One good speech at the Golden Globes and Oprah Winfrey is now a leading candidate for the presidency of the United States. A failed rapper posts a few images of himself wrapped in an Israeli flag to Facebook and is now depicted as someone who fights those seeking to undermine the Jewish state. A radio presenter suspended for speaking rudely about Israel's president is now the flagbearer for free speech. A 16-year-old girl by the name of Ahed Tahimi slaps an IDF soldier in the face and is deemed as iconic a figure as the World War II-era paratrooper and heroine Hannah Szenes.
It seems it does not take much these days to be called a hero; one intellectual-sounding cliché or provocative statement will usually suffice.
Wearing black dresses to a glamorous event in solidarity with the #MeToo campaign is the same as facing the doctor who sexually abused you in court. A feminist-sounding status update on Facebook puts you in the same position as someone who has for years represented, pro bono, women who were sexually harassed or raped.
On TV, "social activists" are interviewed. Some of these activists have earned the title through years of work; others merely pride themselves on having attended a protest or two.
A "musician" who wrote a song that was played on the radio all of two times 15 years ago, and has been "working on an album" ever since, can disparage Culture Minister Miri Regev and immediately be deemed a leader in the cultural struggle. That is not to say that Regev is not deserving of criticism, but wouldn't it be better to make an actual effort instead of piling on the clichés and setting our brains to cruise control?
That is why the comparison between Ahed Tamimi and figures such as Szenes and Anne Frank is, beyond just outrageous, so disappointing. It is simplistic and lazy. It completely distorts the concept of a struggle between the strong and the weak, and in terms of logic and depth of thought, is a poor comparison for the man responsible for so many of Israel's cultural assets.
Indeed, I am interested in hearing Yehonatan Geffen, who made the comparison, speak about the occupation from a moral and ethical standpoint; on its influence on us as a society and its consequences for the State of Israel. I want to hear him speak on the subject as a man who was raised by a family that played a part in the state's revival and as a creator, artist and intellectual. But instead, Geffen goes and makes some stupid remark that could just as easily have been made by a 15-year-old boy at a Meretz Youth event.
In my youth, I eagerly read about the famous Jewish spy Sarah Aaronsohn, Zionist activist Joseph Trumpeldor and Szenes. These were the heroes of my youth and the objects of my admiration. Today, these sacred cows have all been slaughtered, and in the absence of real heroes, we appear intent on filling the void with cardboard heroes of our own making.
