I find it particularly surprising how many young western progressives’ concern for the suffering of the Palestinian people can lead to condoning, or at least a failure to condemn Hamas; a far-right theocratic death cult. It seems trivial to me to separate these two and to even recognize Hamas as the chief barrier to the security and flourishing of the Palestinians.
Yet many western supporters feel the need to “sane wash” Hamas’s terrorism as something of a just liberation movement. That includes ignoring Hamas’s strategic use of Palestinians as human shields and their celebration of the resulting civilian deaths as martyrs for use in their propaganda.
Why can’t western Palestinian supporters separate out Hamas for condemnation?
You know the score... you either see the Empire as virtuous or you're with the underdog rebels. That's how the story goes. Refer to Star Wars for all the academic explanations you'll ever need.
The current narrative leads to a New Order. It always leads to a New Order. And the goal is always the same, full spectrum dominance. Which looks more and more like a failed enterprise. It's falling apart and that's why the rats are scrambling for scraps. If the rumors turn out to be true, we'll see some kind of tech discoveries that enable the next phase of human existence.
George Floyd was a dangerous repeat criminal that did violence to many people in his life, including assaulting a pregnant woman. He died resisting arrest while high as a kite on the drugs that probably really caused his death.
And yet he was treated like he was Jesus Christ. They had murals of him painted in Kabul before the capital fell.
What your average gangbanger does in your average city day in day out is cumulatively as bad as Hamas, and yet they wanted to defund the police. Now they want to defund the IDF. Don't be surprised.
“Why can’t western Palestinian supporters separate out Hamas for condemnation?”
A Palestinian friend of mine tells me that many of the people that are now Hamas-affiliated either lost their parents or other family members to violence by the IDF. They grew up alone, as victims of injustice. Hamas lapped up that vulnerability. It’s a sad cycle of violence begets violence.
When the orphaned children of Gaza today grow up angry and deeply traumatized- what are we to expect? The inter-generational struggle will continue.
'Why can’t western Palestinian supporters separate out Hamas for condemnation?'
Well the arab country of Qatar which has given Hamas sanctuary and billions of dollars in aid, is also one of the largest foreign donors to US universities. Which explains alot about what is happening on our college campuses.The many shades of grey involved do not fit the current, literally black and white, narrative. It is much harder to get a mob activated and singing death chants if you present the issue as complicated. I have cogigated long and hard on why women in particular around the world did not immediately and vociferously condemn the deliberate weaponization of sexual violence by Hamas. There was a quite deafening silence on this and even a knee jerk rabid denial in many arenas that it even happened. The documented proof is overwhelming that not only were women and girls in particular targetted for rape, torture, mutilation and death but that this was done deliberately to instilll the most terror possible. That in itself is terrifying enough, but the across the board lack of condemnation of this is beyond frightening because of what this signifies for girls and women everywhere. Thank God the NYT finally sort of pulled their head out of their asses and after 'investigating' for over two months admitted in a recent editorial that Hamas did indeed weaponize sexual violence as a tool of terror. Too little too late imo, but better than nothing and since so many liberals still seem to think the NYT is the voice of God, maybe maybe some will pay attention. I am native american and grew up with many oppressed people, none of whom went around gang raping women to death or pounding nails into their groins or shooting them in the vagina or publicly celebrating these atrocities for the glory of God. "Oppression' is not an excuse for that kind of barbarity and complete lack of morality and any sane decent human should recognize the threat this represents to all of us.
The simple fact is the holocaust and Nazi crimes in general is the only ones we remember are the Jews, even though the Nazies killed a lot more assorted Untermenchsen than the Jews. We remember the Jews because unlike gypsies or slavs Jews are genetically superior and have power.
"In a society in which the oppressor/oppressed dialectic possesses the only moral valence, deciding who can be in the oppressed bucket is the most pressing moral debate. And the people tearing down signs of Israeli hostages are saying "We refuse to put Jews in the divine victim category." And Jews are saying back, “we refuse to be seen as oppressors”. Not this time. And that pushback by an accused oppressor is new, and explains why we have our first intra-civil war."
This is what I've been paying attention to, as the Palestinians utilize the West's Oppressor/Oppressed morality merely as a means to an end, what other groups are also going to take advantage of this reality that the west subscribes to?
Are we going to see folks that are opposed to the US utilize this during an election cycle to re-spark the riots of the Floyd/BLM? I feel that the Pro-Palestine side is somewhat aware of this fact but what is the potential for this to spread elsewhere, to other supposed disenfranchised external groups that want to push their own agenda? We've seen this very recently with the Sikhs/Indians in Canada where India seems to have carried out an assassination/murder on a Canadian "citizen" and Canada didn't bat an eye. If the west continues this decay are we to expect other external players to continue to utilize our own failings and morality to enact their desires and push their own ends?
Great article and podcasts as always Erik! You're leading the way with truly thought provoking content.
