If Iran is Amalek, American power is not being used to defend national interests; American taxpayers are being asked to finance a foreign war justified by a foreign theology.
“just like any culture” is rich considering no other culture continues to KILL and demonize their “enemies”?? The language, tactics, and literal genocide is not “just like any culture” and is inexcusable and VILE. They themselves are unforgivable in this “religious quest”.
Every culture uses terms to otherize those outside their group. Then when war is desired they turn up the heat against them and delineate their enemy as the world's greatest evil. (Except for maybe the Amish. They do have the term for the others, but they are largely adherent pacifists.)
Your insistence that Israel is the one culture that demonizes their enemy makes me think that you (GW) have turned up the heat on your specific enemy and are ready for war.
Israel has high tech and very effective systems of manipulation, and I think they have outsized influence on the U.S.. But I know they are not the only culture which is influencing the U.S., and not the only culture which is desirous of conquest and usurping resources.
When you say culture, do you mean religion? And I feel you use words very loosely.. What the hell makes you think i’d commit genocide against my enemies? I can agree that *religions in the past have been this ruthless (though I don’t see many 3000 years later claiming their biblical enemy is still a threat and should be exterminated, AND DOING IT). The call for extermination is inexcusable and disgusting. That’s the point I’m making and it is not widespread amongst cultures as you claim. Everyone has enemies, but not everyone seeks to destroy every living thing associated with them. They are maniacs in that regard, and anyone who thinks like that is as well
You stated (obviously wrongly) "that no other culture continues to kill and demonize their enemies". You are singling out one warlike culture as most evil, though current events reveals that it is simply not accurate.
I said that you make me think you have turned up the heat against your designated enemy, and are ready for war, and I still think it.
I did not specify how I thought you would conduct your war, and it is very very odd that you read "genocide" into my statement.
The middle east cultures are way more than 3000 years old, they've been warring back and forth since pre-history. In the U.S., the culture is new, but has been warring back and forth with others since it formed as an entity.
Sometimes there have been total massacres, and sometimes there has been effort to take out only combatants or leadership.
I don't see Israel as being unique, except for being a repatriation of a very old culture. I am not excusing their current style of war, nor their outsized amount of manipulative influence on the U.S., but I do know that there is nothing new under the sun.
Israel is not a religion. It is a culture. People claiming to be Israelis are not one race, nor do they all actually practice a specific (organized) religion. Many do not believe in a Creator. Some, who claim to believe in a Creator do not believe in an afterlife. There exist actual Jews who practice specific religion, and say "the LORD is 1". Many Jews (particularly among the most conservative types) are not Zionists. These are some essential details that are often passed over by people who are hot for war.
Functionally, Amalek is all goyim / gentiles. All will be eradicated or enslaved in order to bring about Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World. This is why they constantly try to mix up the races and pit them against each other.
Zionists use Amalek as a theological justification to kill their enemies...sort of like using LOTR term "orc" against foes....it has nothing to do with Judaism as in Jewish tradition amaleks identity has been lost and most use it as a metaphor of evil.
To be this ruthless and heedless in her pursuit of total destruction of real and perceived, active and emerging enemies, Israel must have an unshakable belief in her supposedly divinely appointed destiny to triumph over all her enemies. So great and entrenched must be her delusion of grandeur as well as her historical collective PTSD that she is so blind to the fact that by eschewing the path of diplomacy and reputational reinforcement, she is effectively recreating a world in which antisemitism once again becomes a universal virus waiting for a super host to cultivate it into active destructive force. The only way Israel escapes the fate of repeated history is if she either desists now or becomes so powerful a force that it becomes impossible for her enemies all round to target her without risking their own annihilation.
Really well done and fascinating information I had not encountered previously. I am well aware of Amalek from my Bible studies but outside of that all new to me.
Unfortunately the term Amalek is caught up in the modern narrative mythos Israelis use to justify the nation-state of Israel. It's only if we accept, without judgement, how Israelis, in this case Jews or Zionists, see themselves, that we can see clearly from the outside.
If we step back to see the forest instead of the trees, removing the specificity of the word Amalek as referenced by Judaism, it clearly reveals itself as part of a theological moral code.
