Israeli soldier and the daughter named Sarah
example · contemporary political ·
retold in 9 talks
An Israeli soldier raiding a Palestinian home discovers that the crying Palestinian girl has the same name as his daughter, shows the mother a photo and says 'we are all human.' Žižek calls this falsity at its purest, the liberal ideology of shared humanity that erases the reality of structural violence.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 6
“you know, my god, this girl has the same name as my own girl... you see, we are human all and so on. this is falsity at its purest.”
“He stepped towards the mother 'You see the photo? Oh, we have the daughter of the same name'. This is the most disgusting thing I can imagine.”
“Precisely this idea beneath differences we are really all the same. That's the lie embodied I claim.”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
Its cast and sources
populated by
Samuel Maoz2Ari Folman2Leonardo Padura Fuentes2Ruth Klüger2Robert Mugabe3Huey Long1Karl-Heinz Dellwo1W. J. T. Mitchell1
alongside works
Every retelling 6
An Israeli soldier raiding a Palestinian home discovers that the crying Palestinian girl has the same name as his daughter, shows the mother a photo and says 'we are all human.' Žižek calls this falsity at its purest, the liberal ideology of shared humanity that erases the reality of structural violence., illustrating idealization of the other,false universalism,ideology of shared humanity
An Israeli anti-terrorist unit raids a Palestinian apartment looking for a suspected terrorist; when a frightened girl is called by her mother ('Come Sara'), an Israeli soldier reveals his own daughter has the same name and shows the mother a photo, producing a moment of 'warm human contact'. Žižek finds this the most disgusting thing imaginable, it erases the reality of occupation behind a sentimental humanist veil., illustrating polite indifference,critique of multiculturalism,ideology of deep understanding
During an apartment raid, an Israeli soldier discovers that a Palestinian girl has the same name as his own daughter and shows the family his wallet photo, saying 'we are all humans.' Žižek calls this the lie embodied, the ideological gesture of finding sameness beneath difference that occludes political responsibility., illustrating humanist reduction,anti-ideology as ideology
An Israeli anti-terrorist unit breaks into a Palestinian home at night; a soldier discovers the child has the same name as his daughter and bonds with the mother over it, all while having just violently invaded the home. Žižek calls this 'ideology at its purest.', illustrating liberal humanist ideology,warm humans beneath the skin,ideological violence
During a raid on a Palestinian house, an Israeli soldier heard the mother call her daughter by the same name as his own daughter and stepped forward to bond over this shared humanity, which Žižek finds the most disgusting possible liberal gesture, a 'we are all the same beneath our skin' that obscures the structural violence., illustrating radical otherness,postmodern narrativization,liberal humanism critique
An Israeli soldier breaking into a suspected terrorist's apartment discovers the daughter's name matches his own daughter's name, shows his wallet photo, and says 'we are human', Žižek calls this an obscenity in that situation., illustrating ideology as non-ideology,inner authenticity as ideological mystification