The Jewish and Christian martyrs of old sacrificed themselves to please God and fight evil, thus making the world a better place. The supposed “martyrs” of the modern woke movement, like the pro-Hamas wackos destroying university campuses, are totally selfish and only make the world worse. Their martyrdom exists entirely in their own heads, as does their supposed heroism.
The great GK Chesterton, a hundred years ago, was already mocking the silliness of modern “martyrs.” He wrote, “Modern martyrdom ... generally consists of a man chaining himself up and then complaining that he is not free … The assumption is that if you [are] ... a nuisance to yourself as well as to other people, you will have the strength of the great saints who passed through the fire.” Now as then, the very socialists and leftists who think of themselves as martyrs are nothing more than nuisances.
Of course, they are dangerous nuisances, in the sense that they are not only willing but eager to destroy property and physically attack anyone who disagrees with them. They are also dangerous because, in great enough numbers, they can alter politics and society very much for the worse. Yet, for all this, they are laughable.
For instance, many people have shared pictures online of LGBTQ individuals or white, hijab-less divas with their keffiyahs and Palestinian flags and pro-Gaza banners. These very individuals would be promptly raped, tortured, and/or murdered in Gaza, yet they really believe they are one in purpose with the Gazans!
Not to mention, despite Palestinians’ overwhelming support for Hamas and Hamas’s proud avowal of its horrific atrocities, the students do not realize that they are supporting terrorists who frankly aim at genocide against Jews. Well, perhaps a few of them do — the ones shouting “kill all Zionists.” But most of the students have no idea whatsoever what they are protesting about. They do not think or make rational decisions, they merely repeat whatever their woke indoctrinators tell them to repeat. It never even occurs to them to do their own research or ask what the words they shout and chant actually mean.
Related: Trump: Pro-Hamas Anti-Semites Are ‘Radical Left Lunatics’
They do, however, think they are heroes who deserve rewards and freebies and academic breaks and sympathy. These anti-Semitic, pro-terror Nazis think that because they have made massive nuisances out of themselves that they are martyrs. Their faculty and staff (and likely professional agitators) encourage this fiction. Editors of the Columbia Law Review demanded that exams be canceled because they were “irrevocably shaken” after law enforcement cleared out an unauthorized pro-Palestinian encampment at the university. Anti-Israel protesters at UCLA demanded zip ties, shields, wood for barriers, and helmets after their own protests began to turn violent. They felt owed the materials to cause chaos! Columbia students also demanded free food. The chutzpah of these entitled brats knows no bounds.
Modern “martyrs” like the pro-Hamas agitators and students are not admirable or heroic. They figuratively chain themselves up, as Chesterton said, and complain they are not free; they make nuisances of themselves and expect to be rewarded. Woke leftism is a religion, but its martyrs are as pathetic as their ideology is false.
