Hi, Christina, and thank you for another insightful article. I just want clarify a few things, because wow, the conflict between Israel and Gaza is a volatile topic right now!
For one thing, as a strong opponent to Critical Social Justice (CSJ), I would never support a fundamentalist terrorist organization like Hamas. But that does not mean I support a Zionist ethno-centric apartheid state like Israel. Its Zionist government's oppression of the Palestinians was directly responsible for provoking Islamic extremists to create Hamas. Trying to understand why groups like Hamas come into existence, and holding *all* guilty parties in a situation like this accountable, is NOT "supporting" or defending Hamas's actions. I believe stopping the slaughter of both innocent Jewish and Palestinian people calls for taking neither the side of Zionism nor Islamic fundamentalism, as both routinely destroy innocent lives in the name of "protecting" a specific group of people.
Hence, I am not one of those SJWs who cheerleads for Hamas. But I also most certainly do not ignore right-wing Zionist culpability in these thousands of lives lost -- both in Israel and in Gaza. You might want to check out this article of mine arguing that we should not take sides between the Israeli Zionist government and Hamas, and should instead demand a peaceful integration of Jewish and Palestinian people within a democratic framework that will respect both religions but will not allow *any* form of theocracy. Extremists will always exist wherever there is material and political inequality.
Now, one final matter. I am myself a Marxist, yet I am fully against the SJW mentality, as anyone who has read my writings here, on Medium and elsewhere can fully attest. It is often said that Critical Social Justice is inspired by Marxism, but in truth Karl Marx would turn in his grave if he could see this phenomenon today,. This is because competition within the demographics of the working class -- which CSJ basically is -- is anathema to Marxian ideology, which stands firmly for class unity, not unity based on immutable traits we're born with or religious choices. CSJ's ultimate source is big corporations like BlackRock, who impose ESG and DEI scores on companies for the purpose of dividing the working class. SJWs are silly for sometimes invoking the name of Marx, and they only do that in a desperate attempt to gain respect from the Left.
To integrate both of these points together: I am anti-Israel while simultaneously being anti-Hamas because I am against *all* forms of ethno-centric "protection" or power. That said, as a Classical Marxist, I am pro-working class, meaning full support for 99% of all Jewish and Palestinian people -- and everyone else -- while opposing all forms of separatism and division within our class. That puts me firmly against ideologies like both Zionism and the form of extremist Islamic fundamentalism that Hamas represents.
I’m sure you realize that 20% of Israel’s population is Arab. Mostly Muslim. I have no idea what you mean by apartheid in this context and also ethno state. There are multiple ethnicities and religions within Israel. Other than being a word salad tossed and thrown around, these words are silly.
But oh so righteous and self important. Facts bounce off him and, obviously, he knows exactly what we Jews are all about. JVP told him! He’s been hollowed out and filled with so much bullshit his eyeballs are floating. I’m grateful such an intellectual beacon is living on his parents’ couch in one of the last countries (for now) where he can keep this sophomoric struggle session going as long as someone else feeds him and clothes him. People who’ve survived the ‘Classical Liberalism’ he thinks he advocates, wouldn’t spit on him if he was on fire. He’d be too useless to even strip for parts, if the people he reveres come to power. Silly, useless little ‘activist’. Just laugh and shake your head, you, Christina and Penny tried. Valiant effort wasted on a weak, stupid, vain little brain.
These insults do not change any of the points I made, Meta. By doing so, you show that you had your nerves touched by inconvenient facts, rather than because I said anything that was untrue. But you are correct that words in favor of Zionism, and attempts to connect Zionism to the Jewish people, along with going off the rails when one side does horrible things but not the other, makes it clear that we should be siding with *no ideology, whether religious or political* that espouses hatred or destructive military acts against a specific group of people.
Jewish messianism has been spreading its poisonous message among us for nearly two thousand years. Democratic and communist universalisms are more recent, but they have only strengthened the old Jewish narrative. These are the same ideals . . .
The transnational, transracial, transcultural ideals that these ideologies preach to us (beyond peoples, races, cultures) and are the daily diet in our schools, in our media, in our pop culture, in our universities and on our streets, have reduced our biosymbolic identity and ethnic pride to their minimal expression.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are death cults that originated in the Middle East and are completely alien to Europe and its peoples.
Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for? Part of the explanation lies in the fact that Islam and Marxism share a common ideological root: Judaism.
Don Rumsfeld was right to say, "Europe has shifted on its axis," the wrong side has won World War II, and it is becoming clearer by the day . . .
What has NATO done to defend Europe?
Absolutely nothing.
My enemies are not in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran, Riyadh or some ethereal Teutonic bogeyman, but in Washington, Brussels and Tel Aviv.
For what it may be worth, Clarence, I am a Marxist, but of the Classical sort, who actually follows the formulation conceived by Marx and Engels of a classless, stateless, and moneyless society entirely controlled by workers that has effectively nothing in common with the authoritarian, bureaucrat-controlled "communism" formed by the followers of Lenin in what became the Soviet Union and other close variants formed by Mao in China and elsewhere. In 1917, Russia lacked the technology necessary to achieve what Marx described, and so Lenin's vanguardists instead created a very class-divided society controlled by a despotic bureaucratic class who claimed they would first industrialize the nation and then step down and turn it over to the workers. Of course, that is not what the ruling class ended up doing, since they never cede power willingly.
As for one of your questions regarding the Mainstream Left that you asked. As noted, I'm of the Classical Left, not the regressive type that inundate us with divisive, anti-white and anti-male identity politics instead of economic unification of all workers. You asked:
"Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for?"
That is part of the Regressive Left's rampant hypocrisy, and the fact that their ideology is based on emotion rather than reasoned thought. They support all aspects of Islam while hating Christianity despite the similarities in the thinking of the more fundamentalist aspects because they equate Islam with Eastern society and thus people of color, while equating Christianity (and Judaism) with Western society and thus white people.
It's as simple as that. Since anything they associate with PoC and Eastern society cannot by definition ever be bad and since nothing they equate with white people and Western society cannot by definition ever be good, they judge by racial & geographic association rather than by what the tenets of the religion actually says.
It's ethno-centric because it's technically a *Jewish state* with a ruling class that is openly Zionist. That was admitted even by your fellow detractors. Yes, other ethnic groups and religions are allowed to live there but they *do not* have the same rights as Jewish citizens, or even any Jewish people anywhere in the world, whose ethnicity gives them automatic citizenship *even if they were not actually born in Israel*.
Openly Zionist? As opposed to what, specifically? Zionism in 2023 means believing in tne continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Do you
think the government would be secretly Zionist?
Yes there is a law of return for Jews. Our history as a people make that very important. Israel is the national expression of Judaism which has been embedded within Judaism since its beginning.
If Israel doesn’t fit your concept of how the world should work that’s on you actually.
And BTW it is a multi ethnic multi racial society.
"Openly Zionist? As opposed to what, specifically?"
As opposed to being openly democratic with no separatist ideology for any specific ethnic group or religion.
"Zionism in 2023 means believing in tne continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state"
Bingo!!
"think the government would be secretly Zionist?"
There is no need to in the current political climate.
"Yes there is a law of return for Jews. Our history as a people make that very important. Israel is the national expression of Judaism which has been embedded within Judaism since its beginning."
Which is blatantly separatist and which takes the absolute *wrong* message from the Holocaust. I am of full-blooded Italian descent and Wiccan by religion, and I would be equally opposed to a nation favoring Italians over anyone else or officially a Wicca-enforced state.
And with "law or return" meaning an ideological dedication to revenge and slaughtering anyone who will not live under the heel of Zionism. Which includes non-Zionist Jewish people, it seems.
"If Israel doesn’t fit your concept of how the world should work that’s on you actually."
No, it does not fit my conception of a peaceful and democratic world where everyone is equal and there are no military/state enforced separatist agendas. Hence, I fight for the world order I believe in since the one we have is filled with inequality and war. There are large numbers of your people, including those comprising the group Jewish People for Peace, that are against Zionism and deny its validity to the religion, and I am proud of them for standing up for true equality in the world.
"And BTW it is a multi ethnic multi racial society."
It has multi ethnic and racial groups living there, but none have the rights of people of Jewish descent who live *anywhere in the world* because Israel is, by your admittance, a *Jewish* state.
Yes it is a Jewish state. I fail to actually see a problem there. Minority rights are protected. Somehow it offends you that there is one Jewish state very tiny in tne world. How many Muslim states? I’m so sure you’re upset about the founding of Pakistan in 1948. Really upsetting. And all the Muslim states of the world really hard for you to bear.
But what’s the hardest for you is those Jews having the gall to have national aspirations.
The world prefers dead Jews and can’t deal with Jewish power.
"Yes it is a Jewish state. I fail to actually see a problem there."
As I said, for exactly the reason I would have a problem with an Italian state, or a Palestinian state, or a Swahili state, etc. It's a form of separatism, it leads to supremacist ideals that in turn lead to inequality against certain other groups of people, whether living within that state or in neighboring states, and that in turn leads to acts of military aggression with individuals tribalistically taking sides against one or the other rather than eschewing war and inequality altogether.
"inority rights are protected."
They are not, which the war on Gaza makes abundantly clear. Along with the fact that no one who is not of Jewish descent has the same rights as ethnic Jews in Israel, and in fact, Jewish citizens cannot even marry someone who is Arab.
"Somehow it offends you that there is one Jewish state very tiny in tne world."
Firstly, it would equally offend my principles if any other ethnic group created an ethnocracy for exactly the same reason. It's not about Jews specifically, it's about any type of ideology like Zionism, particularly as a policy for an entire nation, no matter what ethnic group it claimed to be "representing."
Secondly, for a tiny state in terms of square miles, Israel has a lot of military power and a huge amount of military and economic aid from the United States and Britain. This makes it the metaphorical equivalent of a very short person who has the power of Superman, along with the entire Justice League backing them up. So, it can do -- and does do -- a lot of damage for its size. It basically serves as a U.S. military depot in the Middle East.
"How many Muslim states?"
I likewise do not support any nation based on Sharia law, and in fact have criticized the U.S. for siding with Saudi Arabia as much as Israel, as it likewise oppresses its people and attacks other nations around it. I would have done the same if Saudi Arabia was the only Muslim nation in the world.
"I’m so sure you’re upset about the founding of Pakistan in 1948. Really upsetting. And all the Muslim states of the world really hard for you to bear."
I do not support the creation of a separate Palestinian state, for the record. I support the peaceful integration of the Jewish and Palestinian people, as well as other ethnic groups in the region, under a single egalitarian state that does not favor any one particular ethnic group or religion over any other. So, you got me -- and the point I'm trying to make -- wrong there.
"But what’s the hardest for you is those Jews having the gall to have national aspirations."
No, but for *an* specific ethnic and/or religious group having the gall to have national aspirations. Or, more specifically, for *some* Jewish people with aspirations of obtaining power doing so by using the great majority of Jewish people and their past sufferings as an excuse to do the same thing that led to the Holocaust against Jews, but having no problem with that is long as it's a different ethnic, racial, or religious group.
This is what ethno-centrism, a ruling class based on it, ultimately leads to. This is why so many Jewish people are laudably against Zionism, with members of Jewish People for Peace engaging in mass protests against the slaughter of thousands of innocent Palestinians over what Hamas did...
... and numerous Jewish citizens living in Israel staging a mass protest outside of Netanyahu's home. These Jewish citizens also loathe Netanyahu for some of his recent very non-democratic "reforms."
They do not want Zionists -- whether or Jewish descent or otherwise -- doing such things in their name. They do not want to see another Holocaust no matter which demographic(s) happens to be the target this time.
"The world prefers dead Jews and can’t deal with Jewish power."
Sorry, but that Straw Man attack doesn't work anymore. Egalitarians like myself, and like those who comprise Jewish People for Peace, want a world with Jewish people living peacefully with everyone else.
Any group seeking power on the alleged behalf of another group always leads to war, hatred, separatist ideologies, and inequality. And, ultimately, to a Holocaust-like event. No group of people handles disproportionate power well. And only a few people at the top of the totem pole truly benefit.
Note the situation with the SJWs in the Western nations as another good example of this. These various minority groups handled power no better than the white male heterosexuals they routinely spew hatred and criticism at. This is the point: NO group should have disproportionate power over any other group of people. Because all human beings have the same flaws and will abuse such power, with only a small number of them truly benefiting from that power.
I want to see neither dead Jews nor dead Palestinians, nor dead people from any other group of people.
But when you take sides between two extremist ideologies, whether it be Zionism or Muslim fundamentalism in this case, you end up de-humanizing the other "side" and not caring if people "represented" by the opposing ideology end up dead. That is exactly what happened to the Jews and other European ethnic groups by Nazi Germany and people of Chinese & Korean descent by Imperial Japan during the years leading up to and into World War II. I don't want to see that happen to *any group* of people ever again.
Hence, my strong opposition to all separatist ideologies that have (to use your words) aspirations to power.
"So sad."
What is truly said is the perpetual cycle of violence going on between the IDF and Hamas, due to aspirations of power and revenge by both sides, with innocent Jewish and Palestinian people caught in the crossfire. Every murder committed by one side results in more recruits of the extremist ideology. This cycle needs to stop. So I refuse to ignore what is happening to everyone in the working class who is caught in the middle of a hellscape created by people who aspire to power in general.
I no more support a "Muslim" state than I do a "Jewish" state. We must also not forget that being a Jew is also an ethnic attribute, not just religious. That means it's an ethno-centric government, as it automatically grants citizenship all over the world if you happen to be Jewish by descent, not if you happen to practice Judaism.
Hamas does not actually go back that far. It was created in 1987. It's an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya , which translates to "Islamic Resistance Movement." Guess who the resistance was aimed at?
