{"id":9246,"date":"2015-11-03T10:06:07","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T10:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohelet.org.il\/article\/the-weyl-levitsky-double-standard-theorem\/"},"modified":"2015-11-03T10:06:07","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T10:06:07","slug":"the-weyl-levitsky-double-standard-theorem","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-weyl-levitsky-double-standard-theorem\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem"},"content":{"rendered":"Last week, Professors Glen Weyl and Steve Levitsky caused a stir with an op-ed in the Washington Post calling for a boycott of the Jewish state, thus endorsing a double standard.<\/h5>\nSome responded by writing about the article\u2019s tendentious mischaracterization of the facts. Others speculated about the personal motives of the authors, who were writing outside their areas of expertise and without original insight. Yet the most important aspect of the article has so far escaped examination.\n\nLike other calls to boycott and punish Israel, the article endorses a double standard. Even after misconstruing the facts and law to make Israel guilty of crimes it has not committed, the authors have to acknowledge they are calling for far harsher treatment of the Jewish state than of the many states that have actually committed crimes worse than those of which they accuse Israel. In the words of the authors, \u201cIsrael, of course, is hardly the world\u2019s worst human rights violator. Doesn\u2019t boycotting Israel but not other rights-violating states constitute a double standard? It does.\u201d\n\nIt does \u2014 yet far from this double standard being a source of embarrassment, the authors claim that it is admirable. They seek to turn one of the great weaknesses of the boycott argument into one of its great strengths. How do they justify this seemingly dubious position? \u201cWe love Israel, and we are deeply concerned for its survival,\u201d they write. \u201cWe do not feel equally invested in the fate of other states.\u201d In other words, discriminatory double standards are fine so long as the perpetrator claims his intentions are good. They add a codicil: \u201cUnlike internationally isolated states \u2026 Israel could be significantly affected by a boycott.\u201d\n\nThis argument \u2014 let\u2019s name it after the authors of the op-ed and call it the Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem \u2014 is a powerful new way to justify discrimination. Invidious discrimination is thus morally acceptable so long as it is accompanied by a statement of affection for the victim and includes the belief that the victim of the discrimination is likely to be harmed.\n\nShould the United States cut off aid to Israel while continuing to fund the Palestinian Authority, which is authoritarian, deeply corrupt, promotes anti-Semitism, rewards terrorists and their families with cash payments, and hasn\u2019t allowed an election in a decade? Should American companies cut off business ties with Israel while they plow money into Iran and China and Turkey? Should universities divest from companies that work with the Jewish state while maintaining investments in companies that work with Saudi Arabia?\nThe Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem tells us the answer is yes \u2014 because some of the people calling for this double standard say they really care about Israel.\n\nThink of the applications of this remarkable new principle! Sexists can advocate the invidiously discriminatory treatment of women, as long as they remember to say they\u2019re discriminating out of love and in order to improve the conduct of their victims. Racists can explain that they have to discriminate against African-Americans owing to a profound concern for their well-being. And anti-Semites can call for boycotts of the Jewish state as a demonstration of their love and commitment to Israel and Zionism.\n\nThe Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem can be revolutionary. It can change the way we think about moral problems. It can give bigots license to unleash their discriminatory urges. It can justify the obsessive fixation on certain nations, and it can justify ignoring the many other nations that by any impartial standard are vastly more deserving of reproach. Or, at the very least, it can focus our attention on the absurd and desperate claims made by those attempting to explain away their obsessive hatred of Israel.\n\nGet The Times of Israel&#8217;s Daily Edition by email\nand never miss our top stories FREE SIGN UP!\nSome responded by writing about the article\u2019s tendentious mischaracterization of the facts. Others speculated about the personal motives of the authors, who were writing outside their areas of expertise and without original insight. Yet the most important aspect of the article has so far escaped examination.\nLike other calls to boycott and punish Israel, the article endorses a double standard. Even after misconstruing the facts and law to make Israel guilty of crimes it has not committed, the authors have to acknowledge they are calling for far harsher treatment of the Jewish state than of the many states that have actually committed crimes worse than those of which they accuse Israel. In the words of the authors, \u201cIsrael, of course, is hardly the world\u2019s worst human rights violator. Doesn\u2019t boycotting Israel but not other rights-violating states constitute a double standard? It does.\u201d\nIt does \u2014 yet far from this double standard being a source of embarrassment, the authors claim that it is admirable. They seek to turn one of the great weaknesses of the boycott argument into one of its great strengths. How do they justify this seemingly dubious position? \u201cWe love Israel, and we are deeply concerned for its survival,\u201d they write. \u201cWe do not feel equally invested in the fate of other states.\u201d In other words, discriminatory double standards are fine so long as the perpetrator claims his intentions are good. They add a codicil: \u201cUnlike internationally isolated states \u2026 Israel could be significantly affected by a boycott.\u201d\nThis argument \u2014 let\u2019s name it after the authors of the op-ed and call it the Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem \u2014 is a powerful new way to justify discrimination. Invidious discrimination is thus morally acceptable so long as it is accompanied by a statement of affection for the victim and includes the belief that the victim of the discrimination is likely to be harmed.\nShould the United States cut off aid to Israel while continuing to fund the Palestinian Authority, which is authoritarian, deeply corrupt, promotes anti-Semitism, rewards terrorists and their families with cash payments, and hasn\u2019t allowed an election in a decade? Should American companies cut off business ties with Israel while they plow money into Iran and China and Turkey? Should universities divest from companies that work with the Jewish state while maintaining investments in companies that work with Saudi Arabia?\nThe Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem tells us the answer is yes \u2014 because some of the people calling for this double standard say they really care about Israel.\nThink of the applications of this remarkable new principle! Sexists can advocate the invidiously discriminatory treatment of women, as long as they remember to say they\u2019re discriminating out of love and in order to improve the conduct of their victims. Racists can explain that they have to discriminate against African-Americans owing to a profound concern for their well-being. And anti-Semites can call for boycotts of the Jewish state as a demonstration of their love and commitment to Israel and Zionism.\nThe Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem can be revolutionary. It can change the way we think about moral problems. It can give bigots license to unleash their discriminatory urges. It can justify the obsessive fixation on certain nations, and it can justify ignoring the many other nations that by any impartial standard are vastly more deserving of reproach. Or, at the very least, it can focus our attention on the absurd and desperate claims made by those attempting to explain away their obsessive hatred of Israel.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, Professors Glen Weyl and Steve Levitsky caused a stir with an op-ed in the Washington Post calling for a boycott of the Jewish state, thus endorsing a double standard. Some responded by writing about the article\u2019s tendentious mischaracterization of the facts. Others speculated about the personal motives of the authors, who were writing [&hellip;]","protected":false},"featured_media":9247,"template":"","article-category":[525],"custom-tags":[],"ppma_author":[61],"class_list":["post-9246","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article-category-publications"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem - kohelet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kohelet.org.il\/en\/article\/the-weyl-levitsky-double-standard-theorem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Weyl-Levitsky Double Standard Theorem - kohelet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, Professors Glen Weyl and Steve Levitsky caused a stir with an op-ed in the Washington Post calling for a boycott of the Jewish state, thus endorsing a double standard. 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