Kerby Anderson
I think we all know that America is divided politically, but the greatest divide is between old and young. This was illustrated when young people took to the streets to support Hamas after the October 7 attack on Israel.
A Harvard/Harris survey conducted in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel illustrated this demographic divide. Older Americans believed the US was justified in branding Hamas as a “terrorist group” and believed the attack was “genocidal.” Younger Americans (18-24) disagreed with their elders.
The explanation for the difference in attitudes can be found on university campuses. Students are likely to be exposed to an intersectional framework. Intersectionality is a concept that discourages looking at unique individuals but instead focuses on groups as stereotypical images with certain traits.
Modern Jews, for example, enjoy financial stability and even political power. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority are seen as weak. According to this mindset, the powerful should be condemned while the weak should be supported.
Noah Rothman explains, “Once you subscribe to this philosophy, you just internalized the plain-old antisemitism. Through this framework, people are reduced to statistics.” These young people view the world in a way similar to Marxists. In other words, they view the world through the prism of class and other distinctions and thereby justify all sorts of evil and violence.
That is how these young people in the streets could turn a blind eye to the murder and mayhem of Hamas terrorists and place all the blame on Israel. This demographic divide shows the power of ideology and worldview to ignore evil.