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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 3rd, 2023

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  • I agree with most of what you said but you’re very much misunderstanding the point of resistance insurgencies if you think their aim is to “win” in the conventional sense, i.e. conquer and hold territory. Despite the propaganda, death and destruction, Hamas are fighting the IDF to a strategic standstill. Israel’s stated aim is the complete destruction of Hamas and they are nowhere near achieving it, which alone will be win enough in Hamas’ eyes and will strengthen them no doubt. One purported goal for Hamas was to inflict a situation so awful that there is no way the world could just return to normal after it, which I would argue will have happened by the time the dust blows over. They also aimed to stop Arab-Israeli diplomatic normalisation, which has been set back at least 20 years or so. Of the two belligerents, I would argue Hamas has actually been more successful in its aims.






  • Yes indeed but they were not to remove the settlements let’s be honest! Despite my Muslim background I have nothing against Israel just FYI, this my-side your-side shit is moronic. I have met and partied hard with many Israelis and, if I may say so, the extremism on their side is not part of the common narrative at all. Because most Israelis are lovely modern people, they assume the entire country is like them and genuinely wonder why they are hated so much. Part of me wishes Israel (the secular part) would flat out withdraw from settlements to sweep a leg (one of many) out from under the Muslim extremists and expose the Arabs for the hypocrites that they are. But they never will because Israel has designs of its own my brother, and that is the truth of the matter as much as it may sting.









  • You are more than welcome! The chapter is called Unification of Humankind for anyone else interested, here is a little excerpt:

    “Myths and fictions accustomed people, nearly from the moment of birth, to think in certain ways, to behave in accordance with certain standards, to want certain things, and to observe certain rules. They thereby created artificial instincts that enabled millions of strangers to cooperate effectively. This network of artificial instincts is called ‘culture’.”



  • Sharing, and believing in, fictions is how distilled units of information are efficiently passed down generations and is one of the bedrocks of our development as a species. This is what allows us to have laws and corporations and agreeing to drive on particular side of the road.

    Yuval Noah Harari covers this more eloquently in his book Sapiens. You would definitely dig the relevant chapters.