Mordechai SonesMethod and rules
How I read the news
The Creator is sovereign; the State is not. Nothing made by human hands, a state, a leader, an army, an alliance, a protocol, is an object of loyalty, hope or fear. A state lives on the consent of the people it governs, and a vote is a contract. And the feeling of security has replaced security: the protocols, the reassurances and the official language are what the public is given in place of the thing itself.
The scheme of the five types of power came from Andrew Eiva. The shapes were named from the articles and from the office's correspondence with the Prime Minister's Office, the Yesha Council and the IDF between 1998 and 2010. The principles were distilled from the first two and a half years of Jewish Home News.
Field guide
The ten shapes
How official language behaves when something is being hidden. The list is a working tool: it is meant to be used on tomorrow's news, and cases are welcome at the address at the foot of the page.
1Perpetual imminence
A threat or a deadline restated at a constant distance, never resolving.
2Semantic displacement
A precise term replaced by a softer one for the same thing: "weddings."
Worked out in: Twenty Minutes to Midnight in Judea and Samaria.
3Reframing on transfer
An instrument crosses from its outside originator to domestic adoption, with its justification inverted.
Worked out in: The Middle Eastern Union Agenda.
4Quiet abandonment
Public reassurance rising while capability or commitment is reduced.
Worked out in: Ten Official Admissions.
5Denial by relocation
The thing is conceded to exist, but moved elsewhere: "stationed in Gaza."
6Fragmentation
Selective assurance that divides a population's response: "your sector is secure."
7Normalization cascade
An institute's frame propagating into the press, then into official language as settled fact.
8Bureaucratic parasite
A body meant to represent a population protects its own continuity and asset values, and suppresses threat intelligence.
Worked out in: The Yesha Council Report Card, 2001.
9Credibility drain
Defensive means collected or locked away under a thin administrative pretext before a crisis.
Worked out in: The weapons roundups of 1999–2001.
10Deceptive reinforcement
Conspicuous delivery of hardware or units just before abandonment, simulating commitment.
Worked out in: The South Lebanon file, 1999–2000.
Method
The five types of power
The pyramid is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom because the width is the cost of wielding each kind, not its strength. One person can wield moral power. An army is needed to wield the weakest kind. The field of news is the second tier; it takes its priorities from the first.
Touch or click a tier to see it.
Moral
Wielded by one person.
צַדִּיק מוֹשֵׁל יִרְאַת אֱלֹקִים
"A righteous one, ruling in the fear of G-d." (II Samuel 23:3)
Informational
The field of news. It takes its priorities from the tier above it.
אַתָּה חוֹנֵן לְאָדָם דַּעַת
"You graciously grant man knowledge." (the Amidah)
Political
Office, party and law. It takes an organization to wield.
לָא עַל אֱנָשׁ רָחִיצְנָא
"Not on man do I rely." (Brich Shmei)
Financial
It takes a treasury to wield.
כִּי הוּא הַנֹּתֵן לְךָ כֹּחַ לַעֲשׂוֹת חָיִל
"For it is He who gives you the power to acquire wealth." (Deuteronomy 8:18)
Military
The widest tier and the weakest. It takes an army to wield.
ה' אִישׁ מִלְחָמָה
"The L-rd is a man of war." (Exodus 15:3)
Rules
The twelve principles
Twelve rules, distilled from the first two and a half years of Jewish Home News. Each links to one article where it is applied.
-
1The root
The Creator is sovereign
Nothing made by human hands is an object of loyalty, hope or fear.
Up From Zionism! -
2Truth
Truth without fear
Official communication is deceptive by default.
The 100% Pure Lie -
3Truth
Deliberate before accidental
When the same failure recurs for decades and serves the same beneficiaries, read it as policy.
None Dare Call It Deliberate -
4Truth
Evidence, not theory
The provable kept apart from the plausible.
State Secret -
5Truth
The watchman
Bound by Torah speech law: report only what serves a purpose.
The Journalist's Prayer -
6Truth
Readers as analysts
Publish the method, so people can judge for themselves.
How to Deconstruct a CIA Hoax -
7Sovereignty
Sovereignty is indivisible
National, territorial and personal stand or fall together.
From Sovereignty to Subjugation -
8Sovereignty
Withdraw consent
Legitimacy is the idol's food; a vote is a contract.
No Signature, No Vote -
9Sovereignty
The parallel structure
Prefer what the community can run without permission.
A Practical Course of Action -
10Torah
Jewish life first
Judge Jews favorably, enemies prudently; no Jew is written off.
IDF Rules of Engagement and the Echoes of Molech -
11Torah
Independent Torah leadership
A rabbi paid by the state or holding party office cannot adjudicate the state's questions.
Serving Two Masters -
12Action
Take the shovel
Trust Hashem; count the cost honestly.
The Lech Lecha Mandate