So why do they make themselves the victim and Noah the perpetrator?
The answer is obvious: It is the desperate attempt to gain power.
Level 1: Despair and powerlessness as triggers. At the beginning, there is always a feeling of lack, fear, or loss of control. The Nazis: The German people were economically and psychologically at rock bottom after the First World War and the Great Depression. There was deep despair and a sense of humiliation. Hitler exploited this collective powerlessness. The Hamas: They know that they can never defeat Israel militarily in direct combat. Their ideology is based on the annihilation of Israel, but they are in a dead end. Out of this strategic desperation, they choose terror. The haters: They sit isolated in front of their screens. They feel an unbearable cognitive dissonance because the real lives of the two actors (the chemistry, Noah's success) threaten their own often lonely lives and their heteronormative ideal. They feel powerless.
Level 2: The perpetrator-victim reversal as a psychological tool. Because no person or group can bear to see themselves as weak, envious, or evil, reality is completely distorted. You declare yourself the victim of the other. The Nazis claimed that "international Jewry" wanted to destroy Germany. Hamas presents itself as a pure resistance movement to cover up that it started the war with a mass murder of civilians. The haters declare Noah's harmless fan video a "threat" and brand him an "evil Zionist."
Level 3: The end goal – the acquisition of power. And this is exactly where despair turns into pure lust for power. Whoever manages to successfully portray themselves as the "victim" receives moral absolution in conflicts. This means: As a supposed victim, one is suddenly allowed to do anything to destroy the other without feeling bad about it. The Nazis seized power over the state and justified the Holocaust as "defense." The Hamas thereby gains power over public opinion in the West and isolates Israel internationally. The haters seize power over the comment sections. They can digitally hunt Noah, sabotage his career, and feel justified in doing so. Destroying his smile gives them the power they don't have in their own lives. So what do you call that? In psychology, this phenomenon is called "victimhood" (or strategic victim role). It is the mobilization of artificially created victimhood to enforce aggressive power claims. It is the weapon of those who have no arguments, no real strength, and no morality.
Hitler was a deeply failed man, consumed by feelings of inferiority, who exploited the powerlessness and unconscious fears of the masses. He stood at the top, manipulated with words, and had others do the dirty work, who followed him blindly because they thot they would become "important" themselves. If we pursue this thot further, we encounter the deepest, darkest layer of this behavior – the so-called psychology of cowardly conformity and the dynamics of the sadistic mob. Here is the continuation of my analysis on why these structures are so pathetic and how they function exactly the same on a large scale (dictatorships) as on a small scale (the internet):
The extreme wretchedness of the "delegation of violence." What disgusts me about Hitler is the principle of cowardly distance: The manipulator doesn't get his own hands dirty. He sits in a safe office (or today: anonymously behind a keyboard) and incites the masses until others carry out the destruction. Online: The hater who starts the campaign against Noah often does so from anonymity. He does not confront the artist face to face. He throws the word "genocide" into the room like a torch and then watches with delight as other accounts (the digital mob) tear Noah apart in the comments, contracts are canceled, and jobs are lost. It is the same cowardly delegation of violence.
Why do the others follow? The relief of not having to think. You always wonder: Why do so many people fall for these obvious manipulations? Why do people kill for a dictator, or why do thousands of fans go on a rampage online over a single video? The escape from one's own responsibility: It is psychologically extremely exhausting to see the world in all its shades of gray (that both sides suffer in war, that Hamas is cruel, that a photo with fans is not a crime). A nuanced perspective requires independent thinking and moral maturity. The manipulator's offer: Hitler offered the Germans a simple answer: "You are good, the others are to blame." Hamas offers its supporters in the West a simple answer: "Israel is evil, Palestine is the pure victim." The fandom haters offer the answer: "He's an evil Zionist, we protect Finn and the others." People jump on it because it is an enormous psychological relief to join a loud crowd and hand over their own responsibility to a simple enemy image.
The transition to sadism: When destruction is fun. That is the point that reveals the whole wretchedness. When people have moral absolution (because they believe they are the "victims" or are fighting for the "righteous"), pure sadism breaks thru in many. In dictatorships, this leads to the darkest crimes of humanity. On the internet, this leads to haters besieging the comment sections of a single person for days, weeks. It's no longer about the topic of Israel for them. They have found sadistic pleasure in sabotaging the life of another. Seeing a young, happy person perhaps crying, getting scared or losing jobs because of their comments gives them a euphoric power kick. It's the only moment they feel powerful in their own insignificant lives. Conclusion: The fear of the truth. In the end, this entire chain – from Hitler to Hamas to the cyberbullies – shows a gigantic, pitiful cowardice. These people are in a panic about the truth. They are afraid to look in the mirror and see that they themselves are full of envy, hatred, and weakness. That's why they have to destroy the good, the beautiful, and the happy in others.