"So no, Israel is NOT responsible for the creation of Hamas."
I'm sorry, but the treatment of people in Gaza by Israel has caused a huge amount of global backlash against the Zionist government, including by the United Nations itself and many liberal, non-Zionist Jews, both within and outside of Israel.
"Arab Muslim nations, which have relentlessly attacked Israel and have refused to offer citizenship to Palestinian refugees, are responsible for the creation of Hamas."
The Israeli government -- NOT the Jewish people as a whole I will remind readers -- have repeatedly carried out the imperialist will of the U.S. in the region, and vice versa. The relationship is entirely based on military strategy, not humanitarian sentiment.
Those Muslim nations are small and starved for resources compared to Israel. Just because other nations will not take them does not give Netanyahu the right to slaughter them and commit genocide. That land should be generously shared by the Jewish and Palestinian people as equals, with democratic provisions disallowing any theocracy to form.
"If you are truly anti-ethnocentric states, then why aren't you out in the streets protesting against Yemen? Or Iran? Or Saudi Arabia? Or Qatar? Or so many other brutal Islamic theocracies?"
One, I have strongly protested many things that Saudi Arabia and these other nations have done. I am not for them, but against Israel.
Two, those nations are not ethno-centric so much as theocratic dictatorships. I have long opposed them and supported movements for democratic reform in their nations.
Three, I never supported with Hamas did. But ignoring what Israel is doing with its military assault on Gaza has already killed nearly 13,000 innocent people at this writing That is going to recruit more and more Palestinians into the arms of Hamas. I want the killing of all innocent people to stop. The Israeli government's "solution" is every bit as bad as what Hamas did, and creating an open-air prison is a pressure cooker of chaos. Netanyahu knows this and is taking advantage of it to carry out his military and imperialist objectives while hiding behind his Jewish heritage. This has understandably caused numerous Jewish people to oppose Zionism, because they want the killing to stop.
Note that they want the killing of *all* innocent people to stop, not just Jewish people alone. They do not want slaughter and oppression carried out in their name.
"Why is the only place in the Middle East where a woman or homosexual can live freely targeted with such venom by so called "Leftists"?"
First of all, let's not use that card. They are using women's rights and LGBT rights the same way the U.S. government uses them to carry out acts of military aggression by recruiting women and LGBTs into the CIA and giving them the opportunity to control automated drones that drop bombs on heavily populated civilian areas.
I live among many Muslims in the U.S., and they usually behave quite well, and grow increasingly liberal over time, when living among people of all ethnic backgrounds, religions, and sexual orientations. I dislike Sharia Law as much as you, but that does not give us the right to justify what Zionist aggression is doing to those people. They are still human beings, like it or not... and whether you like *them* or not.
Also, a state based on Zionism is not a true democracy. If you are not of Jewish heritage, you have far less rights there. In fact, the Zionist government is not overly friendly to LGBTs, and it will not even let Jewish citizens marry someone of Middle Eastern descent.
"Sorry, Christopher, but I smell a rat."
What you smell, Penny, is my stance against any form of separatist ideology that holds more value on This group of people than That group. Even if my social values happen to be closer to those of This group over That group. All human beings deserve ethical treatment. If any of us truly believes we are better than them, then we need to stop behaving like the worst of them.
"Also, Israel may be the only state in the Middle East that DOESN'T practice apartheid."
Sorry, but Israel is a *Jewish* state, with more rights granted to Jewish people living anywhere in the world than anyone who is gentile. It oppresses Palestinians on the basis of they're being Palestinian. Its right-wing government conducts military and land-grabbing campaigns while hiding behind the name of a specific ethnic group.
That has *all* the basic characteristics of an apartheid state. This has been noted by no less an organization as Amnesty International:
At this writing, nearly 13,000 innocent civilians in Gaza has been killed. This horrific military-based "retaliation" is going to stoke the flames of Hamas more than ever, and likely cause many other Middle Eastern nations to enter the fray... thus potentially costing many more innocent lives of Jewish descent.
This has been acknowledged on a mainstream news outlet like CNN:
The biggest rat I smell is anyone arguing that the above is acceptable. That is not self-defense, it's brutal slaughter on a massive basis.
"Arab Muslims and Christians have the same rights and freedoms in Israel that Jews have; and they serve in the Israeli Knesset and on the Israeli Supreme Court."
No, they do not; that is in words only.
"How are Jews treated in Iran? Or Egypt? Or Saudi Arabia? (etc)"
The Jewish people would be treated far better if Zionists stopped connecting their insane separatist ideology with Jews, or even Judaism itself.
"Yet Israel is the nation that gets demonized. Not the Muslim nations that treat women like livestock, torture dissidents, and execute homosexuals."
To be clear, Penny, I am of the Classical Left, not the Mainstream Left, the latter of which includes SJWs. They are total hypocrites who turn a blind eye towards who women and LGBTs are treated in those countries because they equate the Muslim religion with Eastern society and Muslims with people of color. Those of us on the Classical Left who do not revere identity politics are equally concerned about *any* type of oppression. We fully support the end of Sharia theocracies, or any type of theocracy. However, carpet bombing a nation is not going to accomplish that. It has to come about by a combination of activism from within and without.
"Could this be another case of scapegoating Jews, which has been done throughout millennia?"
That old Straw Man card is not going to work with me, Penny, and in fact, it's so overused that it's increasingly losing steam. I have made it very clear, as have Jewish activists from groups like Jewish People for Peace, that it's Zionism and imperialist policies in general that we're against -- *not* Jewish people. Netanyahu and his IDF puppets represent Zionism, *not* Jewish people. And civil libertarians on the Classical Left like me oppose *all* forms of imperialist actions and ideologies that justify such behavior *regardless* of the ethnic or religious affiliation of political leaders who carry them out.
Jewish messianism has been spreading its poisonous message among us for nearly two thousand years. Democratic and communist universalisms are more recent, but they have only strengthened the old Jewish narrative. These are the same ideals . . .
The transnational, transracial, transcultural ideals that these ideologies preach to us (beyond peoples, races, cultures) and are the daily diet in our schools, in our media, in our pop culture, in our universities and on our streets, have reduced our biosymbolic identity and ethnic pride to their minimal expression.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are death cults that originated in the Middle East and are completely alien to Europe and its peoples.
Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for? Part of the explanation lies in the fact that Islam and Marxism share a common ideological root: Judaism.
Don Rumsfeld was right to say, "Europe has shifted on its axis," the wrong side has won World War II, and it is becoming clearer by the day . . .
What has NATO done to defend Europe?
Absolutely nothing.
My enemies are not in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran, Riyadh or some ethereal Teutonic bogeyman, but in Washington, Brussels and Tel Aviv.
Yes. The more you inflict violence, the more it gets inflicted on you, in a never-ending cycle. That is why diplomacy and establishing a system of equality for everyone has a place in the world.
It has never really been tried. Hamas has actually offered ceasefires and been turned down. What you need to understand is Netanyahu and how the Zionist mindset works. His goal is not to "protect" the Jewish people, but to use them as a power base for himself and the rest of the Israeli ruling class and their Zionist hangers-on in AIPAC. It's not a simple manner of bad guys hating just because they're bad, and a heroic champion fighting for the freedom of his people.
The biggest matter, is so many people having no issues with what Israel does to civilian populations to "defend itself". Note, for example, that you didn't say "Hamas," but you said "Palestinians. " Whereas I have consistently only critiqued and called out the Zionists, not the Jewish people as a whole.
If you only start in the middle of the whole thing by berating what Hamas did while overlooking what the IDF did, and has been doing, then it becomes clear that you aren't being objective, and it's not about saving innocent lives in general.
Thank you for all that you’ve shared. To build upon everything you have written Christofer, the image with maps in the original post is also very misleading. Just because a nation was ruled by the British after the Ottoman empire, there were Palestinians owning land there including my father and family. They were forced out at gunpoint in Acre and among 700k to flee with only what they could carry from what became Israel in 1948.
I always worry about speaking this because it can get misconstrued as antisemitism. It is not. I have many Jewish friends. There is a difference between not agreeing with Zionist policies or belief systems, and knowing what really happened from first hand accounts (note he also had to leave the West Bank when that became occupied. Poor luck?).
I always wonder, after the horror of the holocaust, how it is many of these same acts are being repeated? And with nazism and white supremacy on the rise in the U.S., when will we learn from our history?
Thank you for saying this, Sam, since as you can see, too many people are afraid to speak out against Zionism or the Israeli government's atrocities against Palestinians that in turn provoke atrocities against innocent Jewish people out of fear that they will be called "antisemitic" and "cancelled."
Everyone who lives in the area now covering Israel and Gaza have an ethical right to live there, and it should be under a democratic government that affords truly equal rights to people of all ethnic backgrounds and religion while disallowing any form of religion to be writ into law. That is most certainly not what Israel currently is, and the bloodlust of pro-Zionists is every bit as reprehensible as that of Hamas members. In fact, the two feed on each other in a perpetual cycle of violence, and both have no place in a world actually dedicated to peace.
And for the record, white supremacy and Neo-Nazism remains quite small in the U.S. Claims to the contrary are initiated by the Democrats who want to run a fear-based campaign to get us to vote for them, and at the same time distract the American working class with divisive rhetoric to keep us at each others' throats, to distract us from the fact that they have *no* policies to help us economically. We need to abandon the capitalist duopoly, the same one that is also fueling the war machine in the Middle East. Their military support of Israel and Zionism is a major part of war profiteering for the Military Industrial Complex.
Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) have every right to say what they like about Israel and the genocide of Palestinians as elected members of the US House of Representatives; they never took an oath to serve Israel . . .
I voted for Ron Desantis (R-FL) to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel.
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia . . .
Was he running for speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
Following his ouster . . . McCarthy (R-CA) traveled abroad again, this time to England, and expressed his open contempt for the white Republicans who make up the majority of the GOP and praised Democrats for their diversity during a debate at Oxford in the wake of his ouster as House Speaker . . .
Is he now running for the Prime Minister of the U.K.?
Nevertheless, he is free to go on media tours bashing white people and lobbying for Israel, because he has now resigned from the US House of Representatives . . . I can only conclude that the collective RINO butthurt over former Speaker McCarthy is all about the Israelis who have hijacked the American deep state war machine.
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
"I am on the side of Israel because they are a beacon of hope in the middle of brutal backward ethno-centric autocracies whom "Leftists" do nothing to oppose."
A nation whose government slaughters 13,000 innocent people, including 8,000 at a refugee camp that was nearly 50% children, is not a beacon of hope for anything but are tools for an unending cycle of violence and separatist power-grabbing that only innocent people of various ethnic and religious affiliations in the working class will have to suffer from, not the ruling class war-mongers carrying this out.
Since the IDF and Hamas carry out the same types of behavior with the same excuses behind them, I am going to side with neither because I want the senseless mass killings on either side to stop.
And ethno-centrism does not apply to a nation whose predominant population is based this immutable trait, but on a government that specifically favors such people. Islam does not apply to an ethnicity, but only a religion. Being Jewish, however, applies to both an ethnic and religious affiliation. If Israel were not ethno-centric, it would grant superior rights to anyone who wants to be of Jewish descent. People who practice Judaism as a religion but are not Jewish by descent are not afforded those rights.
Israel is not perfect, but it is a compassionate paradise compared to all other Middle East nations.
"I hope Israel frees the Palestinians by decimating Hamas."
Carpet bombing a huge civilian population is only going to fan the flame of more people joining organizations like Hamas. A military solution to the terrorist problem, instead of making it a law enforcement matter, is a huge mistake. And as long as Zionism remains intact, the provocation that leads to such organizations will continue.
"I hope the evil ideology of Islamism is crushed as decisively as the Nazis were."
I think the fact that you dislike the Islamic religion while giving a free pass to Zionism, and in fact all but ignoring the existence of Zionism, is at the crux of this lop-sided favoritism. Sharia Law can be dealt with by allowing Muslims to live in a progressive, democratic framework that allows no theocracy to form. Then the religion liberalizes to adapt.
"That's the only way violence in the Middle East will end, and the only way Israel/Palestine will ever be democratically integrated."
The only way for violence in the Middle East to end is to stop committing acts of violence in the Middle East. For that to happen, Zionism has to end, what is now Israel has to be changed into a non-ethnic democracy, and the Jewish and Palestinian people can be peaceably integrated.
I’ll just pick one thing: “A nation whose government slaughters 13,000 innocent people, including 8,000 at a refugee camp that was nearly 50% children”
How do you know this? You’re giving the total death toll Hamas is listing, which I don’t trust at all seeing as they said 500 died when a hospital was bombed by Israel, when the hospital was not bombed, there was an explosion in a parking lot, and the death toll they gave was off by at least a factor of 10 but may be off by a factor of 100. I care about reality, clearly the “Gaza Health Ministry” doesn’t care as much about that.
Also, they’re listing total, as in all people dead. Unless you think Israel has managed to kill 0 Hamas members, there’s no way all 13,000 were civilians. Hamas members do not wear uniform and bombs are grim affairs, they blow bodies apart. If they find a military age male corpse, they often wouldn’t have a way to identify that corpse as Hamas or not Hamas, not that they’re trying, they want to maximize listed civilian deaths to get international pressure on Israel to stop. If Hamas could get away with saying a ridiculous number like 100,000 dead, they’d say it in a heartbeat, I believe even you might question that number.
The Ukraine War has more reporting, has been going on for much longer, and we have no idea what the death toll is.
Look up any recent war on Wikipedia, the death toll is a range and usually it’s years before even the range is nailed down.
You have no idea the full death toll, I have no idea the full death toll, nor does Hamas, nor does Israel.
