None of this is surprising in the least or difficult to understand: Leftist morality is based on Who/Whom and nothing else (and always has been and always will be).
Whether it's "the people" or "the masses" or "the general will" vs the nobility and clergy, the proletariat vs the bourgeoisie, the Soviet liquidation of the Kulaks, the Maoist Red Guard vs "imperialist running dogs" or "capitalist roadsters" it is the same dynamic, the same old wine in a new bottle.
What we call "the Left" seems to be the West's chronic autoimmune disease that flares up about once or twice a century to instrumentalize and weaponize all the injustice and suffering inherent in the world and turn it into a great spiritual and moral battle, as a new generation of alienated secular intellectuals cook up a new ideology to enlist the aggrieved, the miserable, the young and gullible—it's money that's the root of evil! no, it's society! no, it's whitey! no, it's norms like having to obey mom and dad! ad infinitum...
And another constant here, as displayed in previous Left eruptions, is how weak and supine the liberal class is in face of anyone who claims they're "making the world a better place" and/or that they speak on behalf of the Oppressed. All of these campus kindergarten tantrums could have been ended many years ago if even ONE college admin or prez had delivered a strong penalty for an illiberal outburst—but not one student has been expelled or even had their scholarship yanked, no matter how hateful or toxic or moronic their behavior.
Hopefully a few good things will come from this mass public outpouring of support for a barbaric massacre: No one will believe anymore that the campus Red Guard and their gurus have any principles except accruing power to attack their enemies and no one will believe anymore that we can expect any strength of character from any credentialed and well-paid member of the liberal ruling class.
This is the eternal dynamic of the Left vs the liberal class: deranged apocalyptic moralism aka destroying all that exists for "Justice" battering spineless cowards with no real beliefs except money and status, who are willing to excuse and forgive anything as long as they get to keep their corner office and 401(k).
But if the past holds true, we also know how this will end: both these groups will destroy each other and destroy all they can get their hands on, and the rest of us will get to live in the rubble.
Decolonization: coming soon to a theater near you. When the far leftists say "settlers aren't civilians" they aren't just talking about Israel. Among the pro Hamas protesters are the same Antifa BLM TRA crowd that's been coming for loan forgiveness, reparations and land back "by any means necessary." If we are to stop them we need to recognize the threat, including our own radicalized fair haired youth. Thanks for all your excellent connecting of dots, Brad.
Three things. First has anyone caught on to the irony that most of the people supporting "decolonization efforts" were also the same ones claiming that legions of Nazi's were about to take over America and "gas ze Juden"? Second, please don't bring Noah Rothman into this. The guy is Bill Kristol levels of neocon with the same levels of hypocrisy and self-awareness. Finally, I am fucking enraged that a bunch of the progressive wine mom writer crowd are trying to pretend that somehow these anti-Semitic lefty college students are anything but lefty college students. They sure don't look like Republicans to me with all the rainbow flags and decrying "whiteness".
I think what unites both Muslim and lefty antisemitism is the fact that Jews are a small minority and are usually doing extremely well compared to the broader population and especially some other minorities. It suggests that it's culture to a large extent, not "race", that determines success in a free market system. The Muslim world sees Israel, which in a couple decades turned a desert devoid of natural resources into a garden and a modern, first-world country while most of the Muslim population still lives in relative squalor with little education beyond their one book. Even the vast natural resources in some Muslim countries can only be exploited with Western help. A Muslim country without oil would look a lot like Gaza, producing nothing but extremists.
Personally one of the most frustrating things is this oppressor/oppressed framework is basically a giant ridiculous layer cake conspiracy theory. Yet, the elite college students who believe it would call Me a conspiracy theorist for saying “Isn’t it odd (proven in Twitter Files Number 9) the CIA was sitting on group calls with every tech entity from Twitter to the damn Wikimedia Foundation?” And “Don’t you find it strange that the same groups (Open Society, Ford, MacArthur, Knight) fund pro-censorship groups as well as both Anti-Oxy (P.A.I.N.) and “Anti-Drug War” groups like Drug Policy Alliance.
Hell, the elite college antisemites would probably call Me an antisemite for being angry at what Open Society bankrolls.
The irony, of course, is that the ADL is perhaps the biggest spreader of the anti-white "supremacist" slander which gave rise to all the DIE bullshit, which in turn has now turned its sights on the Jews:
And they continue with that slander, no matter how obvious it becomes that it's only the far left and Muslims who are marching for the destruction of Israel.
