An excellent post but I think you missed the mark. Every reference to Christians and Jews in the Koran is pejorative and several verses say that devout Muslims are to kill Jews where ever they are found. So, I understand your point about tribalism but Muslims have been murdering and subjugating Christians, Jews, and every other religious group, for 1500 years. This is more about religious imperialism, as the great Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis pointed out about Islam, than just tribalism. In 1995 Bethlehem was 95% Christian, now it's less than 5%. This is because of the abuse Muslims have directed at the Christians. They aim to do the same to the Israelis, not only the Jews, but the Christians and Muslims, as well, who are Israeli citizens.
You are correct, on one point: one side will have to destroy the other side.
“we, as a species, can never seem to overcome our tribal, warlike nature. We seem to be stuck with it.” And if you open your eyes you will see that there are powerful entities that profit from fanning the flames of our tribalism. It is they that are the enemy of us both.
You say, "You won't catch me taking sides in this tribal war." That seems to me like taking the easy way out. Just like most fortunate, well to do people you're living in a cocoon of ease. It doesn't do to get emotionally involved in the suffering of others. "I got mine," you say, and look aside. I think that's grotesque. Sure, the human tribal impulse has been endlessly destructive but each situation is different. What's going on in Gaza shows tens of thousands of innocent people including many children blown to bits by 2000 lb bombs and military hardware furnished by your own US government. 80% of the population who survived have no home and are near starvation. 80% of their homes, their gardens and workplaces, have been destroyed. This is genocide and American collusion in it is a war crime. Biden should be in jail for the tons of money he keeps handing over to a Zionist killing machine driven insane with revenge. For you to nimbly step aside from lifting your voice and saying NO MORE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS is beyond distasteful. Oh, and let's address the elephant in the room here. You (like I) are a big supporter of RFK Jr's policies regarding Big Pharma. He's been a treasure for us in that regard. But he's revealed another side of himself with his unbending support of the fake Zionist ideology of being defenders of "the chosen people" and the criminal insistence that being anti-Zionist equals being anti-Semitic. Bobby has lost it. And it's distasteful that virtually all the big Substack health freedom writers have scrupulously avoided mention of Gaza, like they can't risk offending their hero? Well, count me out
There is a right side and a wrong side. There never were such a “tribe” or nation as Palestinians. They are nothing more than Arab pawns being used by an evil agenda to “off” the Chosen Ones. Too bad if you or anyone else is butt-hurt over this term. God calls the shots and no one else. The Arabs are the envious ones of old who were children of the flesh and not of the spirit. Because God is merciful, He also blessed those people. Israel belongs to NO ONE but His covenant people. There is nothing some stupid military or pathetic Human race or nation can do to change this. And He’s returning the second time very soon to rule with His own. Tribulation is imminent so repent and believe in the Jew’s Messiah Savior.
I used to go to a laundry run by a Lebanese lady. She told me that we anglo saxons have no idea how middle easterners think. It is completely foreign to our thinking process. This was reinforced when a missionary couple related a story of a muslim fighter who was injured and was a patient at their hospital. They ministered to him counselled him to give up fighting and killing Jews and he agreed. Same day he was released he went out, got a gun and rejoined his cadre. I keep that in mind when listening to reports on the middle east war.
Ok. I read a bunch of comments and after doing so, came back and listened to this Finkelstein character talk a bit. I got to the point how he self-righteously starts declaring how the Israeli's have declared a public genocide on the Gazan's.
-- Don't start a war with genocide if you don't expect it returned your way.
-- Don't harbor a genocidal actor in your damn hospitals and allow this actor to rape and murder your neighbor(like the neighbor or not) and expect the neighbor to not repay YOU, too, in kind.
-- Don't tell me that even IF the Israeli's have declared to push these bastards into the sea that they are guilty of genocide. The Muslims have for decades declared genocide publicly on Israel and America. F' them.
We call out tribalism! We can say the Muslims want to destroy the Jews & Christians & we can say that the Christians & Jews have systematically killed Muslims! This is the 21st Century & we need to go beyond religion (all patriarchal/testosterone driven) & look at what has happened in Gaza! The Palestinians there (Muslim & Christian alike) are being murdered! They are in a 25mi long/2.5mi wide concentration camp that is being bombed daily. Their water & food is basically gone. Their hospitals are gone & they cannot escape across the border into Egypt! 22K+ civilians have been killed by bombs, many coming from the U.S.! I call this GENOCIDE & I do NOT want my tax dollars spent killing innocent people!
