Do Dead People Bleed?

In the early 1970s, during my internship in a chronic psychiatric ward, my supervisor recounted an interaction involving a past intern and a delusional schizophrenic patient. Faced with a patient firmly convinced of being dead, the intern sought a breakthrough. He questioned, "Do dead people bleed?" The patient staunchly denied this possibility. In a daring move, the intern pricked the patient's finger, revealing blood droplets that astonished the patient, shattering his unwavering belief. After processing the revelation, the patient remarked, "I guess dead people do bleed."

This anecdote powerfully illustrates the enduring strength of convictions while shedding light on 'cognitive dissonance,' a psychological concept. It suggests that when new information contradicts deeply held beliefs, it triggers mental and emotional unrest. Resolving this unrest can be done by changing the beliefs in light of the new information, or by reinterpreting, denying, or distorting the new conflicting information to be compatible with and even potentially reinforcing of the previously held conviction.

Given the level of brutality exhibited by Hamas on October 7th, (the topic of my previous blog) the anticipated reaction other than from jihadists would have been outrage and condemnation. After all, how can beheadings, torture of children and elderly, placing infants in home ovens, and gang raping and dismembering women be justifiable by any circumstance?

Surprisingly, however, large groups of students, including at some of the most prestigious U.S. universities, along with increasingly disruptive crowds in major cities protested in support of Hamas and condemned the victim of the attack, Israel. This counterintuitive response prompts a critical query: Do most participants in these mass protests align with jihadist ideologies that endorse and glorify violence against Jews and nonbelievers, or are there deeper underlying forces in play? Could these mass demonstrations reveal a meticulously planned and extensively financed strategic propaganda initiative, cultivated over time, and veiled in seemingly justifiable motives?

Supported by other revelations (addressed in greater detail below) it does appear that a widespread campaign of indoctrination employing historical distortions and biased narratives, aiming to shape beliefs—particularly among susceptible college students eager to support noble causes—has been in the works, under the radar, for at least two decades. The success of these efforts to nurture negative convictions about Israel, including the victimization of Palestinians, has enabled many to re-interpret, or justify the most atrocious actions imaginable by the hands of Hamas as an acceptable, and even necessary reaction against Israel's unjust actions against the Palestinians, and thus processing it with no cognitive dissonance (e.g. emotional discomfort). Paradoxically, the magnitude of the negative emotional impact that would be expected against the aggressor, processed to be compatible with propagandized beliefs even fueled and energized protests against the actual victims of this attack (e.g., tearing down posters of people kidnapped) and protests against Israel. Similarly, Israeli defensive actions only lend credibility to the notion of victimization and the unjust killing of innocent Palestinians by Israel.

One example of the indoctrination initiative that has become known since October 7^th is the fact that Qatar has been the largest donor to American Universities for over ten years with donations that exceed five billion dollars. Specific donations to select Universities are listed below and are of the magnitude that enjoys influence over the creation of Departments, faculty selection and tenure, and other activities that can shape students’ beliefs and attitudes. No doubt such efforts are not restricted to colleges in the US nor to organizations in settings outside of schools and Colleges.

It must be noted that the prevailing portrayal of Israel in the global media, influenced by left-leaning ideologies, has perhaps unintentionally, in many cases, helped propaganda efforts against Israel. Media coverage frequently focuses on the plight of civilians starving and struggling in Gaza amidst rubble caused by Israeli actions, omitting the fact that Hamas chooses civilian locations to become battlefields and their longstanding pattern of diverting huge sums of funds intended to improve living conditions in Gaza to construct elaborate tunnels, procure military equipment, and sustain the opulent lifestyles of its leadership.

Headlines of 'Israeli actions lead to deaths of XXX children today' are common in contrast to 'Hamas using innocent children and elderly as shields result in significant casualties today’ which I have yet to see. This biased coverage skews the narrative and overlooks crucial contextual information in favor of more dramatic imagery and unintentionally (and in some cases not) reinforces the belief that Israel is the source of the problems.

As in the case of the opening vignette, confronting false convictions with facts can have an insignificant impact, given the mind's ability to defend itself from cognitive dissonance discomfort (e.g., the discomfort caused by holding contrary beliefs), and may even strengthen convictions. Rectifying widespread misconceptions and false beliefs about Israel (and Jews for that matter) planted and reinforced by a well-executed, prolonged campaign of distortions, misinformation, and denial of documented realities, will also be most resistant to change. Sustained effort over time, frustrations, plodding progress, and setbacks common to psychiatric therapies can be expected long after the military defeat of Hamas and holds adversaries and challenges far greater than the military capability of Hamas.

As clinicians, we know that changing firmly held beliefs is a complex psychological process as often they are closely tied to the person’s identity. It is not surprising that Edward Bernay, a nephew of Sigmund Freud’ is credited with formalizing many of the modern propaganda campaigns in his book entitled ‘Propaganda.” Published in 1928, he discussed approaches to influence attitudes and beliefs with approaches that have since been taken to an art form, by people like Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, and the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, among others. In fact, the focus of this blog is to bring attention to its successful use by the enemies of Israel (and likely the West) in shaping anti-Israel beliefs to the degree that made the atrocities by Hamas, not only comfortably compatible with otherwise held values of justice and human rights but also energize protest against the victims of the attack, Israel, rather than Hamas the aggressor.

It is beyond the scope of this blog to address initiatives, beyond the military strength that will be needed in this battle, but it will certainly include the use of proven attitude-changing techniques that combine what has been called, the ‘Central Route’, persuasion through facts and logic, and ‘Peripheral Route’ where the impact of the message is though the speaker’s attractiveness,  celebrity, emotional appeal, and even humor. 

In closing, I am attaching two videos, the first exemplifying the ineffectiveness of facts and attempting to maintain firmly held beliefs, and the second, an excellent example of celebrity and humor as a valuable tool for re-education.