Unless you’re omniscient, the Fog of War is clouding your mind.
"How do you know this? You’re giving the total death toll Hamas is listing, which I don’t trust at all seeing as they said 500 died when a hospital was bombed by Israel, when the hospital was not bombed, there was an explosion in a parking lot, and the death toll they gave was off by at least a factor of 10 but may be off by a factor of 100. I care about reality, clearly the “Gaza Health Ministry” doesn’t care as much about that."
The Palestinian Health Ministry has never been questioned before, and saying it's controlled by Hamas not only has no evidence to substantiate that but has a highly political motivation behind it.
"Also, they’re listing total, as in all people dead. Unless you think Israel has managed to kill 0 Hamas members, there’s no way all 13,000 were civilians. Hamas members do not wear uniform and bombs are grim affairs, they blow bodies apart. If they find a military age male corpse, they often wouldn’t have a way to identify that corpse as Hamas or not Hamas, not that they’re trying, they want to maximize listed civilian deaths to get international pressure on Israel to stop. If Hamas could get away with saying a ridiculous number like 100,000 dead, they’d say it in a heartbeat, I believe even you might question that number."
That was part of my point. Some of them were obviously Hamas members or sympathizers, but the great majority was not. The point being, the IDF is killing large numbers of innocent Palestinians to get at a comparative few number of Hamas agents. And every innocent Palestinian killed is witnessed by civilians who are new potential recruits for Hamas due to the shock, horror, and anger. Which will turn this into a perpetual cycle that the U..S. Military Industrial Complex and the Israeli Zionist government profit from, but which comes at the expense of innocent Jewish and Palestinian people.
"The Ukraine War has more reporting, has been going on for much longer, and we have no idea what the death toll is."
It can never be 100% accurate, but we have a good idea with objective data sent by various sources.
"Look up any recent war on Wikipedia, the death toll is a range and usually it’s years before even the range is nailed down."
I think it's safe to say at this point that the IDF -- like Hamas -- is not avoiding civilian lives and property. Netanyahu is a total lunatic with designs on claiming Gaza, who is anything but pro-Democracy, which is why so many Israeli citizens of Jewish descent are turning on him in large numbers. He is no champion of Jewish freedom or "freedom" in any sense.
We need to stop this war and work towards a peaceful integration of Jewish and Palestinian citizens as equals.
"Unless you’re omniscient, the Fog of War is clouding your mind."
I highly doubt the stats are so far off the mark that the IDF is undeserving of condemnation. No one is questioning the 1,400 Jewish lives reported lost at the rave which Hamas attacked -- including me. What they did was terrible, what the Zionist government of Israel has done to provoke that situation and its response to this one is equally terrible -- but it's likely the death toll is far greater. It wasn't too difficult to figure out the 8,000 number death toll in the refugee camp that the IDF attacked during its earliest salvos.
And I think, Jester, if the Fog of War was truly clouding my mind I would be taking one side or the other rather than calling for an end to both separatist ideologies like Zionism *and* Muslim fundamentalist extremism. I do not want to see any civilians of any ethnic group dying, and I do not want to see any power cell -- whether it be a national government or a terrorist group -- profit off a destructive perpetual war.
I legitimately do appreciate a thorough response here but we’re going to run into an impasse due to what evidence we require to believe something.
I checked all those Youtube videos and none of them counter the specific example I mentioned whatsoever. A month ago the Gaza Health Ministry claimed “more than 500 people” died in an airstrike on a hospital. This was on the front page of the New York Times. I saw the images. The explosion was:
1. Not in the hospital, it was in the parking lot
2. It was not a JDAM strike (which is what Israel uses) because the crater was the size of a basketball.
3. There was more fire damage than blast damage, clearly due to the unspent fuel in a rocket spraying the parking lot.
4. I didn’t even need to see the picture to know this was absolutely ridiculous because one thing I know a lot about is the death toll from single bombs, and 500 people dying in a single bomb blast would be, as far as I know, the 2nd deadliest individual non-nuclear airstrike in the history of warfare, number 1 being a V2 rocket exploding inside a packed auditorium. There’s a reason when America and Britain decided they wanted to maximize civilian deaths, they used mass firebombing.
I lay all this out because, while I actually think this was a failure of the mainstream media first and foremost, it was a brazen lie on multiple levels by the Gaza Health Ministry. You’re telling me, after a lie that ridiculous, I should trust them?
“The Palestinian Health Ministry has never been questioned before”
Well I just questioned them.
“and saying it's controlled by Hamas not only has no evidence to substantiate that but has a highly political motivation behind it.”
The last time a government entity in Gaza broke from what Hamas wanted, Hamas killed them all. That’s why Fatah doesn’t exist in Gaza.
“Some of them were obviously Hamas members or sympathizers, but the great majority was not.”
This week potentially agree on, for reasons cited above, I simply do not trust the numbers. I think we can reasonably agree to disagree on that. I’ll come back to you in 3 years when historians have a better idea of the truth.
“And every innocent Palestinian killed is witnessed by civilians who are new potential recruits for Hamas due to the shock, horror, and anger.”
Potentially, but potentially not. Millions of German and Japanese civilians were burned to death, deliberately, and no one is joining the Hitler Youth in Germany and Japan is making anime. Note: I do not think Israel should actually firebomb Gaza. It’s good that true Total War isn’t a thing anymore.
For the rest of your comment, we’re going to have to agree to disagree, because, based on my knowledge of warfare death counts, as well as the trustworthiness of the sources, I simply don’t agree it comports with reality. This has absolutely nothing to do with my kneejerk belief of either side. I don’t trust Gazan number and I don’t trust IDF numbers. Based on that “hospital bombing” lie a month ago, I believe the GHM less.
We have a final disagreement though that underpins a lot of this though. I too hte the MIC, I especially don’t like the CIA, and I even have an axe to grind with Mossad due to the Inslaw Affair (look it up).
America is run by the Obama era Security State ghouls. They don’t like Israel. Obama and Netanyahu despise each other and broke more than a decade ago. Blinken, Sullivan, Brennan, Clapper, all helped build the JCPOA, which infuriated Israel and Saudi Arabia, but Obama didn’t care because he was building this new Iran/Qatar axis. Biden may personally like Israel but he’s a dementia addled CIA puppet, specifically the Obama era Security State. What’d he immediately do? Try to rebuild the JCPOA, infuriating Israel, again. Qatar floods our elite institutions and “progressive” NGOs and think tanks like CAP with more money than AIPAC could dream of. AIPAC may still have influence on congressional races, but Qatari money is vastly more influential on especially the youth of elite families.
Qatar has an iron grip on young elite left opinion. All power is future power, Qatar/Iran have future power, Israel only does on the Right.
So therein lies the fundamental disagreement. We both dislike the Surveillance State equally, but we believe their influences are the polar opposites from one another, which is probably intractable.
It’s very useful that this author explains the terms used by academics here bc it gives words to these disturbing phenomena, and they will help us (the real liberals) crawl out of the pseudo-reality-hell that the far-left (fake liberals) are trying to trap us in.
Civilian deaths on both sides, and any type of extremist and separatist ideology, is what is disturbing. Taking sides between two is even more disturbing. Doing that is the real trap we need to avoid.
A brilliant analysis; you’ve really insightfully encapsulated the intellectually vacuous pro-palestinian position, which lacks academic rigor. As if anyone is against the Palestinian ppl per se.
I am pro-working class. Which means I am against both Palestinian and Jewish civilians being killed. I am also against Palestinian oppression much as I am against the oppression of anyone. Which is why throughout this thread, and throughout all my articles, I have opposed both the Zionist government of Israel and extremist cells like Hamas.
I too find some issue with your reasoning. If 70% of Palestinians and numerous others around the world march. SJW are chasing teachers down, terrorizing students in dorms, smearing fake blood on buildings. Chanting genocidal tropes against Jews...I repeat myself, all in support OF Hamas...how does a Marxist thread that needle to say they support one group, but not the other? They are all intertwined. How you Marxist cannot see this, or the mental gymnastics you must do, has to be exhausting.
(However, that's the crux of Marxism. Eliminating others religion. Faith in community. Government or institutions. All of which, seem to be the replacement and provider for everyone's needs. Yet, everywhere sprouts Socialism, Communism, Authoritarian regimes. Starvation, sufferage and death. A system of haves and have nots. However, those guys got it wrong....we can do it better. Rinse and repeat.
The hubris of those in charge and our "intellectual betters" is astonishing.)
I think the biggest mistake everyone is making, ESPECIALLY Marxists, is one's religious beliefs. Make no mistake, this is, in the minds of an Islamic terrorist, only about religion. First the Jews, then the Christians. As for a true democracy in the Middle East, Isreal has Muslims, however, Palestine has no Jews.
As a matter of fact, why hasn't anyone reported about the Christian genocide taken place? Is that not worthy?
Colin isn't gay? I'm so embarrassed: I believe I wrote he was in a couple of essays, and maybe even sent him a few gay man-to-gay man DMs. Sorry about that!
I disagree with a couple of points. If anything, this support for Hamas is suffocating the social justice movement by flushing out its true nature. Elon Musk was clumsier than usual in his failure to explain that his actions and words weren't antisemitic; rather, he was echoing the voices of many Jewish socialists who had enabled Wokeism, the same way the Northeastern Protestant establishment did — the road to Woke hell has been paved with their good intentions — who are now appalled by what they're seeing. As a member of the latter group, and a native New Yorker in the entertainment biz who lives amidst the former, I can assure you that without their support, it dies from neglect.
In the end, Marxism has never been and never will be a threat to America for the simple reason that it's a pointless tautology — the system will address social injustices eventually, after careful deliberation and consensus. Any fretting to the contrary is judgment clouded by fear and hysteria, but it's pointless trying to sway pessimists who believe that America is on the verge of collapse, or that the sky is falling in general.
The question is, What will you and Colin do now that it's dying?
As for the dangers of indoctrination through critical theory, having been married to a queer/critical theory adjunct professor in London, and having attended a critical theory conference at Princeton well before this silliness became a menace, my take is it's a mechanism to supply modern philosophy students at the end of history; there's been nothing left to say in the theoretical branch of the discipline. Critical theory offers endless dissertation subjects through intersectionalities and other intellectual juju. They tend to follow a formula: A social trope + Freud/Jung/another psychologist or pseudoscientist + French Midcentury postmodern philosopher + pop culture phenom = dissertation.
It's not malicious indoctrination; there will be no killing fields in Connecticut. Elite Anglosphere schools will always be attractive to "Marxists." They get over it when they settle down. The fostering of social justice rebellion is an integral part of OG Yankee culture, trust me on that — it's America's raison d'être, literally. We don't take it seriously; nor should anyone else. It did get out of hand for a while.
Whisky, on the other hand, should be taken seriously — I know Colin's as passionate as I am about it.
My ex ended up a victim of his own teachings when he was passed over for tenureship after waiting 18 years for an opening. They'd told him to keep publishing — he published 5 books in as many years. They gave the position to a young Asian woman who'd only been there 2 years. Now his go-to phrase is "fuck identity," even though he remains an old-school, pre-social justice queer theorist.
I've actually written extensively about the origins of Wokeism and why America has embraced it so fervently. Those essays are under the 'Establishing Shots' section of my newsletter. But I've said my bit. Everyone's bored with social justice/Wokeism — it's dreary, ugly and loud. Same as with McCarthyism. I've moved on.
UTA just fired Susan Sarandon. That's a major repudiation of social justice from the custodians of world propaganda, who will never themselves pay for their many transgressions over the past ten years, but "That's Hollywood," as we remind each other constantly.
Your description of postmodernism is overly-simplistic, but other than that I appreciate what you’ve done. I was a professor of Humanities and Gender Studies until I retired, and I’ve been through these wars. These people gave us Trump and are on the verge of delivering him to us again. You might consider my substack: susanbordo.substack.com. And if you want to check out my books: bordocrossings.com.
the oslo accords were ment to allow israel and palestinians a chance to stop fighting. the Palestinians did stop fighting, with the exception of a few hold outs. Israel decided that instead of ending their 56-year harsh illegal military siege of millions of native people, that instead israel will ethnically cleanse and commit genocide against millions of people. israrl is commiting genocide on US tax payer dime with a blank check provided by US gov.
literially everything in this article about the palestinian issue is 100% false.
"Palestinians have started (and lost) every war" - this is a false reading of the present situation. its only israel that cynically continues its brutal illegal occupation of millions of native people that has been going on for 56 years. israel could end the occupation tomarrow. Palestinians pose zero threat to the nation of israel. hamas is a crime issue nothing more. Palestinians have stopped fighting for the most part. israelis continue to stomp of necks of innocent natives and are enacting genocide against them.
"palestinians rejected every offer for a two-state solution"
false. israrl never offered anything more than a bogus cynical offer that was nothing different than the brutal 56 year illegal occupation. israel is enacting genocide. their past bogus offers also offered genocide and ethnic cleasing. thanks but no thanks.
like gender ideology, the pro israel movement is a carefully crafted and well financed PR and lobby campaign whose purpose is to rob the rights of marginalized people on behalf of white men who are not marginalized but pretend to be.
eventually people figure out they were lied to by the pro israeli and gender ideology astro turf propaganda machines.
i heard pro israel people are offering big $ for small time media people to support israel. did you take the $ ?
because it sure seems like you did. tired tropes you level against people who have lived in palestine for 1000s of years are the zionist equivalent of "trans women are women" or trans genocide. the reality is these slogans were created to benefit white men. similarly your straw man explanation of palestinian supporters is way too complicated. yeah, i get that it applies to gender ideology in a limited context. but it doesnt apply to the israeli situation
I appreciate Christina Buttons' praiseworthy campaigning against the travesty of gender identity, but I beg to differ on the question of "postmodernism" -- which, admittedly, is open to multiple varying interpretations. I have explained that postmodernism is neither an offshoot of Marxism, nor allied with Marxism in any way. Jordan Peterson and James Lindsay notwithstanding, Marxism is nothing like what they think it is, although there are many semi-educated egotists who have decided to refer to themselves as "Marxists." Postmodernism was born in France after WWII and popularized by certain subjective idealists who deluded themselves into thinking they were "Marxists." Marxism, at the time, was popular. For a fuller treatment of this topic, see my Substack essay:
It’s a fair point, and I agree that Peterson and Lindsay pure arrow of direction from Marxism to where we are now is oversimplifying things, which can be proven by the fact that there are Marxists and leftists of all stripes who have found this ridiculous from even before the Sokal Affair.