Netanyahu & his Zionists need to go to an island with meet Hamas & fight it out there! Leave the innocent civilians out of the mix! I've said this many times in the last 60+ years, MEN go to an island & point your PENISES at each other there! May the best squirt WIN!!!
The new world never forgets the atrocities of the old world, even many centuries in the past. Hell, the two brothers, both sons of Abraham, are still fighting among themselves and hijacking the rest of the world with their mutual hatred.
So, I actually disagree that "we" are "stuck" with "our" tribal violent and warring nature.
Most of the population of planet Earth are not very violent or prone to bouts of society wide insanity, viscousness, & murder entitled "War."
Women, as a rule, do not make weapons, either historically, or currently, at large scale, nor do armies of women march across the landscapes of Earth killing & looting as they go. Neither do children.
Not unless they have been murderously attacked, enslaved or physiologically manipulated into doing so, under EXTREME duress.
The males of this species have problems with their aggressive natures, when raised in a violent environment. That's the whole problem.
Psychological experiments show that if you raise the males without violence, aggression, abuse, & manipulation, without societal pressure to become violent, they are not either, on any large scale.
But, if a society is both patriarchal & war based, as is virtually every single society on Earth is, to some degree, then the violence keeps repeating, like a bad record.
Why the women & the children of Earth put up with this insanity, is another question. I suppose it is basically a planetary case of "Stockholm Syndrome."
But it always galls me when a man, steeped in the acceptance of the war culture of his ancestors, comes out and declares that humanity is made this way.
No. No it is NOT.
Study the Iroquois, the Minoans, and other matriarchal or female/male balanced peaceful societies.
Study female as opposed to male problem solving. Consider, when women are sane & healthy, how often they would declare war on a peaceful neighbor???
Not much. Not often.
The problem is all the dratted men, and women, who have normalized this utter fucking insanity.
Boys, you need to retire from leadership roles for 6000 years. Then the mothers of Earth will have enough time to fully heal humanity from all the psychosis created by war.
PS- read "Saharasia" by James DeMeo, PhD, to understand more fully the reality of war & male dominant societies.
It is not tribalism and the such. It is What is the truth? Zionism has persecuted Palestinians for 75 years now. We have to speak the truth. Murder is wrong. Propaganda is wrong. Superiority complex is wrong...whoever is leading it. Why are people power hungry? Why are they so ignorant? The Chosen People - so delusional. We are created in the image of God and are all connected under HIm.
I could never really reconcile two elements of the Israel and Palestine War.
1) I thought Israel was the most well defended country on the planet. Capable of defending itself at the first second of any issue. I don't understand why it took many hours for the IDF to jump into action. Why so slow?
2) Egypt is right next door to the Gaza border. No boat needed to go from Gaza to Egypt.....just open the doors and pass through. When the IDF were bombing the sh*t out of Gaza and trying to eliminate Hamas and the tunnels, and the Muslim people were told to walk south to avoid the bombs, they got right down to the border. Medical Supplies and Water, Food, Fuel, and basically safety from the IDF was just on the other side of that metal border fence. Egypt, like Gaza, are both Sunni Muslims. I don't understand why Egypt didn't just say FU to Israel, and open the gates and pull the Gaza refugees to their side. They obeyed the IDF. All other Sunni Muslim countries also obeyed the IDF. Why?
I didn't listen. Just a reminder......Russell Brand is a card carrying member of the Fabian Society.
Keep that in mind. I think I've read in the past that Finkelstein is opposed to the Zionist Chabbad Khazarian Mafia, which I concur with 100%. You may also want to read 2 books by Shlomo Sand an Israeli History Teacher 1) The Invention of the Jewish People and 2) The Invention of the Land of Israel.
Uncommonly good post. Touches on the slightly schizoid nature we all live and hopefully struggle with. It would be somewhat humorous if not for the pain and sorrow it generates.
The book, Empire of the Summer Moon, gives a more detailed look at Cynthia Ann, the Comanche, and McKenzie.
