Tomorrow, on October 7, Stanford students will gather at White Plaza to celebrate the third anniversary of the massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians and the abduction of 251 more. The “vigil for the martyrs” is organized and advertised by the Stanford chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), whose leaders insist upon anonymity. SJP posted a flyer for the gathering on the anonymous social media app Fizz, which is accessible only with a stanford.edu email address.
The flyer reads: “3 years of escalated genocide. 78 years of resistance. Join us at White Plaza on Wednesday to honor our Palestinian comrades and martyrs and reflect on our commitments toward building a free Palestine. Every martyr is a universe.” The post has garnered over 1,600 upvotes (there are 7,289 undergrads at Stanford).
One wonders what is meant by “escalated” genocide. How can a genocide be “escalated”? Was October 7 an “escalated” genocide, or just a genocide? Perhaps it wasn’t a genocide at all?
There has been some pushback. One user wondered if SJP “maybe could’ve chosen a different day? Just a thought” (82 upvotes). Others were less gentle: “A ‘martyr’ is THE LAST person that should be celebrated. ITS NOT SOCIAL JUSTICE, ITS TERRORISM” (41 upvotes). The most popular reply reads, “There is no conclusion except that they deliberately want to wipe the memory of the victims and hostages of October 7 in the dirt. Absolutely vile” (743 upvotes).
To some, the popularity of SJP’s post is incontrovertible evidence that there are at least 1,600 antisemites at Stanford. There are indeed vicious, proud, and outspoken antisemites at Stanford, as the author has experienced firsthand; but they probably number in the dozens or hundreds, not in the thousands. Would 1,600 people upvote a post promoting a vigil on the anniversary of Kristallnacht? Seems unlikely.
The more probable explanation is that there are 1,600 fools at Stanford. 3,200 eyeballs saw an advertisement for a “vigil for the martyrs” on October 7. This information was carried through 3,200 optic nerves to 1,600 brains, which processed the information and sent a signal to 1,600 thumbs to click an upvote button. The brain was a crucial waystation on this odious journey. 1,600 antisemites or 1,600 fools—which is it? Perhaps 800 of each, or 1,600 of both?
1,600 fools at Stanford may be just as concerning as 1,600 antisemites. After all, these fools are in our classes; they eat next to us in the dining hall. They think Osama bin Laden wasn’t such a bad guy—not because they know anything about him, but precisely because they don’t.
If there is any good news here, it’s that in the end, the fools and antisemites are still the minority. The rest of us would be wise to do what we can, while we can, to keep it that way.