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Good piece. Thank you! Like many, I was thrown off track by the "beheading" claim. Whether true or not, it really made no difference to the efficacy of the propaganda's message: "Hamas are animals." Large swaths of print and air were devoted, not to the trope's veracity, but to the moral equivalence of 'babies beheaded' vs. 'babies slaughtered.' Evil lurks.

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Thank you for reading. The narrative of "beheading babies" just seemed too suspect, and it reeked of backroom talks amongst media types looking for ways to maximize the impact of the idea that children were losing their lives in the conflict. Not only because it's a common trope used in propaganda, but because anything that sounds like it was workshopped by Hollywood writers was probably workshopped by Hollywood writers.

I haven't worked out what the end goal is yet, but I do know one thing - this whole situation has exposed individuals like Ben Shapiro as bloodthirsty monsters.

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