We’ve reached the days when we wake up and ask, “Another war?” Just like in Albert Camus’ The Plague, where the doctor looks out his window and murmurs, “Death again?”
Humanity is once again feeding the monster it once lost in the dark corridors of history. This time, however, its mask is shinier, its slogans more “nationalistic,” and its lies wrapped tightly in algorithms. Algorithms? Yes, the same social media-driven lies we consume daily.
What prompted me to write this article was a hate-filled image I came across on social media. On one side, a father in Gaza holds the lifeless body of his child pulled from the rubble; on the other, two Israeli women laugh as they suggest treating Palestinians like animals. It’s as if Francisco Goya’s The Disasters of War has been updated for the digital age.
In Russia, a woman tells a New Yorker reporter that “Putin is a gift from God,” echoing Turkish President Erdoğan, who referred to the deaths following the July 15 coup attempt as “a gift from God.” In India, a shopkeeper praises Modi for launching missiles at Pakistan. So how does this hypnosis that strips away our humanity work?
In the 20th century, fascism came in the form of uniformed men marching in the streets. In the 21st, it arrives via Twitter bots, TikTok trends, and deepfake heroes. The war in Ukraine, now past its 500th day, is served to us with cries of “VICTORY.” Videos of Russian soldiers handing out candy to children mirror Turkish documentaries that try to legitimize the aftermath of July 15.
Adolf Hitler, in Mein Kampf, accused Jews of manipulating the truth about Germany’s defeat in World War I through enormous lies. He claimed that people are too ashamed to believe small lies but will more easily accept huge ones. His propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, wrote in his 1941 essay Churchill’s Lie Factory: “When a lie is told, the principle of telling a big lie and sticking to it is applied—even at the risk of appearing ridiculous.” That principle now lives in the infinite loop of artificial intelligence.
To blame the rise of fascism solely on Putin, Netanyahu, or Erdoğan is a comforting oversimplification. The truth is, we help build this wall—brick by brick—with every retweet, every hateful message sent to “the other,” every moment of silence.
How did the Israeli women’s hateful remarks about Palestinians go viral? Because algorithms thrive on rage. A social media study in Germany found that hatred toward immigrants was fueled and amplified by hate speech on digital platforms. We like posts filled with hate and decorate them with angry emojis.
Today, wars are no longer won on the battlefield—they are won in the mind. Right now, there’s a global war unfolding. And unless we confront our own shadow, we’re doomed to be enslaved by it. Yet instead of facing our own darkness, we project it onto others. I suggest remembering how your neighbors reacted just after July 15, 2016.
American historian Timothy Snyder wrote in On Tyranny: “When we give up the difference between what we hear and what is actually true, we surrender to tyranny.” That sentence perfectly captures the applause dictators receive today.
The child in Gaza, the mother in Kyiv, the young people imprisoned in Turkey—they are all mirrors of ourselves. Rather than shattering the mirror, perhaps it’s time to face our reflection.
Fascism is the servitude of humans by other humans. But humanity can only survive through human solidarity. Our strongest weapon against fascism isn’t shouting the truth—it’s first admitting it to ourselves. Because, as George Orwell wrote in 1984, “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
Today, two plus two equals whatever Erdoğan, Putin, or, more recently, Trump says it is.
But what about tomorrow?