FTr i was initially against Israel’s response as I felt they were doing what Hamas wanted them to do. I do not think I was wrong about hamas’ plan. But it may be backfiring. Berenson had a good article on that.
I will reply to fully & properly later. But you are wrong about Hamas using hospitals as covers for their weapons. They have made most of that area an anthill of underground tunnels & weapons storage. Especially under schools, hospitals & the like as they use these as shields. The full scale of this may not be known until this stage of this war is over.
Here's a headline for you that has been accepted by Israel, "Israel revises down toll from October 7 attack to ‘around 1,200’ Israelis. Officials say the original death toll of 1,400 included unidentified corpses now believed to be Hamas fighters." No babies found beheaded, and no definitive proof that women were raped. Many Israelis were killed as they hid in their houses, or were held hostage by Hamas, killed by Israeli soldiers. Also, lets get something straight, Netanyahu courted Hamas, empowered them, since neither wanted a two state solution, which undermined Abas, who did. Gazans resided in an outdoor prison, with no way our and were periodically slaughtered. Their lives were restricted and impoverished for many years, and mostly young people, children who never even voted for Hamas.Going back a bit, many blame Netanyahu for the death of Yitzhak Rabin due to his incendiary rhetoric in regard to the Oslo accords. I doubt if most people who are protesting excuse what Hamas did, so what are they protesting? They are protesting the ongoing slaughter of mostly young people, children since they constitute half of the Gazan population. Their hospitals are being bombed with the lie that Hamas have dug their tunnels under these hospitals. Babies are dying in Gaza, and sometimes I see a mother trying to comfort her dead child she rocks in her arms. Where the hell is your empathy for that? The carnage no doubt made easier by the perspective Gallant spewed out, animals, not deserving of food, or water, or fuel. This is what people are protesting and you don't even have the heart to see it, or feel compassion, Shame on you! Too bad so many German's never had compassion for Jews , Poles, Gypsies, etc slaughtered by Hitler, and never spoke out against their carnage.
The Ideology Behind Today's Antisemitism
None of this is surprising in the least or difficult to understand: Leftist morality is based on Who/Whom and nothing else (and always has been and always will be).
Whether it's "the people" or "the masses" or "the general will" vs the nobility and clergy, the proletariat vs the bourgeoisie, the Soviet liquidation of the Kulaks, the Maoist Red Guard vs "imperialist running dogs" or "capitalist roadsters" it is the same dynamic, the same old wine in a new bottle.
What we call "the Left" seems to be the West's chronic autoimmune disease that flares up about once or twice a century to instrumentalize and weaponize all the injustice and suffering inherent in the world and turn it into a great spiritual and moral battle, as a new generation of alienated secular intellectuals cook up a new ideology to enlist the aggrieved, the miserable, the young and gullible—it's money that's the root of evil! no, it's society! no, it's whitey! no, it's norms like having to obey mom and dad! ad infinitum...
And another constant here, as displayed in previous Left eruptions, is how weak and supine the liberal class is in face of anyone who claims they're "making the world a better place" and/or that they speak on behalf of the Oppressed. All of these campus kindergarten tantrums could have been ended many years ago if even ONE college admin or prez had delivered a strong penalty for an illiberal outburst—but not one student has been expelled or even had their scholarship yanked, no matter how hateful or toxic or moronic their behavior.
Hopefully a few good things will come from this mass public outpouring of support for a barbaric massacre: No one will believe anymore that the campus Red Guard and their gurus have any principles except accruing power to attack their enemies and no one will believe anymore that we can expect any strength of character from any credentialed and well-paid member of the liberal ruling class.
This is the eternal dynamic of the Left vs the liberal class: deranged apocalyptic moralism aka destroying all that exists for "Justice" battering spineless cowards with no real beliefs except money and status, who are willing to excuse and forgive anything as long as they get to keep their corner office and 401(k).
But if the past holds true, we also know how this will end: both these groups will destroy each other and destroy all they can get their hands on, and the rest of us will get to live in the rubble.
Decolonization: coming soon to a theater near you. When the far leftists say "settlers aren't civilians" they aren't just talking about Israel. Among the pro Hamas protesters are the same Antifa BLM TRA crowd that's been coming for loan forgiveness, reparations and land back "by any means necessary." If we are to stop them we need to recognize the threat, including our own radicalized fair haired youth. Thanks for all your excellent connecting of dots, Brad.
Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon won't say it publicly, but Israel is doing them all a huge favor by degrading Hamas.
Maybe your most brilliant column yet - exceedingly well written & thoroughly researched. Well done Brad!