But they’re not wrong in saying they’re “allied” in at least some way, unless you think it’s pure coincidence that, while not all leftists subscribe to this, all (at least I can’t the of counterexamples) the people that do subscribe to this are left of center at least in common parlance. I think the same human psychology creates both.
I was a bit of a purist libertarian in my youth, and of course read Marx to see the counters to my ideology. That was many years ago, and I’m now a case-by-case basis guy in terms of ideology, but the conclusions that Can be drawn by a person reading Marx are not blameless for this situation, that notwithstanding the death toll from nations by trying to perfect Marxism.
Yes, Marx himself would be flabbergasted by the postmodernists, but if you do a ctrl-f word replace from “class” to “race” or “gender” or “sexuality”, well, you can see the connections. That specific link I believe was the inspiration for doing the ctrl-f on feminism for Mein Kampf.
"It’s a fair point, and I agree that Peterson and Lindsay pure arrow of direction from Marxism to where we are now is oversimplifying things, which can be proven by the fact that there are Marxists and leftists of all stripes who have found this ridiculous from even before the Sokal Affai"
Yes, and the reason people on the Right do this is because they are against challenges by the working class to capitalism. They believe it should be an eternal system. So, they are delighted when SJWs invoke the name of "Marxism", as the right-wing ideology is only too happy to conflate two entirely different things that they dislike.
" That was many years ago, and I’m now a case-by-case basis guy in terms of ideology, but the conclusions that Can be drawn by a person reading Marx are not blameless for this situation, that notwithstanding the death toll from nations by trying to perfect Marxism."
The thing is, none of those individuals were trying to "perfect" the classless system proposed by Marx and Engels. They were operating in nations that did not have a highly developed technological base with the capability of producing an abundance for all. Marx and Engels were *very clear* that these material conditions needed to be present for Classical Marxian Socialism" to be established. So, they had to industrialize their nation first, and in the process made the terrible mistake of creating a new type of state-based ruling class, with very similar privileges enjoyed by capitalists, to "represent" the people until the industrialization process occurred.
So, was it any surprise that once the industrialization occurred, the autocratic vanguard party insisted that they either "already" established a workers' state or, more often, that it was a perpetual "distant goal"? Even Gorbachev was honest about this.
In other cases, like in Central and South America, social democracy -- i.e., liberalized capitalism with a social welfare state -- have taken the "socialism" appellation despite the fact that such programs would be entirely unnecessary in a true classless society.
"es, Marx himself would be flabbergasted by the postmodernists, but if you do a ctrl-f word replace from “class” to “race” or “gender” or “sexuality”, well, you can see the connections. That specific link I believe was the inspiration for doing the ctrl-f on feminism for Mein Kampf."
That is true, but the comparison by both Mainstream Liberals and the Right are really stretching things, since Marx was all about class unity, not unity based on immutable traits that basically cause conflict and competition within the working class while distracting us from our conflict with the capitalist class. At least now people on all sides are referring to postmodernism as "Cultural Marxism" or "Neo-Marxism", thus making it clear that Marx and Engels were strictly focusing on class.
“Yes, and the reason people on the Right do this is because they are against challenges by the working class to capitalism. They believe it should be an eternal system. So, they are delighted when SJWs invoke the name of "Marxism", as the right-wing ideology is only too happy to conflate two entirely different things that they dislike.”
I’m a capitalist and I don’t believe that, I just believe capitalism is the best way to achieve my goals for humanity, which is via AI Acceleration. You can think that’s bonkers, many do, but it is what it is.
“They were operating in nations that did not have a highly developed technological base with the capability of producing an abundance for all. Marx and Engels were *very clear* that these material conditions needed to be present for Classical Marxian Socialism" to be established.”
And I think they’re wrong. A capitalist economy is not strong enough to lead into a classless communist utopia, only a post-scarcity economy is, so you should join me in wanting to reach AGI and fusion power as fast as possible, then you can have the utopia you dream of.
Your last paragraph I don’t disagree with much beyond that I hate neologisms but I understand why terms like “Neo-Marxism” get created. You need to make some terms to explain what the hell you’re talking about, but it’s often fruitless because it turns into an argument over semantics.
"I’m a capitalist and I don’t believe that, I just believe capitalism is the best way to achieve my goals for humanity, which is via AI Acceleration. You can think that’s bonkers, many do, but it is what it is."
A class-divided system has to enforce its class rule via a combination of force or threats of force and propaganda, which it does through corporate-owned press or state bodies threatening the corporate-owned press, or influencing them by giving them lucrative contracts (such as when the CIA gave Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, a $6 billion contract). That is required in a system that allows the few to hoard all the wealth produced by the majority, and keeping large portions of the population in poverty past the point in time when technology could easily produce an abundance for all. That is the best way for class rule to exist, not not for humanity as a whole to achieve its goals in a way that benefits everyone.
"And I think they’re wrong. A capitalist economy is not strong enough to lead into a classless communist utopia,"
It is once an Industrial Revolution is well established by it, and technology advances to the point where an abundance can be produced for all. A capitalist economy at the technological point we're at now produces plenty, but only a handful of private owners have access to this bounty.
"only a post-scarcity economy is, so you should join me in wanting to reach AGI and fusion power as fast as possible, then you can have the utopia you dream of."
It would not be a "utopia", but simply a far better and more egalitarian system than we have no. AGI and fusion power would be great additions, but we can already mass produce more than enough for everyone on the planet.
"Your last paragraph I don’t disagree with much beyond that I hate neologisms but I understand why terms like “Neo-Marxism” get created. You need to make some terms to explain what the hell you’re talking about, but it’s often fruitless because it turns into an argument over semantics."
I can't argue with that, even though I suppose we have to put up with neologisms being periodically created when one word that used to have a specific accepted meaning is later applied to numerous different things.
Great summary, thanks for making the instagram post, I find it strikes the right level of detail for that audience.
One thing worth including perhaps might be the connection with Iran and Russia. Authoritarian regimes are pushing for this conflict in order to weaken the West’s support for Ukraine, and Islamist leaders are happy to sacrifice Palestinian lives for their cause.
1. Nice article! I wish I could address complex issues so succinctly. Always a struggle for me to keep my essays down to a digestible length.
2. Glad you found my pipeline useful!
3. And you linked my essay with Maranto on how wokeness is corrosive to science! I am flattered but more than flattered, it is great to feel that I am not completely useless or just growling at a hurricane.
4. But the real news in the story was ... YOU ARE COLIN'S GIRLFRIEND? WHO KNEW?
There a fascinating (ultra-geek fascinating) set of observations around self-organizing information systems and their ability to maintain themselves with Bayesian inference into the future , which are well-summarized in the Friston Free-Energy principle.
Science, Politics, Consciousness, Language, Reproducing Organisms all fight dissolution by constantly expending energy in sensing and refining a model of reality used to predict the future and avoid disasters (like dissolution, death, etc.)
Scientific Theorems model reality, Politics models population needs, consciousness predicts my immediate environment, language predicts meanings, DNA “predicts” cellular processes required to sustain life in different environments…
When prediction error (difference between the model and reality, or “surprise!”) is high enough, the system doesn’t have sufficient energy to continue to adapt and the system breaks down - it cannot maintain itself as an independent entity - scientific knowledge, a system of government, our conscious mind, a dying language, an organism which cannot defend against being eaten alive. The system liquidates.
Systems which constantly and successfully “minimize free energy” or dissipation survive the longest.
The distance between “Critical Theory” as a system, and reality is large and growing. Marxism is of course dead, though like a dead tree some pieces of it may sprout temporarily. While anthropology is alive, branches of it which deny reality to the extent that sex doesn’t exist, the positive therapy for bullied gay children is surgery and sterilization, and self-declared genocidal maniacs must be empowered to continue, the gap is so large that the tipping point is close for collapse.
When nobody participating in the farce can survive themselves if they spend all their time and energy on things which will destroy their children, their working careers required for food and shelter, and their ability to evolve political power to direct food and homeless aid to themselves, then they themselves will only exist as a mad anonymous rabid fiction separated from functioning society, a warning about breaks from reality.
The long term average of surprise in such a system is Entropy, and entropy always wins, disorder dissolving meaning and existence.
Persistent, long-working systems seek to minimize free energy, not maximize it. Once you understand the principle it’s easy to understand why Marxism was doomed at the outset, why science generally moves from strength to strength, and why western liberal thought and politics absorbs so many other. They adapt quickly, with low energy.
Your description of postmodernism is overly-simplistic, but other than that I appreciate what you’ve done. I was a professor of Humanities and Gender Studies until I retired, and I’ve been through these wars. These people gave us Trump and are on the verge of delivering him to us again. You might consider my substack: susanbordo.substack.com. And if you want to check out my books: bordocrossings.com.
I will indeed check out your books and your substack, and I thank you for the links.
As for my overly simplistic description of post-modernism, I think I took up enough space already on the main point and did not want to go into it in any more detail than necessary. But I think I got the main gist of it: any group of people seeking disproportionate level of power over any other group as a way of redressing past or present grievances (whether real, imagined, or exaggerated) always leads to identical behavior of the previous oppressors. That is, the problem was disproportionate power of one group over another, not the group doing the oppressing at a given point of time in history.
Jewish messianism has been spreading its poisonous message among us for nearly two thousand years. Democratic and communist universalisms are more recent, but they have only strengthened the old Jewish narrative. These are the same ideals . . .
The transnational, transracial, transcultural ideals that these ideologies preach to us (beyond peoples, races, cultures) and are the daily diet in our schools, in our media, in our pop culture, in our universities and on our streets, have reduced our biosymbolic identity and ethnic pride to their minimal expression.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are death cults that originated in the Middle East and are completely alien to Europe and its peoples.
Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for? Part of the explanation lies in the fact that Islam and Marxism share a common ideological root: Judaism.
Don Rumsfeld was right to say, "Europe has shifted on its axis," the wrong side has won World War II, and it is becoming clearer by the day . . .
What has NATO done to defend Europe?
Absolutely nothing.
My enemies are not in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran, Riyadh or some ethereal Teutonic bogeyman, but in Washington, Brussels and Tel Aviv.
FIGHT YOUR OWN WARS, YOU KIKESUCKING ZIONIST ASS-WHORE.
Sweden: Jews Call for Ban on Nordic Resistance Movement . . .
❝I ALWAYS LIKE to take note of Jewish organisations calling for bans on immigration resistance parties. You could say “Why bother? We’re surrounded by Jews screeching for White Genocide in various, usually artfully disguised, ways. This is just another twig on the bonfire.”
This is true. But arguments about the JQ and its relationship to White minoritization are open to various kinds of objection. You can quote this or that Jewish journalist calling for open borders or abolishing White people. Objection? “It’s just one guy; no proof he’s representative of anything other than himself; besides, he’s making a legitimate argument that’s open to democratic debate.”
That is why calls for bans on political parties assume a special moral significance. It’s a demand for the suppression of debate. And when it comes from an organization that claims to be representative of Jewry, and that claim goes unchallenged, then a special moral culpability attaches to the Jews.❞
“You shall put all of the males to the sword. You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children and the livestock, and everything in the town – all of its spoil – and enjoy the use of the spoil of your enemy which the Lord gives unto you.” — Deuteronomy 20:13
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“The Messenger said, ‘If the disbelievers do not accept Islam, kill them, loot them and rape their women.’ And thus, advance Islam and strengthen Islam.” — Al-Bukhaari, Vol. 4, Book 54, Hadith 464
Hi, Christina, and thank you for another insightful article. I just want clarify a few things, because wow, the conflict between Israel and Gaza is a volatile topic right now!
For one thing, as a strong opponent to Critical Social Justice (CSJ), I would never support a fundamentalist terrorist organization like Hamas. But that does not mean I support a Zionist ethno-centric apartheid state like Israel. Its Zionist government's oppression of the Palestinians was directly responsible for provoking Islamic extremists to create Hamas. Trying to understand why groups like Hamas come into existence, and holding *all* guilty parties in a situation like this accountable, is NOT "supporting" or defending Hamas's actions. I believe stopping the slaughter of both innocent Jewish and Palestinian people calls for taking neither the side of Zionism nor Islamic fundamentalism, as both routinely destroy innocent lives in the name of "protecting" a specific group of people.
Hence, I am not one of those SJWs who cheerleads for Hamas. But I also most certainly do not ignore right-wing Zionist culpability in these thousands of lives lost -- both in Israel and in Gaza. You might want to check out this article of mine arguing that we should not take sides between the Israeli Zionist government and Hamas, and should instead demand a peaceful integration of Jewish and Palestinian people within a democratic framework that will respect both religions but will not allow *any* form of theocracy. Extremists will always exist wherever there is material and political inequality.
https://lightningpress.substack.com/p/we-need-to-stop-picking-sides-between
Now, one final matter. I am myself a Marxist, yet I am fully against the SJW mentality, as anyone who has read my writings here, on Medium and elsewhere can fully attest. It is often said that Critical Social Justice is inspired by Marxism, but in truth Karl Marx would turn in his grave if he could see this phenomenon today,. This is because competition within the demographics of the working class -- which CSJ basically is -- is anathema to Marxian ideology, which stands firmly for class unity, not unity based on immutable traits we're born with or religious choices. CSJ's ultimate source is big corporations like BlackRock, who impose ESG and DEI scores on companies for the purpose of dividing the working class. SJWs are silly for sometimes invoking the name of Marx, and they only do that in a desperate attempt to gain respect from the Left.