An excellent post but I think you missed the mark. Every reference to Christians and Jews in the Koran is pejorative and several verses say that devout Muslims are to kill Jews where ever they are found. So, I understand your point about tribalism but Muslims have been murdering and subjugating Christians, Jews, and every other religious group, for 1500 years. This is more about religious imperialism, as the great Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis pointed out about Islam, than just tribalism. In 1995 Bethlehem was 95% Christian, now it's less than 5%. This is because of the abuse Muslims have directed at the Christians. They aim to do the same to the Israelis, not only the Jews, but the Christians and Muslims, as well, who are Israeli citizens.
You are correct, on one point: one side will have to destroy the other side.
Danny Huckabee
Well. I’m taking sides. Stop the genocide NOW.
“we, as a species, can never seem to overcome our tribal, warlike nature. We seem to be stuck with it.” And if you open your eyes you will see that there are powerful entities that profit from fanning the flames of our tribalism. It is they that are the enemy of us both.
You say, "You won't catch me taking sides in this tribal war." That seems to me like taking the easy way out. Just like most fortunate, well to do people you're living in a cocoon of ease. It doesn't do to get emotionally involved in the suffering of others. "I got mine," you say, and look aside. I think that's grotesque. Sure, the human tribal impulse has been endlessly destructive but each situation is different. What's going on in Gaza shows tens of thousands of innocent people including many children blown to bits by 2000 lb bombs and military hardware furnished by your own US government. 80% of the population who survived have no home and are near starvation. 80% of their homes, their gardens and workplaces, have been destroyed. This is genocide and American collusion in it is a war crime. Biden should be in jail for the tons of money he keeps handing over to a Zionist killing machine driven insane with revenge. For you to nimbly step aside from lifting your voice and saying NO MORE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS is beyond distasteful. Oh, and let's address the elephant in the room here. You (like I) are a big supporter of RFK Jr's policies regarding Big Pharma. He's been a treasure for us in that regard. But he's revealed another side of himself with his unbending support of the fake Zionist ideology of being defenders of "the chosen people" and the criminal insistence that being anti-Zionist equals being anti-Semitic. Bobby has lost it. And it's distasteful that virtually all the big Substack health freedom writers have scrupulously avoided mention of Gaza, like they can't risk offending their hero? Well, count me out
There is a right side and a wrong side. There never were such a “tribe” or nation as Palestinians. They are nothing more than Arab pawns being used by an evil agenda to “off” the Chosen Ones. Too bad if you or anyone else is butt-hurt over this term. God calls the shots and no one else. The Arabs are the envious ones of old who were children of the flesh and not of the spirit. Because God is merciful, He also blessed those people. Israel belongs to NO ONE but His covenant people. There is nothing some stupid military or pathetic Human race or nation can do to change this. And He’s returning the second time very soon to rule with His own. Tribulation is imminent so repent and believe in the Jew’s Messiah Savior.
I used to go to a laundry run by a Lebanese lady. She told me that we anglo saxons have no idea how middle easterners think. It is completely foreign to our thinking process. This was reinforced when a missionary couple related a story of a muslim fighter who was injured and was a patient at their hospital. They ministered to him counselled him to give up fighting and killing Jews and he agreed. Same day he was released he went out, got a gun and rejoined his cadre. I keep that in mind when listening to reports on the middle east war.
Ok. I read a bunch of comments and after doing so, came back and listened to this Finkelstein character talk a bit. I got to the point how he self-righteously starts declaring how the Israeli's have declared a public genocide on the Gazan's.
-- Don't start a war with genocide if you don't expect it returned your way.
-- Don't harbor a genocidal actor in your damn hospitals and allow this actor to rape and murder your neighbor(like the neighbor or not) and expect the neighbor to not repay YOU, too, in kind.
-- Don't tell me that even IF the Israeli's have declared to push these bastards into the sea that they are guilty of genocide. The Muslims have for decades declared genocide publicly on Israel and America. F' them.
We call out tribalism! We can say the Muslims want to destroy the Jews & Christians & we can say that the Christians & Jews have systematically killed Muslims! This is the 21st Century & we need to go beyond religion (all patriarchal/testosterone driven) & look at what has happened in Gaza! The Palestinians there (Muslim & Christian alike) are being murdered! They are in a 25mi long/2.5mi wide concentration camp that is being bombed daily. Their water & food is basically gone. Their hospitals are gone & they cannot escape across the border into Egypt! 22K+ civilians have been killed by bombs, many coming from the U.S.! I call this GENOCIDE & I do NOT want my tax dollars spent killing innocent people!
