Burlington City Council "Other Genocides" Video

Submission 3,385

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About

Burlington City Council "Other Genocides" Video refers to a viral video from a Burlington City Council meeting in January 2024 that was voting on a pro-Palestine resolution on the March 5th ballot. The symbolic resolution was opened to citizens to share their thoughts and opinions, which led to a pro-Israel first-year student at the University of Vermont's speech in which she said "do not use other genocides to describe this one" gaining virality on the internet, many calling the statement a "Freudian slip" after she inadvertently likened the Israel-Gaza conflict to genocide.

Origin

On January 22nd, 2024, NBC5^[1] posted an article about a special meeting to be held in Burlington City, Vermont to discuss a formal resolution calling for an end to Israeli military operations in Gaza. During a specific moment of the meeting, a first-year student at the University of Vermont joined the meeting with the city council as a pro-Israel speaker in which she remarked, "How appalled I am that people are bringing up the Holocaust. Do not use other genocides to describe this one." She ended the discussion on a note of stark realization and controversy after what she said.

The moment was livestreamed on the town's YouTube^[2] channel and later on January 24th, the clip was then shared on X^[3] by user @SaeedDiCaprio, who added the caption "this is an insane freudian slip." The video (shown below) amassed over 33 million views and 429,000 likes in a day.

Spread

The pro-Israel speaker clip went viral on social media over the following days with many people calling the moment a "Freudian slip," a term in psychoanalysis used for an error in speech, memory or physical action in which a person brings unconscious desires and wishes to consciousness. For instance, on January 24th, 2024, TikTok^[4] user @southernfriedcali shared the speaker's clip (shown below, left), amassing more than 1.8 million plays and 204,000 likes in a day.

On the same day, TikTok^[5] user @sincerelyawa posted a video commenting on the viral clip and the reaction of the speaker after her so-called Freudian slip. The video (shown below, right) received roughly 862,000 plays and 168,000 likes in a day.

Also on January 24th, 2024, Reddit^[6] user u/SameStand9266 uploaded the clip paired with the caption, "Sigmund Freud would be proud," which amassed over 3,900 upvotes and 490 comments in a day.