Really sharp piece. I’m just not sure Free Palestine is destined to end with a slow, fading whimper. For a lot of people, it slots neatly into an oppressor–oppressed frame: colonialism, Western power, and capitalism as the obvious villains.
In identity fusion terms (Swann et al.), the cause stops being an opinion and starts being who you are. Criticism or even visible indifference can feel less like a policy disagreement and more like a personal attack. Nuance and attention to competing tragedies then read as disloyal, threatening the identity that gives moral clarity and purpose.
Kony 2012 was a one-off campaign built around a single villain and a bracelet. Free Palestine is part of a wider story about decolonization, race, and resistance to the West, so it functions less like a campaign and more like a standing moral identity.
Really sharp piece. I’m just not sure Free Palestine is destined to end with a slow, fading whimper. For a lot of people, it slots neatly into an oppressor–oppressed frame: colonialism, Western power, and capitalism as the obvious villains.
In identity fusion terms (Swann et al.), the cause stops being an opinion and starts being who you are. Criticism or even visible indifference can feel less like a policy disagreement and more like a personal attack. Nuance and attention to competing tragedies then read as disloyal, threatening the identity that gives moral clarity and purpose.
Kony 2012 was a one-off campaign built around a single villain and a bracelet. Free Palestine is part of a wider story about decolonization, race, and resistance to the West, so it functions less like a campaign and more like a standing moral identity.
Thank you! Yes, I fear that Free Palestine will be with us for a while. If Kony 2012 was the Livestrong bracelet, Free Palestine is SHEIN or Zara.
SHEIN/Zara nails the ubiquity, but I suspect something less disposable and more permanent. Perhaps: hair streaks, a nose ring, or even a tattoo.
And for Swann, the Wikipedia article on identity fusion is a good overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Identity_fusion&oldid=1314363941. Several of his papers are cited there.
Also, can you link the Swann paper?
Brilliant 🤩
Love the moral outrage has a supply chain concept 🥰
Thank you!
Thank you for expressing this phenomenon which I have been vaguely aware of for decades, but never brought into enough focus to describe!
Thank you for reading!
As a therapist I hear much disgust in reaction to what is posted on the internet - Good news