Infantilize

in·fan·til·ize

tr. v.,  ized, -iz·ing, -iz·es.

The action of prolonging or perpetuating a state of infancy. *

<Rant>

Every single time I come across a discussion of the Palestinian people or leadership that contains the word 'infantilize', I experience one of these moments of resonating clarity that can only be experienced when a pure truth is told.

Starting from the first intifada and continuing to this very day, the news media and various well-wishers have used terminology to describe the well-planned, carefully orchestrated and perfectly executed actions of the Palestinians as if they were the involuntary , spontaneous actions of a small child.

Entire people's do not spontaneously abandon their livelihood and take to the streets in a destructive, violent rampage.   The primeval 'fight or flight' instinct would not compel an entire population to pull itself apart at the seams just because Ariel Sharon decided to take a stroll onto the Temple Mount!

When the media continuously spoke of the first intifada as a 'spontaneous uprising' as if it were something over which nobody could exercise any control... it raised some troubling issues for anyone (e.g. Israel) who might be asked to face the Palestinians in the grown-up game of making peace or war. 

Either the Palestinians were completely beyond restraint, in which case their leadership was not in a position to enter into any agreements concerning their future behavior.  Or, they were being carefully controlled/orchestrated, in which case the leadership could reasonably be expected to turn off the violence spigot at any moment of its choosing. 

Yet not one mainstream media outlet came to the logical conclusion that it couldn't work both ways.  Not one of them raised the logical fallacy of demanding Israel negotiate in good faith with a powerless leadership representing a people that were completely out of control.

What the media willfully ignored was that the entire Palestinian people didn't suddenly surge from their homes with whatever weapons were at hand as though touched by a live wire!  There were months, or even years of extensive groundwork/planning already done... complex communication networks tested and ready... multiple layers of management in place to relay instructions to the 'masses'... extensive supply lines established to place weapons, ammunition and explosives in the right place at the right time... and sophisticated media contacts in place and fully operational to feed the 24-hour news cycle a well rehearsed version of facts and figures. 

To this day the media recaps that era as if the Palestinians were little children spontaneously acting-out in anger and frustration.

When the second intifada broke out, the Palestinians were again portrayed in the press as spontaneously venting anger and frustration due to the hopelessness of living under brutal military occupation.  Far from having matured as a people from the previous disaster of an intifada, they were once again relieved of any semblance of responsibility by the media, the UN and much of the world.

All one has to do to in order to see that this trend has continued to this very day is to look at recent events with the word 'infantilization' held firmly in mind:

When the prophet Mohamed was portrayed disrespectfully in a series of political cartoons, an entire religion was portrayed to the world as being unable to control their emotional outburst. They threw a worldwide temper tantrum and began kicking and punching anything and everything within reach.   And nobody seemed particularly bothered or surprised by this.  Not the media, and certainly not the supporters and apologists of Islam.

People willfully ignored the fact that the poor down-trodden Muslims of the word who lack for every possible material possession, suddenly had a nearly limitless supply of shiny new Danish flags to burn. 

Unlike childish emotions, flags are a commodity that must be manufactured, purchased and shipped.  A sizable order requires lead time... a budget for purchasing... logistical planning... a distribution network. 

We Israelis have access to a dizzying array of communications equipment, financial credit and supporters around the world.  But if the Palestinians enraged us to the point that we wanted to take to the streets, simultaneously attack both civilian and governmental Palestinian targets and burn thousands of Palestinian flags... I can't even imagine overcoming the logistical nightmare of laying our hands on such a large number of Palestinian flags, much less convincing a large portion of the Israeli population to give up gainful commerce and become volunteer vandals!!

This word 'infantilization'  most be brought into consistent and mainstream use wherever and whenever the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is discussed.  It is untenable that Israel be the only party cast in the role of grown-up; making concessions, living up to agreements, being held accountable for actions (or inaction), simply because the other side is allowed to be portrayed as too immature and undeveloped to be held to the same standard.

There is a reason that small children aren't allowed to drink, smoke, drive, vote or own a gun.  All of these things require the ability to make an informed decision and to accept resulting consequences.  Diplomacy and war are no different.  If an entire people - or even an entire religion - is going to be granted the status of a minor who is incapable of self-control (i.e. not liable for its actions), then they cannot reasonably be expected to be able to enter into binding agreements or engage in any other accepted machinations of statecraft.

But if we are going to acknowledge that this religion, and these people, are fully capable of demanding self-determination, engaging in diplomacy, conducting legally-binding elections and managing their own financial affairs... then the world can no longer be allowed to infantilize them and pretend that each act of terrorism, each incitement to mass violence, each abrogation of agreements and each public call for the destruction of Israel is akin to a harmless juvenile tantrum... that they didn't really mean it.

The infantilization of the Palestinians (as well as the rest of the Muslim world)  can no longer be allowed to continue.  They are not children.  They are not immature.  They are not naive.  They are not incapable of understanding the difference between wrong and right.  They are none of these things for which we would understandably excuse an infant. 

They are fully capable of entering into legally binding agreements.  They are fully capable of declaring and waging war.  They are fully capable of extremely sophisticated thought and action.  And most of all, they are legally and morally aware of the short and long-term consequences of their actions.

These are the standards by which all civilized nations determine legal competency.  The time has finally come to refuse to allow anyone to infantilize our enemies. 

</Rant>

* Source:  The Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition 1989