Not everyone deserves a name: how party leaders in Israel have become merely hashtags that stand for the public’s disgust in them
So, what is the counter showing now? Five election rounds in four years? Or maybe was it the other way around…? It's been a tad hard to keep track.
What is easier to see on the other hand, is that “the noble attempt” (as branded by those who supported Bennet’s barely one-year coalition) failed to offer an alternative that would be more attractive to the Israeli public, than the joy they get out of being repelled by their political representatives. It is that despise that makes us call our opponents degrading nicknames. They’re not really people, they are those “who must not be named”. From the standpoint of campaigners, it’s a very smart and frankly irreplaceable move: First things first: draw the target around your enemy. All of the rest will be soon to come”. Your opponents are no longer beings with free will: they are merely hashtags.
Perhaps this would be OK in a normal country that holds proper elections every four years. Then, maybe slander and insults would remain in the confines of a runner-up’s campaign, and could be regarded as legitimate warfare tactics. But ethically speaking (we apologize for using that everything-but-nothing word) — comes the question: what effect does this endless discourse of repugnance and anger have on the citizens of this country?