cry wolf

After the deadly Fourth of July floods in Texas, for example, the Kerrville city manager said that authorities were reluctant to “cry wolf” and order evacuations.

He added: “It’s very tough to make those calls. Because what we also don’t want to do is cry wolf.”

“The challenge is always, you don’t want to cry wolf too soon, but you certainly don’t want to wait until the wolf’s eating you, either,” he said of declaring a drought.

At the same time, to cry wolf — to misuse the term to try to intimidate people into silence while Israel’s atrocities continue in Gaza — is an abuse of the word antisemitism and a disservice to everyone who strives for a single standard of human rights — like the17 rabbis and rabbinical students who went to Capitol Hill last week urging a ceasefire and an end to the unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel.

That sort of description typically makes me urp; too many critics serve it up every week or two and they cry wolf, or masterwork, or not-to-be-missed too often to be trusted.