In this video, I sit down with scholar and author A. Dirk Moses to unpack how the merging of the Holocaust’s specific history with the generic concept of genocide—and its elevation to the “crime of crimes”—has shaped our collective imagination in ways that blind us to potentially far worse horrors. Moses explains how the pursuit of permanent security by states and groups enacts devastating violence against civilians under the guise of prevention and control.

Stick around for the outro, where I use an X-Men analogy to explore the moral dilemmas of invulnerability, trauma, civilizational Darwinism, and the concomitant nightmares of absolute safety.

DILEMMA EPISODE WITH UYGHUR ACTIVIST - History Rhymes - Uyghur Genocide - Rahima Mahmut - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s02e04-history-rhymes-uyghur-genocide-rahima-mahmut/id1470490447?i=1000487315464

Jewish Currents Journal - https://jewishcurrents.org/

Dirk Moses Books, Podcasts, and Public Works - https://www.dirkmoses.com/

Journal of Genocide Research - https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjgr20

Just Security - https://www.justsecurity.org/

From the Periphery "Zionism from the Standpoint of one of it's victims" - https://youtu.be/bZWvvXVR8po?si=SAYcijQpAavGFZxb

X-Men Vs Magneto! Issue 150 (1981) Comics Bazaar - https://youtu.be/TooOu8QondM?si=X_ctDOV4kXX_KBHk

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:05 Intro: A Story From A Genocide Studies Department at My Alma Matter

00:12:50 Intro: Language as Obstacle and Path to Action

00:15:28 Dirk Moses’s Path To These Questions

00:23:13 Dirk Encounters The Intellectual Problems with “Genocide”

00:28:02 The Emotional Confusion of “Genocide” and “Holocaust”

00:32:27 “Genocide”, Aerial Bombing, and Weaponizing Holocaust Memory

00:41:16 The ICJ, The Rome Statute, UN Convention and the “Crime of Crimes”

00:51:22 Exploiting the Genocide Mixed Intention Loophole and Rigging the Law

00:57:35 The Logic of Permanent Security and Artificial Legal Constructs

01:05:41 “We Had To Do This for Security” and Preemptive Killings

01:09:30 The Legal Recognition of “Genocide”

01:14:29 The Fusion of “The Holocaust” and “Genocide” and Zionist Ambitions

01:21:26 Academia’s Paralysis, Firings, and Confusions

01:30:25 The Aesthetics of Killing and Future Surveillance

01:33:48 Teetering International Legal Order: Global North or South?

01:43:43 Why the Focus on Israel’s Crimes?

01:47:55 Outro: Dystopia and Absolute Safety

01:50:50 Outro: Collateral Damage Maximization Policy

01:58:35 Outro: X-Men’s Magneto and Zionism's Deadly Darkness

02:11:12 Outro: Why The Whole World Is Watching