To integrate both of these points together: I am anti-Israel while simultaneously being anti-Hamas because I am against *all* forms of ethno-centric "protection" or power. That said, as a Classical Marxist, I am pro-working class, meaning full support for 99% of all Jewish and Palestinian people -- and everyone else -- while opposing all forms of separatism and division within our class. That puts me firmly against ideologies like both Zionism and the form of extremist Islamic fundamentalism that Hamas represents.
I’m sure you realize that 20% of Israel’s population is Arab. Mostly Muslim. I have no idea what you mean by apartheid in this context and also ethno state. There are multiple ethnicities and religions within Israel. Other than being a word salad tossed and thrown around, these words are silly.
But oh so righteous and self important. Facts bounce off him and, obviously, he knows exactly what we Jews are all about. JVP told him! He’s been hollowed out and filled with so much bullshit his eyeballs are floating. I’m grateful such an intellectual beacon is living on his parents’ couch in one of the last countries (for now) where he can keep this sophomoric struggle session going as long as someone else feeds him and clothes him. People who’ve survived the ‘Classical Liberalism’ he thinks he advocates, wouldn’t spit on him if he was on fire. He’d be too useless to even strip for parts, if the people he reveres come to power. Silly, useless little ‘activist’. Just laugh and shake your head, you, Christina and Penny tried. Valiant effort wasted on a weak, stupid, vain little brain.
These insults do not change any of the points I made, Meta. By doing so, you show that you had your nerves touched by inconvenient facts, rather than because I said anything that was untrue. But you are correct that words in favor of Zionism, and attempts to connect Zionism to the Jewish people, along with going off the rails when one side does horrible things but not the other, makes it clear that we should be siding with *no ideology, whether religious or political* that espouses hatred or destructive military acts against a specific group of people.
Jewish messianism has been spreading its poisonous message among us for nearly two thousand years. Democratic and communist universalisms are more recent, but they have only strengthened the old Jewish narrative. These are the same ideals . . .
The transnational, transracial, transcultural ideals that these ideologies preach to us (beyond peoples, races, cultures) and are the daily diet in our schools, in our media, in our pop culture, in our universities and on our streets, have reduced our biosymbolic identity and ethnic pride to their minimal expression.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are death cults that originated in the Middle East and are completely alien to Europe and its peoples.
Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for? Part of the explanation lies in the fact that Islam and Marxism share a common ideological root: Judaism.
Don Rumsfeld was right to say, "Europe has shifted on its axis," the wrong side has won World War II, and it is becoming clearer by the day . . .
What has NATO done to defend Europe?
Absolutely nothing.
My enemies are not in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran, Riyadh or some ethereal Teutonic bogeyman, but in Washington, Brussels and Tel Aviv.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/pardonne-mon-francais-va-te-faire
For what it may be worth, Clarence, I am a Marxist, but of the Classical sort, who actually follows the formulation conceived by Marx and Engels of a classless, stateless, and moneyless society entirely controlled by workers that has effectively nothing in common with the authoritarian, bureaucrat-controlled "communism" formed by the followers of Lenin in what became the Soviet Union and other close variants formed by Mao in China and elsewhere. In 1917, Russia lacked the technology necessary to achieve what Marx described, and so Lenin's vanguardists instead created a very class-divided society controlled by a despotic bureaucratic class who claimed they would first industrialize the nation and then step down and turn it over to the workers. Of course, that is not what the ruling class ended up doing, since they never cede power willingly.
As for one of your questions regarding the Mainstream Left that you asked. As noted, I'm of the Classical Left, not the regressive type that inundate us with divisive, anti-white and anti-male identity politics instead of economic unification of all workers. You asked:
"Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for?"
That is part of the Regressive Left's rampant hypocrisy, and the fact that their ideology is based on emotion rather than reasoned thought. They support all aspects of Islam while hating Christianity despite the similarities in the thinking of the more fundamentalist aspects because they equate Islam with Eastern society and thus people of color, while equating Christianity (and Judaism) with Western society and thus white people.
It's as simple as that. Since anything they associate with PoC and Eastern society cannot by definition ever be bad and since nothing they equate with white people and Western society cannot by definition ever be good, they judge by racial & geographic association rather than by what the tenets of the religion actually says.
FUCK YOU AND YOUR JEWISH GOD, YOU KIKESUCKING ZIONIST ASS-WHORE.
It's ethno-centric because it's technically a *Jewish state* with a ruling class that is openly Zionist. That was admitted even by your fellow detractors. Yes, other ethnic groups and religions are allowed to live there but they *do not* have the same rights as Jewish citizens, or even any Jewish people anywhere in the world, whose ethnicity gives them automatic citizenship *even if they were not actually born in Israel*.
Openly Zionist? As opposed to what, specifically? Zionism in 2023 means believing in tne continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Do you
think the government would be secretly Zionist?
Yes there is a law of return for Jews. Our history as a people make that very important. Israel is the national expression of Judaism which has been embedded within Judaism since its beginning.
If Israel doesn’t fit your concept of how the world should work that’s on you actually.
And BTW it is a multi ethnic multi racial society.
"Openly Zionist? As opposed to what, specifically?"
As opposed to being openly democratic with no separatist ideology for any specific ethnic group or religion.
"Zionism in 2023 means believing in tne continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state"
Bingo!!
"think the government would be secretly Zionist?"
There is no need to in the current political climate.
"Yes there is a law of return for Jews. Our history as a people make that very important. Israel is the national expression of Judaism which has been embedded within Judaism since its beginning."
Which is blatantly separatist and which takes the absolute *wrong* message from the Holocaust. I am of full-blooded Italian descent and Wiccan by religion, and I would be equally opposed to a nation favoring Italians over anyone else or officially a Wicca-enforced state.
And with "law or return" meaning an ideological dedication to revenge and slaughtering anyone who will not live under the heel of Zionism. Which includes non-Zionist Jewish people, it seems.
"If Israel doesn’t fit your concept of how the world should work that’s on you actually."
No, it does not fit my conception of a peaceful and democratic world where everyone is equal and there are no military/state enforced separatist agendas. Hence, I fight for the world order I believe in since the one we have is filled with inequality and war. There are large numbers of your people, including those comprising the group Jewish People for Peace, that are against Zionism and deny its validity to the religion, and I am proud of them for standing up for true equality in the world.
"And BTW it is a multi ethnic multi racial society."
It has multi ethnic and racial groups living there, but none have the rights of people of Jewish descent who live *anywhere in the world* because Israel is, by your admittance, a *Jewish* state.
Yes it is a Jewish state. I fail to actually see a problem there. Minority rights are protected. Somehow it offends you that there is one Jewish state very tiny in tne world. How many Muslim states? I’m so sure you’re upset about the founding of Pakistan in 1948. Really upsetting. And all the Muslim states of the world really hard for you to bear.
But what’s the hardest for you is those Jews having the gall to have national aspirations.
The world prefers dead Jews and can’t deal with Jewish power.
So sad.
"Yes it is a Jewish state. I fail to actually see a problem there."
As I said, for exactly the reason I would have a problem with an Italian state, or a Palestinian state, or a Swahili state, etc. It's a form of separatism, it leads to supremacist ideals that in turn lead to inequality against certain other groups of people, whether living within that state or in neighboring states, and that in turn leads to acts of military aggression with individuals tribalistically taking sides against one or the other rather than eschewing war and inequality altogether.
"inority rights are protected."
They are not, which the war on Gaza makes abundantly clear. Along with the fact that no one who is not of Jewish descent has the same rights as ethnic Jews in Israel, and in fact, Jewish citizens cannot even marry someone who is Arab.
"Somehow it offends you that there is one Jewish state very tiny in tne world."
Firstly, it would equally offend my principles if any other ethnic group created an ethnocracy for exactly the same reason. It's not about Jews specifically, it's about any type of ideology like Zionism, particularly as a policy for an entire nation, no matter what ethnic group it claimed to be "representing."
Secondly, for a tiny state in terms of square miles, Israel has a lot of military power and a huge amount of military and economic aid from the United States and Britain. This makes it the metaphorical equivalent of a very short person who has the power of Superman, along with the entire Justice League backing them up. So, it can do -- and does do -- a lot of damage for its size. It basically serves as a U.S. military depot in the Middle East.
"How many Muslim states?"
I likewise do not support any nation based on Sharia law, and in fact have criticized the U.S. for siding with Saudi Arabia as much as Israel, as it likewise oppresses its people and attacks other nations around it. I would have done the same if Saudi Arabia was the only Muslim nation in the world.
"I’m so sure you’re upset about the founding of Pakistan in 1948. Really upsetting. And all the Muslim states of the world really hard for you to bear."
I do not support the creation of a separate Palestinian state, for the record. I support the peaceful integration of the Jewish and Palestinian people, as well as other ethnic groups in the region, under a single egalitarian state that does not favor any one particular ethnic group or religion over any other. So, you got me -- and the point I'm trying to make -- wrong there.
"But what’s the hardest for you is those Jews having the gall to have national aspirations."
No, but for *an* specific ethnic and/or religious group having the gall to have national aspirations. Or, more specifically, for *some* Jewish people with aspirations of obtaining power doing so by using the great majority of Jewish people and their past sufferings as an excuse to do the same thing that led to the Holocaust against Jews, but having no problem with that is long as it's a different ethnic, racial, or religious group.
This is what ethno-centrism, a ruling class based on it, ultimately leads to. This is why so many Jewish people are laudably against Zionism, with members of Jewish People for Peace engaging in mass protests against the slaughter of thousands of innocent Palestinians over what Hamas did...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaQlYL7ckp4
... and numerous Jewish citizens living in Israel staging a mass protest outside of Netanyahu's home. These Jewish citizens also loathe Netanyahu for some of his recent very non-democratic "reforms."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFR_024dE_4
They do not want Zionists -- whether or Jewish descent or otherwise -- doing such things in their name. They do not want to see another Holocaust no matter which demographic(s) happens to be the target this time.
"The world prefers dead Jews and can’t deal with Jewish power."
Sorry, but that Straw Man attack doesn't work anymore. Egalitarians like myself, and like those who comprise Jewish People for Peace, want a world with Jewish people living peacefully with everyone else.
Any group seeking power on the alleged behalf of another group always leads to war, hatred, separatist ideologies, and inequality. And, ultimately, to a Holocaust-like event. No group of people handles disproportionate power well. And only a few people at the top of the totem pole truly benefit.
Note the situation with the SJWs in the Western nations as another good example of this. These various minority groups handled power no better than the white male heterosexuals they routinely spew hatred and criticism at. This is the point: NO group should have disproportionate power over any other group of people. Because all human beings have the same flaws and will abuse such power, with only a small number of them truly benefiting from that power.
I want to see neither dead Jews nor dead Palestinians, nor dead people from any other group of people.
But when you take sides between two extremist ideologies, whether it be Zionism or Muslim fundamentalism in this case, you end up de-humanizing the other "side" and not caring if people "represented" by the opposing ideology end up dead. That is exactly what happened to the Jews and other European ethnic groups by Nazi Germany and people of Chinese & Korean descent by Imperial Japan during the years leading up to and into World War II. I don't want to see that happen to *any group* of people ever again.
Hence, my strong opposition to all separatist ideologies that have (to use your words) aspirations to power.
"So sad."
What is truly said is the perpetual cycle of violence going on between the IDF and Hamas, due to aspirations of power and revenge by both sides, with innocent Jewish and Palestinian people caught in the crossfire. Every murder committed by one side results in more recruits of the extremist ideology. This cycle needs to stop. So I refuse to ignore what is happening to everyone in the working class who is caught in the middle of a hellscape created by people who aspire to power in general.
Thank you also for your cordial response, Penny.
I no more support a "Muslim" state than I do a "Jewish" state. We must also not forget that being a Jew is also an ethnic attribute, not just religious. That means it's an ethno-centric government, as it automatically grants citizenship all over the world if you happen to be Jewish by descent, not if you happen to practice Judaism.
Hamas does not actually go back that far. It was created in 1987. It's an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya , which translates to "Islamic Resistance Movement." Guess who the resistance was aimed at?
https://www.dni.gov/nctc/ftos/hamas_fto.html
"So no, Israel is NOT responsible for the creation of Hamas."
I'm sorry, but the treatment of people in Gaza by Israel has caused a huge amount of global backlash against the Zionist government, including by the United Nations itself and many liberal, non-Zionist Jews, both within and outside of Israel.
"Arab Muslim nations, which have relentlessly attacked Israel and have refused to offer citizenship to Palestinian refugees, are responsible for the creation of Hamas."
The Israeli government -- NOT the Jewish people as a whole I will remind readers -- have repeatedly carried out the imperialist will of the U.S. in the region, and vice versa. The relationship is entirely based on military strategy, not humanitarian sentiment.
Those Muslim nations are small and starved for resources compared to Israel. Just because other nations will not take them does not give Netanyahu the right to slaughter them and commit genocide. That land should be generously shared by the Jewish and Palestinian people as equals, with democratic provisions disallowing any theocracy to form.
