Live from Oakland Sex strikes Loving OBL Stop deconstructing stuff Seeing your friends spinout online… They’re not sending anyone anywhere Drunk Kathy Hochul and her bad, drunk ideas Not drunk Nikki Haley and her bad ideas Hate speech isn’t a thing in America
Has anyone thought to do a wellness check on the poor journalists and opinion havers who were hyperventilating about "stochastic terrorism" not that long ago? They've been so quiet, I worry they're all bound and gagged in a Hamas tunnel under Midtown.
Matt, I’m pretty sure nobody on any side of the issue defines Zionism as support for West Bank settlements. Israelis in the WB and their supporters no doubt call themselves Zionists, but so do lots of other people. Anti-Zionists are generally opposed to Israel’s very existence, not just to settlements.
As far as I’m concerned, if you support Israel’s existence, you’re a Zionist. Others may define it a little differently, but in any case, it’s not about settlements.
This morning I read Friedrich Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" which is Friedrich Hayek's book explaining how collectivism leads not to utopia but to totalitarian horrors. And I am ashamed to say I have not only never read this book, I'm ashamed to say I never even knew this book existed. It's wild, and you should read it. If you haven't read it yet, read it. However, be forewarned that this has left me very disillusioned, and I feel the same exact way as when I was deconstructing Christianity. I feel a little bit, just, uh, confused, like I've entered into another timeline. Like, what is this?! Yeah, so... go read it!
Am southern and have cousins who are ministers in various Christian (non-evangelical) denominations, and I can confirm MKH’s comments re how they see Israel. There is huge respect for the Judeo-Christian tradition and that Israel is the caretaker for the biblical and archaeological history that matters to both Christianity and Judaism. Where I live currently, I’d be stunned if I were to see anything indicating anti-semitism or support for Hamas.
There's a lot of speculation that bin Laden didn't write "Letter to America." I vaguely remember having to read it in college, but reread it again after bin Laden-palooza erupted on TikTok, and it struck me how "Western" the writing style even seemed (the way it was organised, the bullet points, etc.). Early on, some people thought it could have been written by Adam Gadahn, the American spokesman of al Qaeda and one of bin Laden's advisors. He was homeschooled in California by Christian parents and even had a grandparent who had been on the board of the ADL, but converted to Islam, moved to Pakistan in the 90s, and linked up with al Qaeda pretty quickly after. So I think it's possible he wrote it. But the more likely possibility is that it was written by Ayman al Zawahiri, an Egyptian al Qaeda higher-up who succeeded bin Laden as the leader of al Qaeda after bin Laden was killed. Al Qaeda's media arm attributed it to al Zawahiri and it shows up in compilations of his writings (and doesn't in bin Laden's). Terrorist plagiarism isn't going to be a hill I die on, but maybe we should get these TikTokers to issue a correction, and also make sure they're feeling OK after they find out they've been lied to AGAIN.
I don't think the Guardian should have taken the letter down, especially since it's apparently fueling a conspiracy that "they" don't want Gen Z to be able to read it and achieve enlightenment. "They" want to keep you down, man! (I think the Guardian was freaked out that it looked like their readership comprised a ton of terrorist sympathisers after it shot to the top of most-read articles twenty years after it was written, and I mean....). It's still easy to find it, obviously (don't worry, Newsweek took the mature and important step of publishing the text in full a couple days ago, bless them), but I don't think the precedent of taking down "controversial" pieces is super great.
Also, I agree that it's pretty obvious most of the kids didn't read the letter (they skipped over the two Quaranic surahs at the beginning that said Muslims have the right to fight nonbelievers because they are friends of Satan, which is you, darlings) and just got straight to the part that said Israel is BAD and they were like, yeah, true! Dude was on to something!
Let me guess. When asked about the effectiveness of the Bay Bridge shutdown, the protestors said something along the lines of, "this is the only way to wake people up to show them the seriousness of the situation"? I have been hearing people say things like that after stunts like that for over 40 years. The irony is of course not only how cut off they are from the world around them, but how cut off they are from the very people they are hoping to effect.
I just realized: the same people who claim Christians support Israel because of biblical prophecy will immediately dismiss religious motives of Jihadi attacks, blaming poverty and disenfranchisement instead.
I guess example #42,769 in politics continues to make strange bedfellows. Young Leftists are now basically embracing the thesis behind Dinesh D'Souza's The Enemy At Home, that Islam hates us for our secular licentiousness, and they are right to do so, and those of us in the correct position need to see we have more in common with Islam and embrace them.
With all due respect to MKH though I think it is often underreported how much Evangelical culture led directly to MAGA culture so as with most things everyone has their part to play in the chaos.
#430 - The TikTok Jihad w/ Mary Katharine Ham
If you read the bin Laden letter and come away thinking “he had a point,” you are well-indoctrinated, not well-educated.