The problem is not the word or reference to Amalek. This will forever be what it is. The problem is the liberal nation-state cannot coexist with a theocracy. If we look at majority Muslim States we can better appreciate the problem. Iran is a great example of a theocratic democracy (you can choose between a narrow band of pre-approved candidates authenticated by the religious council). Saudi Arabia by contrast is a Monarchy. Turkey is the best example of what a modern Muslim democracy looks like, with the military always ready to step in, like in Pakistan, if religious movements get out of hand.
On the one hand Israel wants to be a nation-state of and for Jews. On the other it wants to be a liberal democracy. These two things are not compatible. They even modified their constitution in 2018 to specifically say Israel is only for Jews (ignoring the 20% of Arabs who live within Israel, not to be confused with Gaza and the West Bank). The tragedy of Gaza is a natural consequence of condemning and prosecuting entire groups on the premise of one's own moral convictions. It's happened many times in history (Christianity isn't immune from it: Crusades and Inquisition, for instance). It doesn't even need to be religious, it can be ideologically driven to get the same results (for example: Communists, Nazis, etc).
There's a good reason why Church and State are separate in liberal nation-states and we're staring at it.
One of the mistakes in the current approaches, not just with Israel, but a lot of countries, is believing we can debate and reason our way out of the mess, that it's just a question of dialogue and finding the right words and arguments. This is a basic mistake.
It's not possible to reason with fundamentalists, whether religious or ideological, just as it's not reasonable to expect dictators and Kings to not be tyrants.
This being the case, dialogue and economic relationships are possible.
All of them need to stop the killing. All of the killing.
Yaaa, Amalek is a term that exemplifies the need to otherize and render unforgivable the target of on the other side of anyone's desired war.
I would say that you could find such a term in anyone's culture.
That doesn't give an excuse to Israel, but is recognition that Israel is just like any culture that wants to totally crush its enemy.
People still aren't long out of the trees.
“just like any culture” is rich considering no other culture continues to KILL and demonize their “enemies”?? The language, tactics, and literal genocide is not “just like any culture” and is inexcusable and VILE. They themselves are unforgivable in this “religious quest”.
Every culture uses terms to otherize those outside their group. Then when war is desired they turn up the heat against them and delineate their enemy as the world's greatest evil. (Except for maybe the Amish. They do have the term for the others, but they are largely adherent pacifists.)
Your insistence that Israel is the one culture that demonizes their enemy makes me think that you (GW) have turned up the heat on your specific enemy and are ready for war.
Israel has high tech and very effective systems of manipulation, and I think they have outsized influence on the U.S.. But I know they are not the only culture which is influencing the U.S., and not the only culture which is desirous of conquest and usurping resources.
When you say culture, do you mean religion? And I feel you use words very loosely.. What the hell makes you think i’d commit genocide against my enemies? I can agree that *religions in the past have been this ruthless (though I don’t see many 3000 years later claiming their biblical enemy is still a threat and should be exterminated, AND DOING IT). The call for extermination is inexcusable and disgusting. That’s the point I’m making and it is not widespread amongst cultures as you claim. Everyone has enemies, but not everyone seeks to destroy every living thing associated with them. They are maniacs in that regard, and anyone who thinks like that is as well
You stated (obviously wrongly) "that no other culture continues to kill and demonize their enemies". You are singling out one warlike culture as most evil, though current events reveals that it is simply not accurate.
I said that you make me think you have turned up the heat against your designated enemy, and are ready for war, and I still think it.
I did not specify how I thought you would conduct your war, and it is very very odd that you read "genocide" into my statement.
The middle east cultures are way more than 3000 years old, they've been warring back and forth since pre-history. In the U.S., the culture is new, but has been warring back and forth with others since it formed as an entity.
Sometimes there have been total massacres, and sometimes there has been effort to take out only combatants or leadership.
I don't see Israel as being unique, except for being a repatriation of a very old culture. I am not excusing their current style of war, nor their outsized amount of manipulative influence on the U.S., but I do know that there is nothing new under the sun.
Israel is not a religion. It is a culture. People claiming to be Israelis are not one race, nor do they all actually practice a specific (organized) religion. Many do not believe in a Creator. Some, who claim to believe in a Creator do not believe in an afterlife. There exist actual Jews who practice specific religion, and say "the LORD is 1". Many Jews (particularly among the most conservative types) are not Zionists. These are some essential details that are often passed over by people who are hot for war.