"If you are truly anti-ethnocentric states, then why aren't you out in the streets protesting against Yemen? Or Iran? Or Saudi Arabia? Or Qatar? Or so many other brutal Islamic theocracies?"
One, I have strongly protested many things that Saudi Arabia and these other nations have done. I am not for them, but against Israel.
Two, those nations are not ethno-centric so much as theocratic dictatorships. I have long opposed them and supported movements for democratic reform in their nations.
Three, I never supported with Hamas did. But ignoring what Israel is doing with its military assault on Gaza has already killed nearly 13,000 innocent people at this writing That is going to recruit more and more Palestinians into the arms of Hamas. I want the killing of all innocent people to stop. The Israeli government's "solution" is every bit as bad as what Hamas did, and creating an open-air prison is a pressure cooker of chaos. Netanyahu knows this and is taking advantage of it to carry out his military and imperialist objectives while hiding behind his Jewish heritage. This has understandably caused numerous Jewish people to oppose Zionism, because they want the killing to stop.
Note that they want the killing of *all* innocent people to stop, not just Jewish people alone. They do not want slaughter and oppression carried out in their name.
"Why is the only place in the Middle East where a woman or homosexual can live freely targeted with such venom by so called "Leftists"?"
First of all, let's not use that card. They are using women's rights and LGBT rights the same way the U.S. government uses them to carry out acts of military aggression by recruiting women and LGBTs into the CIA and giving them the opportunity to control automated drones that drop bombs on heavily populated civilian areas.
I live among many Muslims in the U.S., and they usually behave quite well, and grow increasingly liberal over time, when living among people of all ethnic backgrounds, religions, and sexual orientations. I dislike Sharia Law as much as you, but that does not give us the right to justify what Zionist aggression is doing to those people. They are still human beings, like it or not... and whether you like *them* or not.
Also, a state based on Zionism is not a true democracy. If you are not of Jewish heritage, you have far less rights there. In fact, the Zionist government is not overly friendly to LGBTs, and it will not even let Jewish citizens marry someone of Middle Eastern descent.
"Sorry, Christopher, but I smell a rat."
What you smell, Penny, is my stance against any form of separatist ideology that holds more value on This group of people than That group. Even if my social values happen to be closer to those of This group over That group. All human beings deserve ethical treatment. If any of us truly believes we are better than them, then we need to stop behaving like the worst of them.
"Also, Israel may be the only state in the Middle East that DOESN'T practice apartheid."
Sorry, but Israel is a *Jewish* state, with more rights granted to Jewish people living anywhere in the world than anyone who is gentile. It oppresses Palestinians on the basis of they're being Palestinian. Its right-wing government conducts military and land-grabbing campaigns while hiding behind the name of a specific ethnic group.
That has *all* the basic characteristics of an apartheid state. This has been noted by no less an organization as Amnesty International:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/
At this writing, nearly 13,000 innocent civilians in Gaza has been killed. This horrific military-based "retaliation" is going to stoke the flames of Hamas more than ever, and likely cause many other Middle Eastern nations to enter the fray... thus potentially costing many more innocent lives of Jewish descent.
This has been acknowledged on a mainstream news outlet like CNN:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/11/21/exp-gaza-hospital-attack-palestine-israel-bashir-pkg-112112aseg1-cnni-world.cnn
The biggest rat I smell is anyone arguing that the above is acceptable. That is not self-defense, it's brutal slaughter on a massive basis.
"Arab Muslims and Christians have the same rights and freedoms in Israel that Jews have; and they serve in the Israeli Knesset and on the Israeli Supreme Court."
No, they do not; that is in words only.
"How are Jews treated in Iran? Or Egypt? Or Saudi Arabia? (etc)"
The Jewish people would be treated far better if Zionists stopped connecting their insane separatist ideology with Jews, or even Judaism itself.
"Yet Israel is the nation that gets demonized. Not the Muslim nations that treat women like livestock, torture dissidents, and execute homosexuals."
To be clear, Penny, I am of the Classical Left, not the Mainstream Left, the latter of which includes SJWs. They are total hypocrites who turn a blind eye towards who women and LGBTs are treated in those countries because they equate the Muslim religion with Eastern society and Muslims with people of color. Those of us on the Classical Left who do not revere identity politics are equally concerned about *any* type of oppression. We fully support the end of Sharia theocracies, or any type of theocracy. However, carpet bombing a nation is not going to accomplish that. It has to come about by a combination of activism from within and without.
"Could this be another case of scapegoating Jews, which has been done throughout millennia?"
That old Straw Man card is not going to work with me, Penny, and in fact, it's so overused that it's increasingly losing steam. I have made it very clear, as have Jewish activists from groups like Jewish People for Peace, that it's Zionism and imperialist policies in general that we're against -- *not* Jewish people. Netanyahu and his IDF puppets represent Zionism, *not* Jewish people. And civil libertarians on the Classical Left like me oppose *all* forms of imperialist actions and ideologies that justify such behavior *regardless* of the ethnic or religious affiliation of political leaders who carry them out.
Yes, and now we know too well why they have that law of return.
Jewish messianism has been spreading its poisonous message among us for nearly two thousand years. Democratic and communist universalisms are more recent, but they have only strengthened the old Jewish narrative. These are the same ideals . . .
The transnational, transracial, transcultural ideals that these ideologies preach to us (beyond peoples, races, cultures) and are the daily diet in our schools, in our media, in our pop culture, in our universities and on our streets, have reduced our biosymbolic identity and ethnic pride to their minimal expression.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are death cults that originated in the Middle East and are completely alien to Europe and its peoples.
Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for? Part of the explanation lies in the fact that Islam and Marxism share a common ideological root: Judaism.
Don Rumsfeld was right to say, "Europe has shifted on its axis," the wrong side has won World War II, and it is becoming clearer by the day . . .
What has NATO done to defend Europe?
Absolutely nothing.
My enemies are not in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran, Riyadh or some ethereal Teutonic bogeyman, but in Washington, Brussels and Tel Aviv.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/pardonne-mon-francais-va-te-faire
Yes. The more you inflict violence, the more it gets inflicted on you, in a never-ending cycle. That is why diplomacy and establishing a system of equality for everyone has a place in the world.
Diplomacy has never worked with the Palestinians going back well before the state.
It has never really been tried. Hamas has actually offered ceasefires and been turned down. What you need to understand is Netanyahu and how the Zionist mindset works. His goal is not to "protect" the Jewish people, but to use them as a power base for himself and the rest of the Israeli ruling class and their Zionist hangers-on in AIPAC. It's not a simple manner of bad guys hating just because they're bad, and a heroic champion fighting for the freedom of his people.
The biggest matter, is so many people having no issues with what Israel does to civilian populations to "defend itself". Note, for example, that you didn't say "Hamas," but you said "Palestinians. " Whereas I have consistently only critiqued and called out the Zionists, not the Jewish people as a whole.
If you only start in the middle of the whole thing by berating what Hamas did while overlooking what the IDF did, and has been doing, then it becomes clear that you aren't being objective, and it's not about saving innocent lives in general.
Thank you for all that you’ve shared. To build upon everything you have written Christofer, the image with maps in the original post is also very misleading. Just because a nation was ruled by the British after the Ottoman empire, there were Palestinians owning land there including my father and family. They were forced out at gunpoint in Acre and among 700k to flee with only what they could carry from what became Israel in 1948.
I always worry about speaking this because it can get misconstrued as antisemitism. It is not. I have many Jewish friends. There is a difference between not agreeing with Zionist policies or belief systems, and knowing what really happened from first hand accounts (note he also had to leave the West Bank when that became occupied. Poor luck?).
I always wonder, after the horror of the holocaust, how it is many of these same acts are being repeated? And with nazism and white supremacy on the rise in the U.S., when will we learn from our history?
Thank you for saying this, Sam, since as you can see, too many people are afraid to speak out against Zionism or the Israeli government's atrocities against Palestinians that in turn provoke atrocities against innocent Jewish people out of fear that they will be called "antisemitic" and "cancelled."
Everyone who lives in the area now covering Israel and Gaza have an ethical right to live there, and it should be under a democratic government that affords truly equal rights to people of all ethnic backgrounds and religion while disallowing any form of religion to be writ into law. That is most certainly not what Israel currently is, and the bloodlust of pro-Zionists is every bit as reprehensible as that of Hamas members. In fact, the two feed on each other in a perpetual cycle of violence, and both have no place in a world actually dedicated to peace.
And for the record, white supremacy and Neo-Nazism remains quite small in the U.S. Claims to the contrary are initiated by the Democrats who want to run a fear-based campaign to get us to vote for them, and at the same time distract the American working class with divisive rhetoric to keep us at each others' throats, to distract us from the fact that they have *no* policies to help us economically. We need to abandon the capitalist duopoly, the same one that is also fueling the war machine in the Middle East. Their military support of Israel and Zionism is a major part of war profiteering for the Military Industrial Complex.
Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) have every right to say what they like about Israel and the genocide of Palestinians as elected members of the US House of Representatives; they never took an oath to serve Israel . . .
I voted for Ron Desantis (R-FL) to be governor of Florida, not ambassador to Israel.
The recently ousted Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who took at least a dozen votes to get elected speaker, traveled to Israel immediately upon his election, declaring to the Israeli Knesset that the USA is steadfastly committed to supporting Ukraine in their war against Russia . . .
Was he running for speaker of the Israeli Knesset too?
Following his ouster . . . McCarthy (R-CA) traveled abroad again, this time to England, and expressed his open contempt for the white Republicans who make up the majority of the GOP and praised Democrats for their diversity during a debate at Oxford in the wake of his ouster as House Speaker . . .
Is he now running for the Prime Minister of the U.K.?
Nevertheless, he is free to go on media tours bashing white people and lobbying for Israel, because he has now resigned from the US House of Representatives . . . I can only conclude that the collective RINO butthurt over former Speaker McCarthy is all about the Israelis who have hijacked the American deep state war machine.
It has become so painfully obvious, especially where you have someone like Nikki Haley wagging her finger and shouting down Vivek Ramaswamy in a presidential debate on live national television when the questions of this Ukrainian war against Russia and any mention of Israel are concerned, that the United States government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/fight-your-own-wars-you-kikesucking-zionist-ass-whores
"I am on the side of Israel because they are a beacon of hope in the middle of brutal backward ethno-centric autocracies whom "Leftists" do nothing to oppose."
A nation whose government slaughters 13,000 innocent people, including 8,000 at a refugee camp that was nearly 50% children, is not a beacon of hope for anything but are tools for an unending cycle of violence and separatist power-grabbing that only innocent people of various ethnic and religious affiliations in the working class will have to suffer from, not the ruling class war-mongers carrying this out.
Since the IDF and Hamas carry out the same types of behavior with the same excuses behind them, I am going to side with neither because I want the senseless mass killings on either side to stop.
And ethno-centrism does not apply to a nation whose predominant population is based this immutable trait, but on a government that specifically favors such people. Islam does not apply to an ethnicity, but only a religion. Being Jewish, however, applies to both an ethnic and religious affiliation. If Israel were not ethno-centric, it would grant superior rights to anyone who wants to be of Jewish descent. People who practice Judaism as a religion but are not Jewish by descent are not afforded those rights.
Israel is not perfect, but it is a compassionate paradise compared to all other Middle East nations.
"I hope Israel frees the Palestinians by decimating Hamas."
Carpet bombing a huge civilian population is only going to fan the flame of more people joining organizations like Hamas. A military solution to the terrorist problem, instead of making it a law enforcement matter, is a huge mistake. And as long as Zionism remains intact, the provocation that leads to such organizations will continue.
"I hope the evil ideology of Islamism is crushed as decisively as the Nazis were."
I think the fact that you dislike the Islamic religion while giving a free pass to Zionism, and in fact all but ignoring the existence of Zionism, is at the crux of this lop-sided favoritism. Sharia Law can be dealt with by allowing Muslims to live in a progressive, democratic framework that allows no theocracy to form. Then the religion liberalizes to adapt.
"That's the only way violence in the Middle East will end, and the only way Israel/Palestine will ever be democratically integrated."
The only way for violence in the Middle East to end is to stop committing acts of violence in the Middle East. For that to happen, Zionism has to end, what is now Israel has to be changed into a non-ethnic democracy, and the Jewish and Palestinian people can be peaceably integrated.
I’ll just pick one thing: “A nation whose government slaughters 13,000 innocent people, including 8,000 at a refugee camp that was nearly 50% children”
How do you know this? You’re giving the total death toll Hamas is listing, which I don’t trust at all seeing as they said 500 died when a hospital was bombed by Israel, when the hospital was not bombed, there was an explosion in a parking lot, and the death toll they gave was off by at least a factor of 10 but may be off by a factor of 100. I care about reality, clearly the “Gaza Health Ministry” doesn’t care as much about that.
Also, they’re listing total, as in all people dead. Unless you think Israel has managed to kill 0 Hamas members, there’s no way all 13,000 were civilians. Hamas members do not wear uniform and bombs are grim affairs, they blow bodies apart. If they find a military age male corpse, they often wouldn’t have a way to identify that corpse as Hamas or not Hamas, not that they’re trying, they want to maximize listed civilian deaths to get international pressure on Israel to stop. If Hamas could get away with saying a ridiculous number like 100,000 dead, they’d say it in a heartbeat, I believe even you might question that number.
The Ukraine War has more reporting, has been going on for much longer, and we have no idea what the death toll is.
Look up any recent war on Wikipedia, the death toll is a range and usually it’s years before even the range is nailed down.
You have no idea the full death toll, I have no idea the full death toll, nor does Hamas, nor does Israel.
Unless you’re omniscient, the Fog of War is clouding your mind.
