Transcript
A few years ago, I had dinner with a shepherd and his fiance. Last year, they were married. My best friend was at the wedding. Yesterday, he was killed trying to protect his wife and neighbors in their small village in the south of Israel, where gunmen had showed up and were mowing down civilians. How could this happen? I don't talk about politics on this channel, and I still won't. But I believe in the forward progress of humanity, and our ability to use our rational brains to rise above the primal instincts and cognitive biases evolved over millions of years in a primal environment where we couldn't afford to stop and think. And I believe that morality should arise directly from rationality. So I want to ask a question. When is it morally justified to kill an unarmed civilian? I so wish that the answer to that was an easy, never. But we live in a world full of gray areas and trolley problems. If shooting a baby were the only way to stop a nuke from going off in New York City, then many would probably But sometimes we can use absurdities as logical tools to examine the limitations of absolute statements. What happened in Israel this weekend was not some baby nuke edge case. It was the premeditated murder of innocence. Thousands of rockets targeted at population centers. Indiscriminate shootings. Some evidence of rape. And all the while we see videos of the perpetrators celebrating and yelling about how God is great. God is great? This is great? The worst thing about the human brain is our ability to dehumanize others. The outgroup. Us versus them. This may have provided a survival advantage when fighting against neighboring tribes, but it has been the primary cause of human suffering for millennia. War, slavery, terrorism, only made possible by the view of the victims as something lesser, less than us, less than human. So many atrocities justified by self-righteousness. in a world where technology can finally help break down those barriers. We are no longer limited by a world view formed by those in our immediate physical proximity. I can speak with a boy from Uganda in the morning and consult with a Chinese grandmother five minutes later. I can watch a Korean film, read the Quran in English with 12 different commentaries. I can hear the stories of those completely different from me, only to realize that we're not so different at all. Or I could stay at home while having a glass of wine and watching and scrolling through my social media feed, which is full of videos that just make me feel good about myself, while never making me search for opposing views. I know that the political situation in the Middle East has been complicated for years. And I know that that's not my lane, and I have no suggestions for a perfect way to solve it. But I do know that we should be able to live in a world where a shepherd can tend to his flock and be with his family without getting murdered by men who think that murdering him and his family is God's will. I can help. I'm posting a link to the National Emergency Fund, providing relief services, equipment, food, and other necessities to the victims of the war and their families. It's a large fund that will be distributing to local charities via public committee. Every little bit helps.
Additional notes
🚨 YOU can help! (check my bio) It’s hard to know where to best give your support in times like this, so rather than give towards any niche need I find it makes the most sense to a group that combines full transparency with ample connections and boots on the grounds to figure out where funds are most needed. I worked with JGive to set up a separate page for us, but it all goes to the same fund with almost $2 Million donated so far. Let’s see if we can make Team Science hit the leaderboard! (Right now the page is listed under Avisha NessAiver but it should change soon 🧬 ) Here’s the full charity description: The National Emergency Fund was established by JGive and many of its partners in order to provide assistance to the victims of the recent horrific attacks on Israeli soil and the war that has ensued. All the donations collected will be distributed to charities that offer relief services, welfare, equipment, food and other necessities to the victims of the war and their families. The funds will be distributed through a public committee headed by Elyezer Shkedi and Natan Sharansky. The charities operating in the relevant sectors are intimately familiar with the challenges involved and have the tools to act appropriately. Donating to these charities is the best way we know to support, even in a small way, the lives of so many in need Join us and donate now.All donations are Article 46 tax-deductible.100% of the donation funds are transferred to the charities (with the exception of the credit card clearing fees for credit card donations) Members of the public committee for donation distribution (in alphabetical order): Etty Deutsch - CEO of Visa CalRabbi Benny Lau - Head of Project 929Malka Puterkovsky - Halachik authorityElyezer Shkedi - Former Air Force Commander, Chair of Committee Ayala Procaccia - Former Supreme Court Justice Natan Sharansky - Former CEO of the Jewish Agency Ami Shafran - Major General (ret.) Adv. Yaron Keidar - Legal council #israel #israelwar #israelunderattack
References
- No linked source, study title, DOI, or PMID found in the available source material.