambers and therefore a lie becomes truth.
In my observations I have witnessed some of the most intelligent and well educated progressives, who I am sure were trained in critical thinking, repeat these same ridiculous platitudes without given them a bit of thought. It’s like that part of their brain was switched off. In other cases though, it’s more a matter of, having attained a bit of popularity, they don’t want to risk losing that reputation. There are some who do “see the light” eventually. I remember a Presidential candidate back in the ’60s saying something like, “I’d rather be right than be President.”
Progressives must vilify Israel. They must fly the anti-zionist flag because Progressive leaders say to. In fact, some say that if you support Israel you are simply not Progressive but rather a wolf in sheeps clothing. So says Congressperson Rashida Tlaib. Progressives therefor must march lock-step behind their fearless leaders, no matter what the truth is. Sounds a lot like what happened back in Nazi Germany.