My wife (a good mom): *Puts on nursery rhymes in the car when she drives our 1.5 yea old kid around*
Me (a bad dad): *Puts on the fifth column on when I drive my 1.5 year old kid around*
Has anyone thought to do a wellness check on the poor journalists and opinion havers who were hyperventilating about "stochastic terrorism" not that long ago? They've been so quiet, I worry they're all bound and gagged in a Hamas tunnel under Midtown.
Hell yes. She is one of my favorite guests.
MK is my girl crush. Woman is smart, funny, has 4 kids, a husband and like 6 part-time jobs. She is fantastic.
MM is just a tad anxious that more girls be crushing on MK than MM ✌️
Matt, I’m pretty sure nobody on any side of the issue defines Zionism as support for West Bank settlements. Israelis in the WB and their supporters no doubt call themselves Zionists, but so do lots of other people. Anti-Zionists are generally opposed to Israel’s very existence, not just to settlements.
As far as I’m concerned, if you support Israel’s existence, you’re a Zionist. Others may define it a little differently, but in any case, it’s not about settlements.
This morning I read Friedrich Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" which is Friedrich Hayek's book explaining how collectivism leads not to utopia but to totalitarian horrors. And I am ashamed to say I have not only never read this book, I'm ashamed to say I never even knew this book existed. It's wild, and you should read it. If you haven't read it yet, read it. However, be forewarned that this has left me very disillusioned, and I feel the same exact way as when I was deconstructing Christianity. I feel a little bit, just, uh, confused, like I've entered into another timeline. Like, what is this?! Yeah, so... go read it!
https://ctheory.sitehost.iu.edu/img/Hayek_The_Road_to_Serfdom.pdf
Am southern and have cousins who are ministers in various Christian (non-evangelical) denominations, and I can confirm MKH’s comments re how they see Israel. There is huge respect for the Judeo-Christian tradition and that Israel is the caretaker for the biblical and archaeological history that matters to both Christianity and Judaism. Where I live currently, I’d be stunned if I were to see anything indicating anti-semitism or support for Hamas.
There's a lot of speculation that bin Laden didn't write "Letter to America." I vaguely remember having to read it in college, but reread it again after bin Laden-palooza erupted on TikTok, and it struck me how "Western" the writing style even seemed (the way it was organised, the bullet points, etc.). Early on, some people thought it could have been written by Adam Gadahn, the American spokesman of al Qaeda and one of bin Laden's advisors. He was homeschooled in California by Christian parents and even had a grandparent who had been on the board of the ADL, but converted to Islam, moved to Pakistan in the 90s, and linked up with al Qaeda pretty quickly after. So I think it's possible he wrote it. But the more likely possibility is that it was written by Ayman al Zawahiri, an Egyptian al Qaeda higher-up who succeeded bin Laden as the leader of al Qaeda after bin Laden was killed. Al Qaeda's media arm attributed it to al Zawahiri and it shows up in compilations of his writings (and doesn't in bin Laden's). Terrorist plagiarism isn't going to be a hill I die on, but maybe we should get these TikTokers to issue a correction, and also make sure they're feeling OK after they find out they've been lied to AGAIN.
I don't think the Guardian should have taken the letter down, especially since it's apparently fueling a conspiracy that "they" don't want Gen Z to be able to read it and achieve enlightenment. "They" want to keep you down, man! (I think the Guardian was freaked out that it looked like their readership comprised a ton of terrorist sympathisers after it shot to the top of most-read articles twenty years after it was written, and I mean....). It's still easy to find it, obviously (don't worry, Newsweek took the mature and important step of publishing the text in full a couple days ago, bless them), but I don't think the precedent of taking down "controversial" pieces is super great.
Also, I agree that it's pretty obvious most of the kids didn't read the letter (they skipped over the two Quaranic surahs at the beginning that said Muslims have the right to fight nonbelievers because they are friends of Satan, which is you, darlings) and just got straight to the part that said Israel is BAD and they were like, yeah, true! Dude was on to something!
Let me guess. When asked about the effectiveness of the Bay Bridge shutdown, the protestors said something along the lines of, "this is the only way to wake people up to show them the seriousness of the situation"? I have been hearing people say things like that after stunts like that for over 40 years. The irony is of course not only how cut off they are from the world around them, but how cut off they are from the very people they are hoping to effect.
I just realized: the same people who claim Christians support Israel because of biblical prophecy will immediately dismiss religious motives of Jihadi attacks, blaming poverty and disenfranchisement instead.
You guys don’t understand. That’s just how people from South Buffalo sound.
You guys wanna be Ask a Jew so bad 😏
Good pod today but I do wish Moynihan would have let Ham expand more on the evangelical view on Israel instead of stepping on her points.
I guess example #42,769 in politics continues to make strange bedfellows. Young Leftists are now basically embracing the thesis behind Dinesh D'Souza's The Enemy At Home, that Islam hates us for our secular licentiousness, and they are right to do so, and those of us in the correct position need to see we have more in common with Islam and embrace them.
With all due respect to MKH though I think it is often underreported how much Evangelical culture led directly to MAGA culture so as with most things everyone has their part to play in the chaos.
“Osama bin Hidin’”