Three things. First has anyone caught on to the irony that most of the people supporting "decolonization efforts" were also the same ones claiming that legions of Nazi's were about to take over America and "gas ze Juden"? Second, please don't bring Noah Rothman into this. The guy is Bill Kristol levels of neocon with the same levels of hypocrisy and self-awareness. Finally, I am fucking enraged that a bunch of the progressive wine mom writer crowd are trying to pretend that somehow these anti-Semitic lefty college students are anything but lefty college students. They sure don't look like Republicans to me with all the rainbow flags and decrying "whiteness".
I think what unites both Muslim and lefty antisemitism is the fact that Jews are a small minority and are usually doing extremely well compared to the broader population and especially some other minorities. It suggests that it's culture to a large extent, not "race", that determines success in a free market system. The Muslim world sees Israel, which in a couple decades turned a desert devoid of natural resources into a garden and a modern, first-world country while most of the Muslim population still lives in relative squalor with little education beyond their one book. Even the vast natural resources in some Muslim countries can only be exploited with Western help. A Muslim country without oil would look a lot like Gaza, producing nothing but extremists.
Great article as usual, Brad! I was a little surprised that we didn't see this "ad", but maybe you haven't seen it yet:
https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1724905212169838905
As if the problem is white kids online saying "Hitler was right" and not the throngs of people taking over city blocks........
Sadly most Jewish Americans don't recognize the round-about they entered has the same exit as the cul-de-sac they keep circling in.
Personally one of the most frustrating things is this oppressor/oppressed framework is basically a giant ridiculous layer cake conspiracy theory. Yet, the elite college students who believe it would call Me a conspiracy theorist for saying “Isn’t it odd (proven in Twitter Files Number 9) the CIA was sitting on group calls with every tech entity from Twitter to the damn Wikimedia Foundation?” And “Don’t you find it strange that the same groups (Open Society, Ford, MacArthur, Knight) fund pro-censorship groups as well as both Anti-Oxy (P.A.I.N.) and “Anti-Drug War” groups like Drug Policy Alliance.
Hell, the elite college antisemites would probably call Me an antisemite for being angry at what Open Society bankrolls.
I've been looking for a good definition and explainer of intersectionality. I'm always so impressed by your articles. This one was great!
The irony, of course, is that the ADL is perhaps the biggest spreader of the anti-white "supremacist" slander which gave rise to all the DIE bullshit, which in turn has now turned its sights on the Jews:
https://patrick.net/post/1330903/2020-03-21-we-need-a-new-adl?start=8#comment-2000859
And they continue with that slander, no matter how obvious it becomes that it's only the far left and Muslims who are marching for the destruction of Israel.
FTr i was initially against Israel’s response as I felt they were doing what Hamas wanted them to do. I do not think I was wrong about hamas’ plan. But it may be backfiring. Berenson had a good article on that.
I will reply to fully & properly later. But you are wrong about Hamas using hospitals as covers for their weapons. They have made most of that area an anthill of underground tunnels & weapons storage. Especially under schools, hospitals & the like as they use these as shields. The full scale of this may not be known until this stage of this war is over.
Here's a headline for you that has been accepted by Israel, "Israel revises down toll from October 7 attack to ‘around 1,200’ Israelis. Officials say the original death toll of 1,400 included unidentified corpses now believed to be Hamas fighters." No babies found beheaded, and no definitive proof that women were raped. Many Israelis were killed as they hid in their houses, or were held hostage by Hamas, killed by Israeli soldiers. Also, lets get something straight, Netanyahu courted Hamas, empowered them, since neither wanted a two state solution, which undermined Abas, who did. Gazans resided in an outdoor prison, with no way our and were periodically slaughtered. Their lives were restricted and impoverished for many years, and mostly young people, children who never even voted for Hamas.Going back a bit, many blame Netanyahu for the death of Yitzhak Rabin due to his incendiary rhetoric in regard to the Oslo accords. I doubt if most people who are protesting excuse what Hamas did, so what are they protesting? They are protesting the ongoing slaughter of mostly young people, children since they constitute half of the Gazan population. Their hospitals are being bombed with the lie that Hamas have dug their tunnels under these hospitals. Babies are dying in Gaza, and sometimes I see a mother trying to comfort her dead child she rocks in her arms. Where the hell is your empathy for that? The carnage no doubt made easier by the perspective Gallant spewed out, animals, not deserving of food, or water, or fuel. This is what people are protesting and you don't even have the heart to see it, or feel compassion, Shame on you! Too bad so many German's never had compassion for Jews , Poles, Gypsies, etc slaughtered by Hitler, and never spoke out against their carnage.