It is written like that in the bible. Probably the first documented genocide. Apparently there’s a passage about a general that was fine with killing, men, women, elderly, and children, but didn’t kill some horses because he thought them too pretty. Yhwh struck him dead for disobeying.
It would be the first documented genocide if it actually happened. It’s more of a fantasy written centuries later to justify Israelite expansion in the region (and conveniently coopted for Israeli genocide more than 2000 years later…)
On a side note, it’s wild listening the hoops apologists jump through to explain either why God didn’t command genocide or, even worse, that he did and it was justified.
“We got to Canaan and killed every living Canaanite mammal” is a wild thing to come up with out of the blue without any supporting oral history.
But I’m not going down the rabbit hole of pondering the historical value of the Bible. It suffices me to know that there is some value in recorded oral histories, even if they cannot be simply taken at face value. It’s how we know nearly all we know about the Inca.
There’s a lot of scholarship out there which is very clear that the conquest of Canaan narrative is just propaganda. There may or may not be oral history behind it with a whisper of a memory of real events, but all the archaeological evidence points towards it being made up. And of course the bible contradicts itself in this regard not much later anyway.
It is a fantasy written but centuries after, but not at a time of expansionism. At a moment they just survived a genocide against them. And this kind of fantasy was very common at the time, and my take is that it was understood as such.
that story was quoted repeatedly to justify this genocide. They keep talking about Amalek. that’s a genocidal dogwhistle… not really a dogwhistle, more like a fog horn
WTH? WTF is wrong with people? I was a kid when I read that and it already freaked me out with my limited comprehension and exposure of world history. How can anyone read that and think “well done, let’s do it again?”
The more you meet and interact with Israelis the more it is hard to believe how openly evil they are. like they will casually accept starving children to death or bombing journalists and humanitarian workers.
The more you meet and interact with Israelis the more it is hard to believe how openly evil they are. like they will casually accept starving children to death or bombing journalists and humanitarian workers.
It’s common in authoritarian states for that level of evil to be normalized. But “Death to everyone in an authoritarian state!” is nationalist-campist tripe all the same - or else treating politics with the same mindset as a religious fanatic.
Sorry for not being enthusiastic about the concept of genocide as a team sport, regardless of what color you want to wear or who you insist started it first.
I guess “God gave us this land so we have to genocide the existing inhabitants” is a bit too on the nose
It is written like that in the bible. Probably the first documented genocide. Apparently there’s a passage about a general that was fine with killing, men, women, elderly, and children, but didn’t kill some horses because he thought them too pretty. Yhwh struck him dead for disobeying.
It would be the first documented genocide if it actually happened. It’s more of a fantasy written centuries later to justify Israelite expansion in the region (and conveniently coopted for Israeli genocide more than 2000 years later…)
On a side note, it’s wild listening the hoops apologists jump through to explain either why God didn’t command genocide or, even worse, that he did and it was justified.
“We got to Canaan and killed every living Canaanite mammal” is a wild thing to come up with out of the blue without any supporting oral history.
But I’m not going down the rabbit hole of pondering the historical value of the Bible. It suffices me to know that there is some value in recorded oral histories, even if they cannot be simply taken at face value. It’s how we know nearly all we know about the Inca.
There’s a lot of scholarship out there which is very clear that the conquest of Canaan narrative is just propaganda. There may or may not be oral history behind it with a whisper of a memory of real events, but all the archaeological evidence points towards it being made up. And of course the bible contradicts itself in this regard not much later anyway.
It is a fantasy written but centuries after, but not at a time of expansionism. At a moment they just survived a genocide against them. And this kind of fantasy was very common at the time, and my take is that it was understood as such.
that story was quoted repeatedly to justify this genocide. They keep talking about Amalek. that’s a genocidal dogwhistle… not really a dogwhistle, more like a fog horn
WTH? WTF is wrong with people? I was a kid when I read that and it already freaked me out with my limited comprehension and exposure of world history. How can anyone read that and think “well done, let’s do it again?”
Been writing articles on Medium about that.
I have theories. Generations of propaganda , or normalized psychopathy .
The more you meet and interact with Israelis the more it is hard to believe how openly evil they are. like they will casually accept starving children to death or bombing journalists and humanitarian workers.
It’s common in authoritarian states for that level of evil to be normalized. But “Death to everyone in an authoritarian state!” is nationalist-campist tripe all the same - or else treating politics with the same mindset as a religious fanatic.
“Death to arabs” is a common sports chant in Israel.
… so your response is “no u”?
Sorry for not being enthusiastic about the concept of genocide as a team sport, regardless of what color you want to wear or who you insist started it first.
my response is that Israel is a genocidal society. they are open about it. and their consent is irrelevant when it comes to any solution