A “snap” is taken on the spur of the moment — suddenly, unexpectedly or without notice — a snap judgment, when people expose their inner selves and values.

This occurs with individuals, but with nations and society as well. Like the incident in New York’s Central Park where a liberal white woman called the police on a Black man during a dispute about her unleashed dog.

Modern states, like individuals, have their historical breaking points, such as when Western liberal democracies — boasting freedom and rights and support for LGBTQ+, women, Black people and immigrants — have experienced cultural and historical breakups that led to evil snaps, for instance supporting the Gaza genocide for the last 12 months. This is not the first time Western democratic states have failed their humanitarian liberal ideals and promises and snapped to show their true evil ideology.

Throughout history, they have produced the ideologies of fascism, slavery, Nazism, communism, imperialism, Zionism, and apartheid in South Africa and Israel, and events like the world wars and Hiroshima. Despite their commitments, these states have fostered these evil ruptures within the framework of liberal democracy.

These snaps are ingrained in our culture and a society at large in which individuals suddenly show their true selves and belief systems. A free-market capitalist modern state would program its members to function more efficiently and effectively and be professionals. The system would want us to separate our behavior from the unproductive traditional human values.

Take corporate America, for instance. Those speaking for it talk in human-rights language that, as The Intercept characterizes it, “is generally feel-good verbiage that gestures at ethical guidelines without spelling any of them out.” For instance, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, rationalizing his company for helping Israel in the killing field in Gaza, snapped: “We don’t set foreign policy but rather we follow the lead of the U.S. government in foreign business dealings.” Customers are always right, according to the business mantra, regardless of their behavior or values. ”We operate in Israel, but we also operate in Saudi Arabia,” Krishna said. “What do those countries want us to do? And what is it they consider to be correct behavior?”

When faced with challenges, social ambiguities, social discomfort and threats, we react hastily and unexpectedly, and then our true selves snap.

The saleslady at Macy’s smiled and sprayed me with perfume once I entered the store, but she called security when I left my school bag unattended.

Another time when I took my car to a repair shop, the estimate was too high, and I said: “If I paid this, my wife would divorce me.”

“I won’t tell her if you don’t,” the repairman snapped. I was bluffing and so was he, but he was all rational.

I went to another repair shop owned by a Palestinian American, and the estimate was lower but not by much. “If I paid this, my wife would divorce me,” I told the owner.

“It is on me this time, don’t worry.” Of course, I was bluffing and so was he — but, my wife’s potential divorce plea brought a human snap to save a family breakup.

The waitress at the restaurant behaves in a way that maximizes the outcome for the restaurant and herself. For about 30 minutes she is your servant and calls you “honey,” but she’s the same one who ignores your greetings at the parking lot.

A coffee shop has a sign on the bathroom that says “All genders are welcome” next to a sign that says, “Only customers use.” Another snap. All business, all rationale.

At restaurants we give tips after service. In Egypt they give “bakshish” before the service. Westerners call it bribes. I call it pre-tipping — a social contract that strengthens social relations.

During a business lunch at a restaurant I visited regularly, the waiter approached our table. He was serious and professional. He looked modern and programmed with a uniform and a badge displaying his name — Mahmoud.

“May I take your order, please?” he politely asked.

I ordered a green salad, while my guest ordered a sandwich. Mahmoud later returned with our orders, and I noticed on top of my salad two slices of ham/bacon.

“Mahmoud, you know I don’t eat pork,” I reminded him.

“And you are not fasting either,” he snapped. It was the Muslim day-fasting month of Ramadan, and I was eating at midday. Mahmoud was not a waiter, he just was a Muslim who snapped — he didn’t care about tips or the fact that the guest with whom I was having lunch was the owner of the restaurant. True Ramadan story. I don’t lie about Ramadan.

Ahmed Tharwat, of Minnetonka, is producer and host of the Arab American TV show “BelAhdan.”