On Oct. 15, my husband and I were on a walk around downtown Ithaca with our baby daughter when we heard chanting. Though the rhythm sounded faintly like a girl scout campfire song, we could tell the crowd was angry. As we drew nearer, the words became intelligible: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” A sizable crowd had gathered on the Ithaca Commons — curly-haired moms corralling their kindergarteners, solemn women in hijabs, and multiple white millennial men, their shoulders draped in checkered Palestinian keffiyeh scarves. 

The air was electric. We wheeled our stroller to the side of the crowd, watching from beneath the overhang of the M&T bank as an unassuming black man in a newsboy cap took the stand. During the first five minutes of his speech, he spoke of his affinity with both the Jewish and the Palestinian peoples. It did not seem particularly radical, nor particularly interesting, so we left. But we did so before the exciting part. (READ MORE: Anatomy of a College Brainwashing: How UCI Makes Students Empathize with Hamas and Hate Israel)

The next day, my husband beckoned me over to the kitchen table. “Look,” he said. “It’s that guy from the speech yesterday.”

X, formerly Twitter, had blown up. And its target was professor Russell Rickford of Cornell University, the man in the newsboy cap.

“I was exhilarated!” Professor Russell Rickford of @Cornell calls Hamas terrorist attacks “exhilarating” and “energizing” pic.twitter.com/kv2CbZuHEY

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 16, 2023

Overnight, Rickford had gained notoriety for a sound bite in which he described Hamas’ horrific attacks as “exhilarating” and “energizing.” Of course, in typical X fashion, this quote lacked all context. With my memory of the balanced, even boring, perspective we had heard at the beginning of Rickford’s speech, I wondered: How did this man go from expressing sympathy for Israelis to advocating for their torturers? I had Point A. I had Point B. I was determined to trace what had happened in between.

What ‘Exhilarated’ Rickford?

Amid a slew of two-minute clips, I unearthed a transcript shared by one of Rickford’s students. His comments, as I suspected, were taken out of context. But the context, rather than exonerating him, reveals how leftist ideology can lead to the dehumanization of real, living (and dying) human beings.

Rickford points out that not all Palestinians are necessarily pro-Hamas. He argues that white supremacy and Zionism have tried to homogenize individuals into simplified collectives when, in fact, “Palestinians are human beings.” But immediately after he points to human individualism, he soars into a sweeping ideological analysis that removes human agency altogether.

“What has Hamas done?” he asks.

The answer to that question seems simple to me. I can list off some very concrete answers after a perfunctory scan of the news. On Oct. 7, Hamas fired rockets at Israel, murdered at least 260 young people at a desert music festival, and beheaded babies. 

Bafflingly, Rickford did not mention a single one of these atrocities. 

Instead, Rickford declaims in abstractions. Gone are the “human beings” he spoke of earlier. The actors in the story, as he tells it, are “the balance of power,” “Western imperialist powers,” and “settler colonialism.” What has Hamas done, according to Rickford? They have not murdered people; they have initiated a “challenge to the monopoly of violence.” It was this challenge that “exhilarated” him. (RELATED: You Get What You Tolerate)

If you have read any postmodern or Marxian literature, this jargon will feel familiar. The strain of philosophy from which the Left gleans its worldview frames the human experience as a cosmic powerplay. When leftists talk this way, they eliminate talk of rationality, truth, and sincere discussion, stripping all human motivation down to the pursuit of power over others. This analysis destroys individual agency. Under a Marxian analysis, I am not Amelia, an individual who must bear responsibility for good and evil actions undertaken of her own free will. Instead, I am a biracial, Korean-American female, privileged by my wealthy upbringing yet oppressed by a more powerful class of old, rich, white men. “I” disappear. There is no more Amelia — just an identity, a pawn in the struggle over the balance of power. 

This philosophy makes it possible for Rickford to simultaneously express sympathy for the Jews and applaud Hamas’ acts of violence against Israel. The Jews have been oppressed. The Palestinians have been oppressed. Rickford supports the oppressed. But with a world boiled down to oppressor and oppressed, there is no room for right and wrong. “Everywhere is war.” Rickford repeats this phrase seven times. It is the anthem of his worldview. 

If your ideology has no place for individual agency, war crimes can be “exhilarating” and “energizing.” Killing babies is no more than a “challenge to the monopoly of violence.”

Rickford is not unique. He was not canceled for holding to a fringe ideology. Many academics believe exactly as he does. People were merely shocked when Rickford said the quiet part out loud. 

But even in his enthusiasm, he didn’t say the quietest part: that in his worldview, individuals don’t matter, and killing babies counts for nothing if it advances the cause he considers righteous.

Amelia Rasmusen Buzzard, a recent graduate of Hillsdale College, is a culture writer in Upstate New York. Find more of her writing at her website.