Comment by A_D_E_P_T
5 hours ago
It's legitimately weird to see anybody defend them, as the immorality is out in the open.
The past few years have really opened my eyes to the nakedly tribal nature of democratic politics. Polybius was largely correct when he said that it inevitably degenerates into oligarchy or mob-rule -- but what's especially unfortunate is that the US and Israel appear to be getting both at the same time: A naked oligarchy with just enough mob rule to keep the animal spirits of the populace sated.
I don't view Ben Gvir's rise to a position of powers as a product of democracy, as much of a product of artificial states, neocolonialism, ethnostates, and apartheid. More directly, his rise to power is a direct result of the financial support of Israeli settlements over the past century which could not have existed in the absence of such financial support: settlers were paid to live in a specific strategic locations, in a specific way that would further the Zionist mission (first exclusionary, later apartheid).
Any power structure will be twisted and corrupted in the presence of these state systems to give people like Ben Gvir (or Stephen Miller, if you'd like) the platform and power to unleash their naked evil on the world. This is not unique to democracy.
I think it's upon us - all of humanity - to denounce artificial states, neocolonialism, ethnostates, and apartheid. They are founded on principles that are misanthropic, asocial, and unhumanitarian. They have always led to an immense amount of suffering. But they are not inevitable, termination mode of democracy.
I’m genuinely surprised they aren’t here in this thread doing exactly that. The defenders pop up in every corner of Reddit any time anything related is mentioned. That there isn’t a similar effect here is quite interesting.
Edit: I should have scrolled down more first.
paul Graham is a very brave and vocal critic of apartheid policy of Israel. I legit almost cried when I saw one of this posts... Honestly it was just so unexpected. This place tows no line, and weeds out the bots
It really disturbed me discovering how many nominally liberal people who would react in horror at casual use of the n word are quite comfortable with genocidal racism.
Why should it surprise? It was never about values, it was about signaling. This is commonplace.
Hell, those folks react in horror at literally quoting the n-word as written in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Use-mention distinction is lost on a lot of people. It's a useful test for whether someone is reacting to a word (e.g. "damn") out of pure emotion and conditioning, or whether they're acting rationally.
1 reply →
Unfortunately there will always be people across the political spectrum who pearl clutch over media they personally find distasteful. The question is do any of them care when the rubber meets the road in reality. Christian conservative, progressive atheist, all are capable of failing that test.
And, with a perfectly straight face, they'll say: "B-but ackshually it's NOT genocide! They're not all dead yet!"
Beyond disturbing, I think.