"How do you know this? You’re giving the total death toll Hamas is listing, which I don’t trust at all seeing as they said 500 died when a hospital was bombed by Israel, when the hospital was not bombed, there was an explosion in a parking lot, and the death toll they gave was off by at least a factor of 10 but may be off by a factor of 100. I care about reality, clearly the “Gaza Health Ministry” doesn’t care as much about that."
This has been reported all over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW5ltxYvhNY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvPObMeNdpA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY3t80-vCJY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSb5AWqlfQ
The Palestinian Health Ministry has never been questioned before, and saying it's controlled by Hamas not only has no evidence to substantiate that but has a highly political motivation behind it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV_HsiJg8Io
"Also, they’re listing total, as in all people dead. Unless you think Israel has managed to kill 0 Hamas members, there’s no way all 13,000 were civilians. Hamas members do not wear uniform and bombs are grim affairs, they blow bodies apart. If they find a military age male corpse, they often wouldn’t have a way to identify that corpse as Hamas or not Hamas, not that they’re trying, they want to maximize listed civilian deaths to get international pressure on Israel to stop. If Hamas could get away with saying a ridiculous number like 100,000 dead, they’d say it in a heartbeat, I believe even you might question that number."
That was part of my point. Some of them were obviously Hamas members or sympathizers, but the great majority was not. The point being, the IDF is killing large numbers of innocent Palestinians to get at a comparative few number of Hamas agents. And every innocent Palestinian killed is witnessed by civilians who are new potential recruits for Hamas due to the shock, horror, and anger. Which will turn this into a perpetual cycle that the U..S. Military Industrial Complex and the Israeli Zionist government profit from, but which comes at the expense of innocent Jewish and Palestinian people.
"The Ukraine War has more reporting, has been going on for much longer, and we have no idea what the death toll is."
It can never be 100% accurate, but we have a good idea with objective data sent by various sources.
"Look up any recent war on Wikipedia, the death toll is a range and usually it’s years before even the range is nailed down."
I think it's safe to say at this point that the IDF -- like Hamas -- is not avoiding civilian lives and property. Netanyahu is a total lunatic with designs on claiming Gaza, who is anything but pro-Democracy, which is why so many Israeli citizens of Jewish descent are turning on him in large numbers. He is no champion of Jewish freedom or "freedom" in any sense.
We need to stop this war and work towards a peaceful integration of Jewish and Palestinian citizens as equals.
"Unless you’re omniscient, the Fog of War is clouding your mind."
I highly doubt the stats are so far off the mark that the IDF is undeserving of condemnation. No one is questioning the 1,400 Jewish lives reported lost at the rave which Hamas attacked -- including me. What they did was terrible, what the Zionist government of Israel has done to provoke that situation and its response to this one is equally terrible -- but it's likely the death toll is far greater. It wasn't too difficult to figure out the 8,000 number death toll in the refugee camp that the IDF attacked during its earliest salvos.
And I think, Jester, if the Fog of War was truly clouding my mind I would be taking one side or the other rather than calling for an end to both separatist ideologies like Zionism *and* Muslim fundamentalist extremism. I do not want to see any civilians of any ethnic group dying, and I do not want to see any power cell -- whether it be a national government or a terrorist group -- profit off a destructive perpetual war.
I legitimately do appreciate a thorough response here but we’re going to run into an impasse due to what evidence we require to believe something.
I checked all those Youtube videos and none of them counter the specific example I mentioned whatsoever. A month ago the Gaza Health Ministry claimed “more than 500 people” died in an airstrike on a hospital. This was on the front page of the New York Times. I saw the images. The explosion was:
1. Not in the hospital, it was in the parking lot
2. It was not a JDAM strike (which is what Israel uses) because the crater was the size of a basketball.
3. There was more fire damage than blast damage, clearly due to the unspent fuel in a rocket spraying the parking lot.
4. I didn’t even need to see the picture to know this was absolutely ridiculous because one thing I know a lot about is the death toll from single bombs, and 500 people dying in a single bomb blast would be, as far as I know, the 2nd deadliest individual non-nuclear airstrike in the history of warfare, number 1 being a V2 rocket exploding inside a packed auditorium. There’s a reason when America and Britain decided they wanted to maximize civilian deaths, they used mass firebombing.
I lay all this out because, while I actually think this was a failure of the mainstream media first and foremost, it was a brazen lie on multiple levels by the Gaza Health Ministry. You’re telling me, after a lie that ridiculous, I should trust them?
“The Palestinian Health Ministry has never been questioned before”
Well I just questioned them.
“and saying it's controlled by Hamas not only has no evidence to substantiate that but has a highly political motivation behind it.”
The last time a government entity in Gaza broke from what Hamas wanted, Hamas killed them all. That’s why Fatah doesn’t exist in Gaza.
“Some of them were obviously Hamas members or sympathizers, but the great majority was not.”
This week potentially agree on, for reasons cited above, I simply do not trust the numbers. I think we can reasonably agree to disagree on that. I’ll come back to you in 3 years when historians have a better idea of the truth.
“And every innocent Palestinian killed is witnessed by civilians who are new potential recruits for Hamas due to the shock, horror, and anger.”
Potentially, but potentially not. Millions of German and Japanese civilians were burned to death, deliberately, and no one is joining the Hitler Youth in Germany and Japan is making anime. Note: I do not think Israel should actually firebomb Gaza. It’s good that true Total War isn’t a thing anymore.
For the rest of your comment, we’re going to have to agree to disagree, because, based on my knowledge of warfare death counts, as well as the trustworthiness of the sources, I simply don’t agree it comports with reality. This has absolutely nothing to do with my kneejerk belief of either side. I don’t trust Gazan number and I don’t trust IDF numbers. Based on that “hospital bombing” lie a month ago, I believe the GHM less.
We have a final disagreement though that underpins a lot of this though. I too hte the MIC, I especially don’t like the CIA, and I even have an axe to grind with Mossad due to the Inslaw Affair (look it up).
America is run by the Obama era Security State ghouls. They don’t like Israel. Obama and Netanyahu despise each other and broke more than a decade ago. Blinken, Sullivan, Brennan, Clapper, all helped build the JCPOA, which infuriated Israel and Saudi Arabia, but Obama didn’t care because he was building this new Iran/Qatar axis. Biden may personally like Israel but he’s a dementia addled CIA puppet, specifically the Obama era Security State. What’d he immediately do? Try to rebuild the JCPOA, infuriating Israel, again. Qatar floods our elite institutions and “progressive” NGOs and think tanks like CAP with more money than AIPAC could dream of. AIPAC may still have influence on congressional races, but Qatari money is vastly more influential on especially the youth of elite families.
Qatar has an iron grip on young elite left opinion. All power is future power, Qatar/Iran have future power, Israel only does on the Right.
So therein lies the fundamental disagreement. We both dislike the Surveillance State equally, but we believe their influences are the polar opposites from one another, which is probably intractable.
It’s very useful that this author explains the terms used by academics here bc it gives words to these disturbing phenomena, and they will help us (the real liberals) crawl out of the pseudo-reality-hell that the far-left (fake liberals) are trying to trap us in.
Civilian deaths on both sides, and any type of extremist and separatist ideology, is what is disturbing. Taking sides between two is even more disturbing. Doing that is the real trap we need to avoid.
A brilliant analysis; you’ve really insightfully encapsulated the intellectually vacuous pro-palestinian position, which lacks academic rigor. As if anyone is against the Palestinian ppl per se.
I am pro-working class. Which means I am against both Palestinian and Jewish civilians being killed. I am also against Palestinian oppression much as I am against the oppression of anyone. Which is why throughout this thread, and throughout all my articles, I have opposed both the Zionist government of Israel and extremist cells like Hamas.
YOU'RE A KIKESUCKING ZIONIST ASS-WHORE.
I too find some issue with your reasoning. If 70% of Palestinians and numerous others around the world march. SJW are chasing teachers down, terrorizing students in dorms, smearing fake blood on buildings. Chanting genocidal tropes against Jews...I repeat myself, all in support OF Hamas...how does a Marxist thread that needle to say they support one group, but not the other? They are all intertwined. How you Marxist cannot see this, or the mental gymnastics you must do, has to be exhausting.
(However, that's the crux of Marxism. Eliminating others religion. Faith in community. Government or institutions. All of which, seem to be the replacement and provider for everyone's needs. Yet, everywhere sprouts Socialism, Communism, Authoritarian regimes. Starvation, sufferage and death. A system of haves and have nots. However, those guys got it wrong....we can do it better. Rinse and repeat.
The hubris of those in charge and our "intellectual betters" is astonishing.)
I think the biggest mistake everyone is making, ESPECIALLY Marxists, is one's religious beliefs. Make no mistake, this is, in the minds of an Islamic terrorist, only about religion. First the Jews, then the Christians. As for a true democracy in the Middle East, Isreal has Muslims, however, Palestine has no Jews.
As a matter of fact, why hasn't anyone reported about the Christian genocide taken place? Is that not worthy?
Tell me, who's more intolerant?
Colin isn't gay? I'm so embarrassed: I believe I wrote he was in a couple of essays, and maybe even sent him a few gay man-to-gay man DMs. Sorry about that!
I disagree with a couple of points. If anything, this support for Hamas is suffocating the social justice movement by flushing out its true nature. Elon Musk was clumsier than usual in his failure to explain that his actions and words weren't antisemitic; rather, he was echoing the voices of many Jewish socialists who had enabled Wokeism, the same way the Northeastern Protestant establishment did — the road to Woke hell has been paved with their good intentions — who are now appalled by what they're seeing. As a member of the latter group, and a native New Yorker in the entertainment biz who lives amidst the former, I can assure you that without their support, it dies from neglect.
In the end, Marxism has never been and never will be a threat to America for the simple reason that it's a pointless tautology — the system will address social injustices eventually, after careful deliberation and consensus. Any fretting to the contrary is judgment clouded by fear and hysteria, but it's pointless trying to sway pessimists who believe that America is on the verge of collapse, or that the sky is falling in general.
The question is, What will you and Colin do now that it's dying?
As for the dangers of indoctrination through critical theory, having been married to a queer/critical theory adjunct professor in London, and having attended a critical theory conference at Princeton well before this silliness became a menace, my take is it's a mechanism to supply modern philosophy students at the end of history; there's been nothing left to say in the theoretical branch of the discipline. Critical theory offers endless dissertation subjects through intersectionalities and other intellectual juju. They tend to follow a formula: A social trope + Freud/Jung/another psychologist or pseudoscientist + French Midcentury postmodern philosopher + pop culture phenom = dissertation.
It's not malicious indoctrination; there will be no killing fields in Connecticut. Elite Anglosphere schools will always be attractive to "Marxists." They get over it when they settle down. The fostering of social justice rebellion is an integral part of OG Yankee culture, trust me on that — it's America's raison d'être, literally. We don't take it seriously; nor should anyone else. It did get out of hand for a while.
Whisky, on the other hand, should be taken seriously — I know Colin's as passionate as I am about it.
My ex ended up a victim of his own teachings when he was passed over for tenureship after waiting 18 years for an opening. They'd told him to keep publishing — he published 5 books in as many years. They gave the position to a young Asian woman who'd only been there 2 years. Now his go-to phrase is "fuck identity," even though he remains an old-school, pre-social justice queer theorist.
I've actually written extensively about the origins of Wokeism and why America has embraced it so fervently. Those essays are under the 'Establishing Shots' section of my newsletter. But I've said my bit. Everyone's bored with social justice/Wokeism — it's dreary, ugly and loud. Same as with McCarthyism. I've moved on.
UTA just fired Susan Sarandon. That's a major repudiation of social justice from the custodians of world propaganda, who will never themselves pay for their many transgressions over the past ten years, but "That's Hollywood," as we remind each other constantly.
Your description of postmodernism is overly-simplistic, but other than that I appreciate what you’ve done. I was a professor of Humanities and Gender Studies until I retired, and I’ve been through these wars. These people gave us Trump and are on the verge of delivering him to us again. You might consider my substack: susanbordo.substack.com. And if you want to check out my books: bordocrossings.com.
the oslo accords were ment to allow israel and palestinians a chance to stop fighting. the Palestinians did stop fighting, with the exception of a few hold outs. Israel decided that instead of ending their 56-year harsh illegal military siege of millions of native people, that instead israel will ethnically cleanse and commit genocide against millions of people. israrl is commiting genocide on US tax payer dime with a blank check provided by US gov.
literially everything in this article about the palestinian issue is 100% false.
"Palestinians have started (and lost) every war" - this is a false reading of the present situation. its only israel that cynically continues its brutal illegal occupation of millions of native people that has been going on for 56 years. israel could end the occupation tomarrow. Palestinians pose zero threat to the nation of israel. hamas is a crime issue nothing more. Palestinians have stopped fighting for the most part. israelis continue to stomp of necks of innocent natives and are enacting genocide against them.
