By Grace Hamilton, Opinions Editor

OpiI can feel you forgetting. 

It’s almost amazing what the Internet can do these days. It can battle misinformation and state propaganda. It can bolster efforts for fundraising and humanitarian aid. It can show people how to contact their representatives, what protests are being held near them, any kind of work that could actually accomplish something. 

And then it all disappears. 

That’s the curse of virality, right? Your cause blows up on TikTok or whatever, White girls on Instagram make pretty infographics about how many people are being murdered every day, they use a viral sound or filter on TikTok to “spread the word,” they post or repost Instagram stories and like TikToks and retweet. And then the wave passes. The next big thing blows up and it’s over, right? We won and the genocide ended because of the power of our thumbs. Wrong. 

Palestinians are still being slaughtered. There are entire generations being erased from the face of the earth and those of us still paying attention are stuck arguing that it’s happening. Or that thousands of women, men and children don’t deserve to be bombed out of their homes and butchered in the streets — all because they dared to live in a country someone else decided to claim for themselves. 

Call it a war against Hamas. Call it an appropriate response to terrorism. You would be lying, because what’s really happening is genocide. I can’t emphasize enough that we are witnessing an actual, honest-to-god genocide. 

And you’re forgetting about it.

Actors like Noah Schnapp are parading slogans like “Zionism is sexy.” President Biden won’t call for a ceasefire. The New York Times is still pretending that it’s a war against Hamas. Sure, that’s the excuse that Israel is using, but can’t we call it what it is? Can we please just call it what it is? Slaughter. Ethnic-cleansing. Massacre. Eradication. 

Genocide. 

And we’re no longer talking or posting about it like we did at the height of its virality. “Israel-Palestine war: Israeli forces kill Palestinian boy in West Bank raid.” “Three Palestinian students shot and wounded in Vermont, police say.” “Since October 7, Israel has escalated attacks in the West Bank, where Hamas is absent.” These are all headlines from the past week. There has to be a ceasefire. There has to be consequences for this. 

And can I add something else? Being against genocide doesn’t mean one is antisemitic. There’s no need for retaliation against Jewish people as a whole. Violence begets violence and all that. 

But we are standing by while children are killed — found in pieces by their parents. Gazan officials report that the death toll is higher than 15,000 people since Oct. 7 — that number includes more than 6,000 children. And the state of Israel says that this is necessary! 

Anyone remember the “Emphasis is on damage, not accuracy?” Or that, according to the New York Times, civilian deaths are a “regrettable but unavoidable part of modern conflict?” They have made it very clear that their goal is total annihilation in the name of “defeating terrorism,” or whatever bullsh*t excuse they want to spout. 

Israel is okay with slaughtering children. Israel is fine with killing civilians. Israel is okay with leveling Gaza to the point that there is nothing to return to. Israel is okay with denying humanitarian aid. Israel is okay with killing journalists. Israel is okay with killing its own soldiers and people to prevent hostage-taking — look up the Hannibal Protocol. 

Israel is okay with genocide. And if you’re silent, you are too.