Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
While I agree with much of that, which seems eminently pragmatic and reasonable, Zionism and Judaism are not the only ideologies and religions to be examined here.
The maniacs who executed 10/7 were infused with a disregard for both the value of their own lives and those of "infidels" by a religion the central tenet of which remains global conquest. Gaza is on the water. Its inhabitants could reside in a giant resort, which at times portions of it have been. But they don't. Instead they are ruled by snake oil salesmen who goad their young into war against Israel.
Why select such a terrible option?
Radical Islam. And I don't use "radical" in lazy substitution for "fundamentalist." It is mere radicals of that religion who create the ideological scaffolding - the belief in martyrdom, and that control by others of any lands Islam has once controlled is an apostacy - that spurs young men to go on murderous rampages.
The Koran is a lousy piece of fiction, arguably worse than the Old and New Testaments. Among its self-contradictory gibberish, however, it offers a directive that is far more effective than the other two - that it is the final truth, and that all must follow that truth. This being a rather tall order with which the rest of humanity has refused to comply, such a "global conquest" eludes its adherents. And this is a source of deep shame, because if you really believe in those faery tales, any world in which non-believers control land is one at odds with the Prophet's wishes.
There are a lot of political and economic reasons for Hamas' posture. No doubt at all. But you can't goad people to mass murder with mere economics or nationalism. No, for that you need them to believe that what they are doing is right, divine perhaps, noble at the highest level. You have to sell them the 72 virgins and the glory of martyrdom.
Israel has fucked up a lot over the years. But it is always trying to do the right thing. Its aims are never bloodthirsty except in reaction to violence upon it, which is understandable given the disgusting acts of 10/7. And it is impossible to separate that urge to do the right thing from Judaism generally, which is a religion that does not seek conquest and does not demand others join it. Counter that against the religion of those who committed those murders. Take the Koran's directives that all lands must be Muslim lands at its word. Because about 1/5 of its adherents, and a lot of them young, angry males, do exactly that.
All religions are mind viruses, but the one of those paragliders on 10/7 is uniquely pernicious when followed seriously and stridently, which is far too often the case. And if we must question Zionism, which will always include an argument about why a Jewish state should be as it is, then why not question why we should countenance those who follow a book that says there can be no peace until we have an entirely Muslim world?
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(1) If you going to argue that there is something unique about radical Islam that causes depravity, then you have to ignore all of the depravity connected with other religions (Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and so, so much more) or with nonreligious Christian societies (the Holocaust). Without minimizing the awful things done in the name of radical Islam, you can't make a case that it is uniquely inhumane.
(2) We all agree that Hamas is bad. Beating this dead horse sounds like a form of evasion.
(3) I do not think Israel "is trying to do the right thing" in Rafah, nor it seems do most Israelis.