Agree with this piece overall, very insightful, but one statement stands out to me as obviously wrong:
“Indeed: One thing we learned as a result of this conflict is that the people who run our institutions were willing to be targeted as men, they were willing to be targeted as whites, but they aren’t willing to be targeted as Jews.”
Uhh no. There’s no movement that killed and raped over a thousand men or whites in one day, followed by women or non-whites in academia celebrating or justifying the attack.
As meta-politics or philosophy, you've written a reasonable narrative. As political economy, it's... unpersuasive. I would say: many people are willing to do many things when there are no costs. "The current thing" has been a relatively cost-free exercise indulged in by people with too few material needs and too much time on their hands. It has been manipulated by people with too many status/material wants and very little knowledge/recognition of human nature. People within the dynamics were never fooled (see Dave Chappelle on Juicy Smolié, as he calls him) but only along for the ride. Hamas doesn't think they're freedom fighters. Ukrainians don't think they were or will be living in a liberal democracy. Men growing their hair out to win in women's sports aren't chopping off their dangly bits.
Some others are willing to go along for the crowd kudos, and other others are not, for a wide variety of reasons, good and bad. Someone is always paying real costs and only the easily led (gosh maybe I am just as bad as Simon Legree), the not-quite-as-cunning-as-they-think-they-are (I'll apologize & they'll leave me alone), the vulnerable (can't afford to lose this job / these connections) and the suicidal (I don't deserve this but I deserve bad things) go along with a top-down narrative they suspect or know to be false.
The tide was already turning in more recent years, as the universe of Current Things continued to cast about for ever more sacred cows to gore, because: "Everyone is conservative about what they know best." Parents started seeing the real costs for their kids; parents and girls started seeing the real costs for girls' sports and safety; corporations started seeing the real costs of DEI/ESG/and so forth; etc.; and now the face-eating leopards have come for the Jews.
Have all these things been used by sociopolitical entrepreneurs in all sorts of attempts to increase their own assets (power, money, celebrity)? Oh yeah, absolutely. But they're effectively driving very little; they're only opportunists. It's overused but: Soft times make soft people. Soft people make hard times. Hard times make hard people. <-- And we now, especially the Jews right now, are here.
I find it particularly surprising how many young western progressives’ concern for the suffering of the Palestinian people can lead to condoning, or at least a failure to condemn Hamas; a far-right theocratic death cult. It seems trivial to me to separate these two and to even recognize Hamas as the chief barrier to the security and flourishing of the Palestinians.
Yet many western supporters feel the need to “sane wash” Hamas’s terrorism as something of a just liberation movement. That includes ignoring Hamas’s strategic use of Palestinians as human shields and their celebration of the resulting civilian deaths as martyrs for use in their propaganda.
Why can’t western Palestinian supporters separate out Hamas for condemnation?
They see them as "freedom fighters."
You know the score... you either see the Empire as virtuous or you're with the underdog rebels. That's how the story goes. Refer to Star Wars for all the academic explanations you'll ever need.
The current narrative leads to a New Order. It always leads to a New Order. And the goal is always the same, full spectrum dominance. Which looks more and more like a failed enterprise. It's falling apart and that's why the rats are scrambling for scraps. If the rumors turn out to be true, we'll see some kind of tech discoveries that enable the next phase of human existence.
George Floyd was a dangerous repeat criminal that did violence to many people in his life, including assaulting a pregnant woman. He died resisting arrest while high as a kite on the drugs that probably really caused his death.
And yet he was treated like he was Jesus Christ. They had murals of him painted in Kabul before the capital fell.
What your average gangbanger does in your average city day in day out is cumulatively as bad as Hamas, and yet they wanted to defund the police. Now they want to defund the IDF. Don't be surprised.
“Why can’t western Palestinian supporters separate out Hamas for condemnation?”
A Palestinian friend of mine tells me that many of the people that are now Hamas-affiliated either lost their parents or other family members to violence by the IDF. They grew up alone, as victims of injustice. Hamas lapped up that vulnerability. It’s a sad cycle of violence begets violence.
When the orphaned children of Gaza today grow up angry and deeply traumatized- what are we to expect? The inter-generational struggle will continue.
'Why can’t western Palestinian supporters separate out Hamas for condemnation?'
