Truly incredible article here. Especially the part they cut out (thus the wayback machine link):
Speaking of authenticity, do videos of IDF soldiers dancing and the institutional connection harm the Israeli message?
I get the impression that yes, especially from the reactions of non-Israeli creators who talk a lot about the unreliability of the IDF spokesperson and the Israeli establishment. And really, the more we are connected to these mechanisms in our self-expression on Twitter or TikTok, we allow a wider opening to challenge the message. Because if from the beginning there is a cynical view of the Israeli establishment, and our civil diplomacy does not detach itself from the establishment, then it is more difficult for it because now it has to bear the burden of the establishment.
The genre of the dancing soldiers may seem amazing to us Israelis as a nation. It's fun. It's great for morale, but it doesn't look good in any other context. And that's exactly the thing - this association: the soldiers are not private individuals. The world does not look at a reservist in Gaza as a neighbor from my building, and the soldiers are not 'all our children'. In the eyes of the world, soldiers represent an army. On the other hand, think about all the TikToks that come out of Gaza - there is no tendency to point to them and say 'this is all Hamas propaganda'. A separation is made there between the citizens of Gaza and Hamas. But in the Israeli experience, we don't distinguish ourselves in this way. Our society is militaristic, for us militarism is great, it's part of who we are, but in foreign eyes it is not perceived positively.
Beisdes the "no shit" nature of things like viewing a soldier as part of a military and not an individual, the thing that's interesting here is how they view themselves, and how this view came to take hold. Mandatory conscription is a huge factor in these entrenched attitudes, they know that those soldiers could be anyone they've known in their life, so of course they view them sympathetically.
It reminds me of a very early section of that Alexander Hamilton biography that the musical was based on. Specifically, the conditions that he grew up in, on the island of Nevis, in the 18th century. The enslaved outnumbered the free something like 10-1 on the island, so every white person would go about their daily life armed at all times, constantly on edge, knowing that they might have to resort to violence at any moment.
There's a similar sort of "surrounded by enemies" jumpiness here, strongly polarized, completely unable to even entertain outside perspectives. There's simply no room for it, in a world so small and full of fear.
Something something colonialism something something fascism etc etc.
