US Exceptionalism

[cubsfan]

There is something to be said for being a good guest in the country you are immigrating to - 

we seem to have lost that.  Respect your host, don't break their laws, show some appreciation for the host that shows you magnanimity. You look at our Universities overrun by radical immigrants that riot becuase they are "oppressed" by their host. Easier to get sick of these people and just send them packing.

 

So much of this is just common sense.

[Xerxes]

8 minutes ago, Malmqky said:

Well, are Jews being brainwashed by fundamentalist, extremist ideology, and poverty on the scale Muslims are in countries like Iran?

I don’t think you know Iran at all …. Based on your paragraph. 
 

Even @Dinar wouldn’t write this … lol

[Malmqky]

3 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

I don’t think you know Iran at all …. Based on your paragraph. 
 

Even @Dinar wouldn’t write this … lol

 

Fair enough. I do know millions riot against their government and go back to 80s it was a different place. Palestine would have been a better example.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Edited 2 hours ago by Malmqky

[Dinar]

2 hours ago, Xerxes said:

The Jewish people have done a lot for the world. No doubt about it. I learn from them all the time …. (except their idea of co-existence with their very close neighbours) but that is different discussion and I don’t have an answer for it 
 

 

…. now rerun your math again when you properly classify Nazi and whatever else WHITE people have been up in terrorizing other populations as “terrorism” for the past hundreds of years.  

 

 

No, what Nazis & Mao & Stalin did was genocide.  On another note, to your point, Mongols were truly benevolent conquerors, provided you surrendered rather than fought.  

[Xerxes]

3 minutes ago, Malmqky said:

 

Fair enough. I do know millions riot against their government and go back to 80s it was a different place. Palestine would have been a better example.

Thanks for pointing that out.

The 1979 revolution was a revolution against the police state, by anti-monarchist, republican, Tudeh (communist), Muslims, clerics, the bazari (merchant class), teachers. 

 

in other words: everyone. Populism at its best. 

 

it became an “Islamic” revolution after the War started with Iraq, and the Islamist hijacked it on a pretext of national security. And then every of these factions were sidelined and silenced. 
 

 

 

 

[Xerxes]

30 minutes ago, Dinar said:

No, what Nazis & Mao & Stalin did was genocide.  On another note, to your point, Mongols were truly benevolent conquerors, provided you surrendered rather than fought.  

Nope. Doesn’t change the fact they were terrorizing those who they did not fall under the extermination program. 
 

 

[mcliu]

40 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

Nope. Doesn’t change the fact they were terrorizing those who they did not fall under the extermination program. 
 

 

Why argue over semantics? There's no specific agreed upon definition of terrorism..

You can make the argument that all homo sapiens are terrorists for exterminating neanderthals..

Clearly you and Dinar are talking about two different things here.

Maybe to be more specific the issue is religious extremism?

 

[Xerxes]

Certainly it all depends on definition. But there was a comment that 80% of terrorists are muslims. 
 

Now as an Iranian, I have no love for muslims and what they brought to my nation. That said there is a misrepresentation. 
 

So let’s re-run the math, and including the likes of Leopold II and Nazi and other misadventures of WHITE men and their terrorism. 
 

The colour of skin, race and faith shouldn’t matter. It is just people being people. And being shaped by their environment and circumstances. 
 

 

 

——//////——

More on King Leopold II from Gemini. 

it is one of the less known atrocities in the Western world. In case you cannot see it, in the picture below the person is looking at its now chopped off limbs. 

 

 

King Leopold II of Belgium's rule over the Congo Free State (1885-1908) resulted in the deaths of millions of Congolese people.
 * Estimates: Scholarly estimates of the death toll vary widely, ranging from 5 to 10 million.
 * Causes: This immense loss of life was primarily due to:
   * Forced labor: The Congolese were subjected to brutal forced labor in the collection of rubber and ivory, leading to widespread starvation, exhaustion, and death.
   * Violence and mutilation: Brutal punishments, including mutilation (hands being cut off) and killings, were common to enforce labor quotas.
   * Disease: The introduction of European diseases like smallpox and sleeping sickness decimated the population.
It's important to note: These figures are difficult to pinpoint with absolute certainty due to the lack of accurate records kept during that period.
The atrocities committed in the Congo Free State under Leopold II's rule are considered one of the most horrific examples of colonial exploitation and violence in history.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Xerxes

[Blake Hampton]

One of the best books I've ever read, if not the best, was Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's truly an incredible book and I read it three times back-to-back when I was going through a tough period, it completely changed my life. One of the things that stuck with me was how Frankl described the cruelty that he would see committed by other Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz, they were called Capos.

"As Frankl describes, the worst and most brutal individuals, sometimes former criminals, were assigned to be capos. They could be more cruel and vicious to the prisoners than the SS guards. Any capo who was not sufficiently sadistic and violent would quickly be replaced."

The lesson I learned from this, that I will hopefully remember for the rest of my life, is that the morality within specific groups of humans isn't simply black and white. There's always good and evil everywhere.

Edited 39 minutes ago by Blake Hampton

[Spooky]

27 minutes ago, Blake Hampton said:

One of the best books I've ever read, if not the best, was Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's truly an incredible book and I read it three times back-to-back when I was going through a tough period, it completely changed my life. One of the things that stuck with me was how Frankl described the cruelty that he would see committed by other Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz, they were called Capos.

"As Frankl describes, the worst and most brutal individuals, sometimes former criminals, were assigned to be capos. They could be more cruel and vicious to the prisoners than the SS guards. Any capo who was not sufficiently sadistic and violent would quickly be replaced."

The lesson I learned from this, that I will hopefully remember for the rest of my life, is that the morality within specific groups of humans isn't simply black and white. There's always good and evil everywhere.

 

Great book and post. Very wise.

[cubsfan]

3 hours ago, rkbabang said:

 

It's just their long march through the institutions. I think history has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that McCarthy was correct and wasn't extreme enough. Collectivists and leftists are always and everywhere a threat to civilization.  And that is exactly what every child should be taught.

 

The following kind of action will go a long way to restoring sanity in America's institutions.

Understandably, few trust our universities anymore due to the extremists.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/12/18/in-schools-jews-lose/

 

President-Elect Trump this week:

 

"My first week back in the Oval Office, my administration will inform every college president that if you do not end antisemitic propaganda, they will lose their accreditation and federal taxpayer support. I will inform every educational institution in our land that if they permit violence, harassment, or threats against Jewish students, the schools will be held accountable for violations of the civil rights laws.”

[Dinar]

3 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

The following kind of action will go a long way to restoring sanity in America's institutions.

Understandably, few trust our universities anymore due to the extremists.

 

https://amgreatness.com/2024/12/18/in-schools-jews-lose/

 

President-Elect Trump this week:

 

"My first week back in the Oval Office, my administration will inform every college president that if you do not end antisemitic propaganda, they will lose their accreditation and federal taxpayer support. I will inform every educational institution in our land that if they permit violence, harassment, or threats against Jewish students, the schools will be held accountable for violations of the civil rights laws.”

A better action would be the following:

a) End federal student loan guarantees that cost taxpayers tens to hundreds of billions per annum

b) Tax endowment earnings

c) End tax free status of bonds issued by universities and municipalities in general

d) End all federal support for universities, including for research - let them apply to a myriad of foundations such as Gates, Musk, et all

e) Tax benefits given to university employees such as subsidized housing (3 bedroom in Greenwich Village for $3K per month vs $15K monthly rent) and free tuition for their kids.