Well the arab country of Qatar which has given Hamas sanctuary and billions of dollars in aid, is also one of the largest foreign donors to US universities. Which explains alot about what is happening on our college campuses.The many shades of grey involved do not fit the current, literally black and white, narrative. It is much harder to get a mob activated and singing death chants if you present the issue as complicated. I have cogigated long and hard on why women in particular around the world did not immediately and vociferously condemn the deliberate weaponization of sexual violence by Hamas. There was a quite deafening silence on this and even a knee jerk rabid denial in many arenas that it even happened. The documented proof is overwhelming that not only were women and girls in particular targetted for rape, torture, mutilation and death but that this was done deliberately to instilll the most terror possible. That in itself is terrifying enough, but the across the board lack of condemnation of this is beyond frightening because of what this signifies for girls and women everywhere. Thank God the NYT finally sort of pulled their head out of their asses and after 'investigating' for over two months admitted in a recent editorial that Hamas did indeed weaponize sexual violence as a tool of terror. Too little too late imo, but better than nothing and since so many liberals still seem to think the NYT is the voice of God, maybe maybe some will pay attention. I am native american and grew up with many oppressed people, none of whom went around gang raping women to death or pounding nails into their groins or shooting them in the vagina or publicly celebrating these atrocities for the glory of God. "Oppression' is not an excuse for that kind of barbarity and complete lack of morality and any sane decent human should recognize the threat this represents to all of us.
Banger
Democrat Derangement Syndrome against Jews, based on lies and hate.
Fed by prior Dem Derangement Syndrome against Trump, based on lies and hate.
It had been fed by the mis-labeled Bush Derangement Syndrome, based on lies and hate.
Dem DS has often been supported by high IQ Jews supplying rationalizations to the market wanting arguments to confirm their hate based beliefs.
The simple fact is the holocaust and Nazi crimes in general is the only ones we remember are the Jews, even though the Nazies killed a lot more assorted Untermenchsen than the Jews. We remember the Jews because unlike gypsies or slavs Jews are genetically superior and have power.
"In a society in which the oppressor/oppressed dialectic possesses the only moral valence, deciding who can be in the oppressed bucket is the most pressing moral debate. And the people tearing down signs of Israeli hostages are saying "We refuse to put Jews in the divine victim category." And Jews are saying back, “we refuse to be seen as oppressors”. Not this time. And that pushback by an accused oppressor is new, and explains why we have our first intra-civil war."
This is what I've been paying attention to, as the Palestinians utilize the West's Oppressor/Oppressed morality merely as a means to an end, what other groups are also going to take advantage of this reality that the west subscribes to?
Are we going to see folks that are opposed to the US utilize this during an election cycle to re-spark the riots of the Floyd/BLM? I feel that the Pro-Palestine side is somewhat aware of this fact but what is the potential for this to spread elsewhere, to other supposed disenfranchised external groups that want to push their own agenda? We've seen this very recently with the Sikhs/Indians in Canada where India seems to have carried out an assassination/murder on a Canadian "citizen" and Canada didn't bat an eye. If the west continues this decay are we to expect other external players to continue to utilize our own failings and morality to enact their desires and push their own ends?
Great article and podcasts as always Erik! You're leading the way with truly thought provoking content.
Agree with this piece overall, very insightful, but one statement stands out to me as obviously wrong:
“Indeed: One thing we learned as a result of this conflict is that the people who run our institutions were willing to be targeted as men, they were willing to be targeted as whites, but they aren’t willing to be targeted as Jews.”
Uhh no. There’s no movement that killed and raped over a thousand men or whites in one day, followed by women or non-whites in academia celebrating or justifying the attack.
Nailed it.
As meta-politics or philosophy, you've written a reasonable narrative. As political economy, it's... unpersuasive. I would say: many people are willing to do many things when there are no costs. "The current thing" has been a relatively cost-free exercise indulged in by people with too few material needs and too much time on their hands. It has been manipulated by people with too many status/material wants and very little knowledge/recognition of human nature. People within the dynamics were never fooled (see Dave Chappelle on Juicy Smolié, as he calls him) but only along for the ride. Hamas doesn't think they're freedom fighters. Ukrainians don't think they were or will be living in a liberal democracy. Men growing their hair out to win in women's sports aren't chopping off their dangly bits.
Some others are willing to go along for the crowd kudos, and other others are not, for a wide variety of reasons, good and bad. Someone is always paying real costs and only the easily led (gosh maybe I am just as bad as Simon Legree), the not-quite-as-cunning-as-they-think-they-are (I'll apologize & they'll leave me alone), the vulnerable (can't afford to lose this job / these connections) and the suicidal (I don't deserve this but I deserve bad things) go along with a top-down narrative they suspect or know to be false.
The tide was already turning in more recent years, as the universe of Current Things continued to cast about for ever more sacred cows to gore, because: "Everyone is conservative about what they know best." Parents started seeing the real costs for their kids; parents and girls started seeing the real costs for girls' sports and safety; corporations started seeing the real costs of DEI/ESG/and so forth; etc.; and now the face-eating leopards have come for the Jews.
Have all these things been used by sociopolitical entrepreneurs in all sorts of attempts to increase their own assets (power, money, celebrity)? Oh yeah, absolutely. But they're effectively driving very little; they're only opportunists. It's overused but: Soft times make soft people. Soft people make hard times. Hard times make hard people. <-- And we now, especially the Jews right now, are here.