Netanyahu & his Zionists need to go to an island with meet Hamas & fight it out there! Leave the innocent civilians out of the mix! I've said this many times in the last 60+ years, MEN go to an island & point your PENISES at each other there! May the best squirt WIN!!!
The new world never forgets the atrocities of the old world, even many centuries in the past. Hell, the two brothers, both sons of Abraham, are still fighting among themselves and hijacking the rest of the world with their mutual hatred.
I really enjoy hearing your thoughts.
So, I actually disagree that "we" are "stuck" with "our" tribal violent and warring nature.
Most of the population of planet Earth are not very violent or prone to bouts of society wide insanity, viscousness, & murder entitled "War."
Women, as a rule, do not make weapons, either historically, or currently, at large scale, nor do armies of women march across the landscapes of Earth killing & looting as they go. Neither do children.
Not unless they have been murderously attacked, enslaved or physiologically manipulated into doing so, under EXTREME duress.
The males of this species have problems with their aggressive natures, when raised in a violent environment. That's the whole problem.
Psychological experiments show that if you raise the males without violence, aggression, abuse, & manipulation, without societal pressure to become violent, they are not either, on any large scale.
But, if a society is both patriarchal & war based, as is virtually every single society on Earth is, to some degree, then the violence keeps repeating, like a bad record.
Why the women & the children of Earth put up with this insanity, is another question. I suppose it is basically a planetary case of "Stockholm Syndrome."
But it always galls me when a man, steeped in the acceptance of the war culture of his ancestors, comes out and declares that humanity is made this way.
No. No it is NOT.
Study the Iroquois, the Minoans, and other matriarchal or female/male balanced peaceful societies.
Study female as opposed to male problem solving. Consider, when women are sane & healthy, how often they would declare war on a peaceful neighbor???
Not much. Not often.
The problem is all the dratted men, and women, who have normalized this utter fucking insanity.
Boys, you need to retire from leadership roles for 6000 years. Then the mothers of Earth will have enough time to fully heal humanity from all the psychosis created by war.
PS- read "Saharasia" by James DeMeo, PhD, to understand more fully the reality of war & male dominant societies.
It is not tribalism and the such. It is What is the truth? Zionism has persecuted Palestinians for 75 years now. We have to speak the truth. Murder is wrong. Propaganda is wrong. Superiority complex is wrong...whoever is leading it. Why are people power hungry? Why are they so ignorant? The Chosen People - so delusional. We are created in the image of God and are all connected under HIm.
I could never really reconcile two elements of the Israel and Palestine War.
1) I thought Israel was the most well defended country on the planet. Capable of defending itself at the first second of any issue. I don't understand why it took many hours for the IDF to jump into action. Why so slow?
2) Egypt is right next door to the Gaza border. No boat needed to go from Gaza to Egypt.....just open the doors and pass through. When the IDF were bombing the sh*t out of Gaza and trying to eliminate Hamas and the tunnels, and the Muslim people were told to walk south to avoid the bombs, they got right down to the border. Medical Supplies and Water, Food, Fuel, and basically safety from the IDF was just on the other side of that metal border fence. Egypt, like Gaza, are both Sunni Muslims. I don't understand why Egypt didn't just say FU to Israel, and open the gates and pull the Gaza refugees to their side. They obeyed the IDF. All other Sunni Muslim countries also obeyed the IDF. Why?
I didn't listen. Just a reminder......Russell Brand is a card carrying member of the Fabian Society.
Keep that in mind. I think I've read in the past that Finkelstein is opposed to the Zionist Chabbad Khazarian Mafia, which I concur with 100%. You may also want to read 2 books by Shlomo Sand an Israeli History Teacher 1) The Invention of the Jewish People and 2) The Invention of the Land of Israel.
Uncommonly good post. Touches on the slightly schizoid nature we all live and hopefully struggle with. It would be somewhat humorous if not for the pain and sorrow it generates.
The book, Empire of the Summer Moon, gives a more detailed look at Cynthia Ann, the Comanche, and McKenzie.
There's no denying that we are violent as human beings.