"palestinians rejected every offer for a two-state solution"
false. israrl never offered anything more than a bogus cynical offer that was nothing different than the brutal 56 year illegal occupation. israel is enacting genocide. their past bogus offers also offered genocide and ethnic cleasing. thanks but no thanks.
like gender ideology, the pro israel movement is a carefully crafted and well financed PR and lobby campaign whose purpose is to rob the rights of marginalized people on behalf of white men who are not marginalized but pretend to be.
eventually people figure out they were lied to by the pro israeli and gender ideology astro turf propaganda machines.
i heard pro israel people are offering big $ for small time media people to support israel. did you take the $ ?
because it sure seems like you did. tired tropes you level against people who have lived in palestine for 1000s of years are the zionist equivalent of "trans women are women" or trans genocide. the reality is these slogans were created to benefit white men. similarly your straw man explanation of palestinian supporters is way too complicated. yeah, i get that it applies to gender ideology in a limited context. but it doesnt apply to the israeli situation
I appreciate Christina Buttons' praiseworthy campaigning against the travesty of gender identity, but I beg to differ on the question of "postmodernism" -- which, admittedly, is open to multiple varying interpretations. I have explained that postmodernism is neither an offshoot of Marxism, nor allied with Marxism in any way. Jordan Peterson and James Lindsay notwithstanding, Marxism is nothing like what they think it is, although there are many semi-educated egotists who have decided to refer to themselves as "Marxists." Postmodernism was born in France after WWII and popularized by certain subjective idealists who deluded themselves into thinking they were "Marxists." Marxism, at the time, was popular. For a fuller treatment of this topic, see my Substack essay:
https://jmiller803.substack.com/p/cancel-culture-identity-politics
It’s a fair point, and I agree that Peterson and Lindsay pure arrow of direction from Marxism to where we are now is oversimplifying things, which can be proven by the fact that there are Marxists and leftists of all stripes who have found this ridiculous from even before the Sokal Affair.
But they’re not wrong in saying they’re “allied” in at least some way, unless you think it’s pure coincidence that, while not all leftists subscribe to this, all (at least I can’t the of counterexamples) the people that do subscribe to this are left of center at least in common parlance. I think the same human psychology creates both.
I was a bit of a purist libertarian in my youth, and of course read Marx to see the counters to my ideology. That was many years ago, and I’m now a case-by-case basis guy in terms of ideology, but the conclusions that Can be drawn by a person reading Marx are not blameless for this situation, that notwithstanding the death toll from nations by trying to perfect Marxism.
Yes, Marx himself would be flabbergasted by the postmodernists, but if you do a ctrl-f word replace from “class” to “race” or “gender” or “sexuality”, well, you can see the connections. That specific link I believe was the inspiration for doing the ctrl-f on feminism for Mein Kampf.
"It’s a fair point, and I agree that Peterson and Lindsay pure arrow of direction from Marxism to where we are now is oversimplifying things, which can be proven by the fact that there are Marxists and leftists of all stripes who have found this ridiculous from even before the Sokal Affai"
Yes, and the reason people on the Right do this is because they are against challenges by the working class to capitalism. They believe it should be an eternal system. So, they are delighted when SJWs invoke the name of "Marxism", as the right-wing ideology is only too happy to conflate two entirely different things that they dislike.
" That was many years ago, and I’m now a case-by-case basis guy in terms of ideology, but the conclusions that Can be drawn by a person reading Marx are not blameless for this situation, that notwithstanding the death toll from nations by trying to perfect Marxism."
The thing is, none of those individuals were trying to "perfect" the classless system proposed by Marx and Engels. They were operating in nations that did not have a highly developed technological base with the capability of producing an abundance for all. Marx and Engels were *very clear* that these material conditions needed to be present for Classical Marxian Socialism" to be established. So, they had to industrialize their nation first, and in the process made the terrible mistake of creating a new type of state-based ruling class, with very similar privileges enjoyed by capitalists, to "represent" the people until the industrialization process occurred.
So, was it any surprise that once the industrialization occurred, the autocratic vanguard party insisted that they either "already" established a workers' state or, more often, that it was a perpetual "distant goal"? Even Gorbachev was honest about this.
In other cases, like in Central and South America, social democracy -- i.e., liberalized capitalism with a social welfare state -- have taken the "socialism" appellation despite the fact that such programs would be entirely unnecessary in a true classless society.
"es, Marx himself would be flabbergasted by the postmodernists, but if you do a ctrl-f word replace from “class” to “race” or “gender” or “sexuality”, well, you can see the connections. That specific link I believe was the inspiration for doing the ctrl-f on feminism for Mein Kampf."
That is true, but the comparison by both Mainstream Liberals and the Right are really stretching things, since Marx was all about class unity, not unity based on immutable traits that basically cause conflict and competition within the working class while distracting us from our conflict with the capitalist class. At least now people on all sides are referring to postmodernism as "Cultural Marxism" or "Neo-Marxism", thus making it clear that Marx and Engels were strictly focusing on class.
“Yes, and the reason people on the Right do this is because they are against challenges by the working class to capitalism. They believe it should be an eternal system. So, they are delighted when SJWs invoke the name of "Marxism", as the right-wing ideology is only too happy to conflate two entirely different things that they dislike.”
I’m a capitalist and I don’t believe that, I just believe capitalism is the best way to achieve my goals for humanity, which is via AI Acceleration. You can think that’s bonkers, many do, but it is what it is.
“They were operating in nations that did not have a highly developed technological base with the capability of producing an abundance for all. Marx and Engels were *very clear* that these material conditions needed to be present for Classical Marxian Socialism" to be established.”
And I think they’re wrong. A capitalist economy is not strong enough to lead into a classless communist utopia, only a post-scarcity economy is, so you should join me in wanting to reach AGI and fusion power as fast as possible, then you can have the utopia you dream of.
Your last paragraph I don’t disagree with much beyond that I hate neologisms but I understand why terms like “Neo-Marxism” get created. You need to make some terms to explain what the hell you’re talking about, but it’s often fruitless because it turns into an argument over semantics.
"I’m a capitalist and I don’t believe that, I just believe capitalism is the best way to achieve my goals for humanity, which is via AI Acceleration. You can think that’s bonkers, many do, but it is what it is."
A class-divided system has to enforce its class rule via a combination of force or threats of force and propaganda, which it does through corporate-owned press or state bodies threatening the corporate-owned press, or influencing them by giving them lucrative contracts (such as when the CIA gave Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, a $6 billion contract). That is required in a system that allows the few to hoard all the wealth produced by the majority, and keeping large portions of the population in poverty past the point in time when technology could easily produce an abundance for all. That is the best way for class rule to exist, not not for humanity as a whole to achieve its goals in a way that benefits everyone.
"And I think they’re wrong. A capitalist economy is not strong enough to lead into a classless communist utopia,"
It is once an Industrial Revolution is well established by it, and technology advances to the point where an abundance can be produced for all. A capitalist economy at the technological point we're at now produces plenty, but only a handful of private owners have access to this bounty.
"only a post-scarcity economy is, so you should join me in wanting to reach AGI and fusion power as fast as possible, then you can have the utopia you dream of."
It would not be a "utopia", but simply a far better and more egalitarian system than we have no. AGI and fusion power would be great additions, but we can already mass produce more than enough for everyone on the planet.
"Your last paragraph I don’t disagree with much beyond that I hate neologisms but I understand why terms like “Neo-Marxism” get created. You need to make some terms to explain what the hell you’re talking about, but it’s often fruitless because it turns into an argument over semantics."
I can't argue with that, even though I suppose we have to put up with neologisms being periodically created when one word that used to have a specific accepted meaning is later applied to numerous different things.
FUCK YOU AND YOUR JEWISH GOD.
Thank you, James. See also my essay on Medium explaining what Classical Marxism is, which I will soon be cross-posting to Substack:
https://medium.com/@christofernigro/socialism-faq-part-1-what-is-classical-marxian-socialism-ae778228e5f6
FUCK YOU AND YOUR JEWISH GOD, YOU KIKESUCKING ZIONIST ASS-WHORE
Great summary, thanks for making the instagram post, I find it strikes the right level of detail for that audience.
One thing worth including perhaps might be the connection with Iran and Russia. Authoritarian regimes are pushing for this conflict in order to weaken the West’s support for Ukraine, and Islamist leaders are happy to sacrifice Palestinian lives for their cause.
Not my favorite article.
Had Israel not killed so many after Hamas terrible attack this might land better.
1. Nice article! I wish I could address complex issues so succinctly. Always a struggle for me to keep my essays down to a digestible length.
2. Glad you found my pipeline useful!
3. And you linked my essay with Maranto on how wokeness is corrosive to science! I am flattered but more than flattered, it is great to feel that I am not completely useless or just growling at a hurricane.
4. But the real news in the story was ... YOU ARE COLIN'S GIRLFRIEND? WHO KNEW?
Free-energy Minimization and “Critical Theory”
There a fascinating (ultra-geek fascinating) set of observations around self-organizing information systems and their ability to maintain themselves with Bayesian inference into the future , which are well-summarized in the Friston Free-Energy principle.
Science, Politics, Consciousness, Language, Reproducing Organisms all fight dissolution by constantly expending energy in sensing and refining a model of reality used to predict the future and avoid disasters (like dissolution, death, etc.)
Scientific Theorems model reality, Politics models population needs, consciousness predicts my immediate environment, language predicts meanings, DNA “predicts” cellular processes required to sustain life in different environments…
When prediction error (difference between the model and reality, or “surprise!”) is high enough, the system doesn’t have sufficient energy to continue to adapt and the system breaks down - it cannot maintain itself as an independent entity - scientific knowledge, a system of government, our conscious mind, a dying language, an organism which cannot defend against being eaten alive. The system liquidates.
Systems which constantly and successfully “minimize free energy” or dissipation survive the longest.
The distance between “Critical Theory” as a system, and reality is large and growing. Marxism is of course dead, though like a dead tree some pieces of it may sprout temporarily. While anthropology is alive, branches of it which deny reality to the extent that sex doesn’t exist, the positive therapy for bullied gay children is surgery and sterilization, and self-declared genocidal maniacs must be empowered to continue, the gap is so large that the tipping point is close for collapse.
When nobody participating in the farce can survive themselves if they spend all their time and energy on things which will destroy their children, their working careers required for food and shelter, and their ability to evolve political power to direct food and homeless aid to themselves, then they themselves will only exist as a mad anonymous rabid fiction separated from functioning society, a warning about breaks from reality.
The long term average of surprise in such a system is Entropy, and entropy always wins, disorder dissolving meaning and existence.
Friston Free-energy:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_energy_principle#:~:text=By%20actively%20changing%20the%20world,well%20as%20to%20artificial%20intelligence.
Persistent, long-working systems seek to minimize free energy, not maximize it. Once you understand the principle it’s easy to understand why Marxism was doomed at the outset, why science generally moves from strength to strength, and why western liberal thought and politics absorbs so many other. They adapt quickly, with low energy.
Your description of postmodernism is overly-simplistic, but other than that I appreciate what you’ve done. I was a professor of Humanities and Gender Studies until I retired, and I’ve been through these wars. These people gave us Trump and are on the verge of delivering him to us again. You might consider my substack: susanbordo.substack.com. And if you want to check out my books: bordocrossings.com.
I will indeed check out your books and your substack, and I thank you for the links.
As for my overly simplistic description of post-modernism, I think I took up enough space already on the main point and did not want to go into it in any more detail than necessary. But I think I got the main gist of it: any group of people seeking disproportionate level of power over any other group as a way of redressing past or present grievances (whether real, imagined, or exaggerated) always leads to identical behavior of the previous oppressors. That is, the problem was disproportionate power of one group over another, not the group doing the oppressing at a given point of time in history.
FUCK YOU AND YOUR JEWISH GOD, YOU KIKESUCKING ZIONIST ASS-WHORE.
Jewish messianism has been spreading its poisonous message among us for nearly two thousand years. Democratic and communist universalisms are more recent, but they have only strengthened the old Jewish narrative. These are the same ideals . . .
The transnational, transracial, transcultural ideals that these ideologies preach to us (beyond peoples, races, cultures) and are the daily diet in our schools, in our media, in our pop culture, in our universities and on our streets, have reduced our biosymbolic identity and ethnic pride to their minimal expression.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are death cults that originated in the Middle East and are completely alien to Europe and its peoples.
Sometimes one wonders why the European left gets along so well with Muslims. Why does an often openly anti-religious movement side with a fierce religiosity that seems to oppose almost everything the left always claims to stand for? Part of the explanation lies in the fact that Islam and Marxism share a common ideological root: Judaism.
Don Rumsfeld was right to say, "Europe has shifted on its axis," the wrong side has won World War II, and it is becoming clearer by the day . . .
What has NATO done to defend Europe?
Absolutely nothing.
My enemies are not in Moscow, Damascus, Tehran, Riyadh or some ethereal Teutonic bogeyman, but in Washington, Brussels and Tel Aviv.
https://cwspangle.substack.com/p/pardonne-mon-francais-va-te-faire
FIGHT YOUR OWN WARS, YOU KIKESUCKING ZIONIST ASS-WHORE.
Sweden: Jews Call for Ban on Nordic Resistance Movement . . .
❝I ALWAYS LIKE to take note of Jewish organisations calling for bans on immigration resistance parties. You could say “Why bother? We’re surrounded by Jews screeching for White Genocide in various, usually artfully disguised, ways. This is just another twig on the bonfire.”
This is true. But arguments about the JQ and its relationship to White minoritization are open to various kinds of objection. You can quote this or that Jewish journalist calling for open borders or abolishing White people. Objection? “It’s just one guy; no proof he’s representative of anything other than himself; besides, he’s making a legitimate argument that’s open to democratic debate.”
That is why calls for bans on political parties assume a special moral significance. It’s a demand for the suppression of debate. And when it comes from an organization that claims to be representative of Jewry, and that claim goes unchallenged, then a special moral culpability attaches to the Jews.❞
https://nationalvanguard.org/2019/03/sweden-jews-call-for-ban-on-nordic-resistance-movement/
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“You shall put all of the males to the sword. You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children and the livestock, and everything in the town – all of its spoil – and enjoy the use of the spoil of your enemy which the Lord gives unto you.” — Deuteronomy 20:13
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“The Messenger said, ‘If the disbelievers do not accept Islam, kill them, loot them and rape their women.’ And thus, advance Islam and strengthen Islam.” — Al-Bukhaari, Vol. 4, Book 54, Hadith 464
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Fuck you and your Jewish god.
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