This is what doing in Amerikka. https://open.substack.com/pub/falkentheater/p/elizabeth-coadys-sos-to-the-world?r=ez4s1&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
My how you’ve grown! Where did you stay in AC? (That place is ‘special.’)
Caesar’s Casino
it was nice but overpriced for a room for a night
I wish I had just gotten a $100/night motel within walking distance
I hide out in AC frequently. The bar in Hard Rock has live music every night. This would have been fun to attend. Maybe they’ll do this all the time?
The next Word War debate is happening at the end of March in AC. I may or may not be competing rather than just sitting in the audience
Wow! What will be topic? You know there are a thousand untold stories about Epstein and Harvard/MIT.
What it means historically is irrelevant. Almalek is a any nation who poses an obstacle to jewry.
Functionally, Amalek is all goyim / gentiles. All will be eradicated or enslaved in order to bring about Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World. This is why they constantly try to mix up the races and pit them against each other.
untrue.
True.
Well done man!
Zionists use Amalek as a theological justification to kill their enemies...sort of like using LOTR term "orc" against foes....it has nothing to do with Judaism as in Jewish tradition amaleks identity has been lost and most use it as a metaphor of evil.
LOL
Go date Chandra Hardy and suffah!
To be this ruthless and heedless in her pursuit of total destruction of real and perceived, active and emerging enemies, Israel must have an unshakable belief in her supposedly divinely appointed destiny to triumph over all her enemies. So great and entrenched must be her delusion of grandeur as well as her historical collective PTSD that she is so blind to the fact that by eschewing the path of diplomacy and reputational reinforcement, she is effectively recreating a world in which antisemitism once again becomes a universal virus waiting for a super host to cultivate it into active destructive force. The only way Israel escapes the fate of repeated history is if she either desists now or becomes so powerful a force that it becomes impossible for her enemies all round to target her without risking their own annihilation.
Really well done and fascinating information I had not encountered previously. I am well aware of Amalek from my Bible studies but outside of that all new to me.
Unfortunately the term Amalek is caught up in the modern narrative mythos Israelis use to justify the nation-state of Israel. It's only if we accept, without judgement, how Israelis, in this case Jews or Zionists, see themselves, that we can see clearly from the outside.
If we step back to see the forest instead of the trees, removing the specificity of the word Amalek as referenced by Judaism, it clearly reveals itself as part of a theological moral code.
The problem is not the word or reference to Amalek. This will forever be what it is. The problem is the liberal nation-state cannot coexist with a theocracy. If we look at majority Muslim States we can better appreciate the problem. Iran is a great example of a theocratic democracy (you can choose between a narrow band of pre-approved candidates authenticated by the religious council). Saudi Arabia by contrast is a Monarchy. Turkey is the best example of what a modern Muslim democracy looks like, with the military always ready to step in, like in Pakistan, if religious movements get out of hand.
On the one hand Israel wants to be a nation-state of and for Jews. On the other it wants to be a liberal democracy. These two things are not compatible. They even modified their constitution in 2018 to specifically say Israel is only for Jews (ignoring the 20% of Arabs who live within Israel, not to be confused with Gaza and the West Bank). The tragedy of Gaza is a natural consequence of condemning and prosecuting entire groups on the premise of one's own moral convictions. It's happened many times in history (Christianity isn't immune from it: Crusades and Inquisition, for instance). It doesn't even need to be religious, it can be ideologically driven to get the same results (for example: Communists, Nazis, etc).
There's a good reason why Church and State are separate in liberal nation-states and we're staring at it.
One of the mistakes in the current approaches, not just with Israel, but a lot of countries, is believing we can debate and reason our way out of the mess, that it's just a question of dialogue and finding the right words and arguments. This is a basic mistake.
It's not possible to reason with fundamentalists, whether religious or ideological, just as it's not reasonable to expect dictators and Kings to not be tyrants.
This being the case, dialogue and economic relationships are possible.
Well done. Good Q&A appearance! You handled it perfect!
Excellent work Chris!