Campus Protests, Antisemitism, and Western Values (Episode #367)

Summary

El script del podcast explora la preocupación del host, Sam Harris, sobre el aumento del antisemitismo y la influencia de las redes sociales en la agitación política, especialmente en las universidades. Harris critica la respuesta inadecuada y hipócrita de las instituciones educativas ante incidentes de hostigamiento y violencia contra estudiantes judíos, argumentando que estas acciones no serían toleradas si los afectados pertenecieran a otros grupos étnicos. El discurso también aborda la fuente de financiación de grupos estudiantiles y su conexión con el Estado de Qatar y la Muslim Brotherhood, así como la creciente confusión moral y el miedo a reconocer la amenaza del extremismo islámico. Harris insiste en la necesidad de defender los valores occidentales y la libertad de expresión, y cuestiona la actitud de ciertos sectores de la sociedad que parecen alentarse mutuamente en un círculo vicioso de autocrítica y miedo a ser los malos. Finalmente, el host llama a la sociedad a madurar y proteger sus valores fundamentales frente a fuerzas que buscan socavarlos.

Takeaways

• 🌐 La combinación de un smartphone y las redes sociales parece estar llevando a nuestra especie a la locura, afectando el comportamiento y la percepción de eventos, como las protestas en campus universitarios.
• 😠 Hay una creciente preocupación sobre el antisemitismo, con el reconocimiento de que es un problema más grande de lo que se había imaginado.
• 🏛 Las respuestas de las universidades a los incidentes de hostigamiento y violencia han sido insuficientes y hipócritas, mostrando una clara doble基準.
• 🤔 La tolerancia de las administraciones universitarias hacia el comportamiento inaceptable sienta un peligroso precedente y debe ser abordada con firmeza.
• 💰 Qatar ha proporcionado decenas de miles de millones de dólares a universidades occidentales, lo que podría estar influyendo en la narrativa y la tolerancia hacia ciertos grupos y actitudes.
• 📉 El daño a la reputación de instituciones educativas卓越的由于学生抗议活动和 la percepción de apoyo a grupos como Hamas ha sido extraordinario y perjudicial.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Es necesario un reconocimiento de que hay amenazas reales a la libertad y la tolerancia en el mundo, y la política de identidad es una de ellas.
• 📉 La identidad política y la confusión moral han llevado a una generación de estudiantes a apoyar a grupos que representan la aniquilación de los valores que deberían valorar.
• 🏙️ La visión de izquierdas que considera a Israel como un opresor y a los palestinos como víctimas, sin importar las circunstancias, es un enfoque tóxico e incorrecto.
• 📈 La creciente hostilidad y el antisemitismo en el mundo están impulsando la necesidad de un estado propio para los judíos y la defensa de Israel sin disculpas.
• 🌟 Los valores occidentales, como la libertad de expresión y la tolerancia, son fundamentales y deben ser defendidos activamente frente a cualquier amenaza, incluyendo la ideología extremista.

Q & A

¿Qué opina Sam Harris sobre las protestas universitarias en relación con la situación en Gaza?

Sam Harris considera que hay una gran confusión y un montón de enojo en las protestas, y sugiere que mucho del caos que vemos en línea es performativo, es decir, está siendo orquestado para las cámaras. Critica que los eventos en sí mismos no ocurrirían o no tendrían la misma magnitud sin la capacidad de difundirlos en las redes sociales.

¿Cómo ve Harris el apoyo a Hamás por parte de algunos estudiantes universitarios?

Harris está preocupado y considera que el apoyo a Hamás, una organización que él describe como genocida, por parte de estudiantes en universidades prestigiosas indica un problema más amplio de antisemitismo y confusión moral.

¿Qué dice Harris sobre la respuesta de las universidades a las protestas y el comportamiento de los estudiantes?

Harris critica que la respuesta de las universidades ha sido insuficiente y hipócrita, señalando que las políticas universitarias en torno a las protestas han sido violadas durante meses y que hay un doble estándar obvio que constituye antisemitismo.

¿Por qué Harris cree que la situación en el Medio Oriente y la postura de Israel es tan compleja para la sociedad occidental?

Harris argumenta que la confusión moral y la falta de comprensión sobre el extremismo islámico y la doctrina de Hamás hacen que la situación sea compleja. Además, señala la influencia de la teología de grupos como el Muslim Brotherhood y la financiación de universidades por países como Qatar, que promueven intereses que van en contra de los valores occidentales.

¿Qué papel cree que juega el dinero y el petróleo en la influencia de la teología política de países como Qatar en universidades occidentales?

Harris sugiere que la influencia de la teología política de países como Qatar, que ha dado decenas de miles de millones de dólares a universidades en Estados Unidos, Canadá y Reino Unido, ha sido un factor significativo en la promoción de visiones que no son favorables a Israel y que contribuyen a la confusión y al antisemitismo en el mundo académico.

¿Qué sugiere Harris que debería hacerse en las universidades para abordar el problema del antisemitismo y la influencia de intereses extranjeros?

Harris sugiere que las universidades deben realizar un 'reset' difícil, purgando la burocracia y la teocracia que han construido a lo largo de décadas, rechazando el dinero de países como Qatar, y volviendo a un compromiso con los valores de la Ilustración, incluyendo la investigación y la enseñanza basados en el mérito y no en la identidad.

¿Cómo Harris ve la relación entre el antisemitismo y la crítica a Israel?

Harris reconoce que aunque la crítica a Israel no siempre equivale al antisemitismo, en la actualidad, debido a la naturaleza de muchas críticas y el contexto, es probable que la mayoría de las personas que se identifican como antizionistas también tengan tendencias antisemitas.

¿Qué papel cree que juegan las identidades políticas y la 'opresión olimpíada' en la confusión sobre la situación en Oriente Medio?

Harris argumenta que la identidad política y la competencia por ser reconocidos como la víctima más oprimida (la 'opresión olimpíada') han llevado a una serie de confusión en la izquierda y en la sociedad en general, lo que ha resultado en una comprensión distorsionada de la realidad en Oriente Medio.

¿Qué soluciones propone Harris para proteger y mejorar los valores occidentales en una sociedad cada vez más influenciada por extremismos y mentiras?

Harris propone una defensa real de los valores occidentales, que incluye la libertad de expresión, la tolerancia y la diversidad, pero también la defensa de las ideas que hacen posible esa libertad y tolerancia. Sugiere que los medios de comunicación y las instituciones educativas deben volver a ser 'moralmente sanas' y luchar contra la propaganda y la desinformación.

¿Por qué Harris considera que la inmigración de musulmanes seculares o ex musulmanes puede ser beneficiosa para la sociedad occidental?

Harris ve a los musulmanes seculares, liberales y ex musulmanes como potencialmente valiosos inmigrantes porque provienen de sociedades donde comprenden las razones por las cuales la vida en Occidente es mejor, no solo por la riqueza sino también por los valores superiores, y pueden contribuir a la lucha contra el extremismo dentro de la comunidad musulmana.

¿Qué papel ven los medios de comunicación y las universidades en la promoción de una comprensión más clara de la realidad en Oriente Medio?

Harris critica que los medios de comunicación y las universidades no estén cumpliendo su papel de manera efectiva, lo que lleva a una promoción de mentiras y una comprensión distorsionada de la situación en Oriente Medio, particularmente en relación con el conflicto israelí-palestino.

Outlines

00:00

🎙️ Podcast de Sam Harris: Protestas universitarias y el problema del antisemitismo

Sam Harris aborda la situación de las protestas en campus universitarios y cómo la tecnología y las redes sociales pueden estar exacerbando la situación. Critica la respuesta inadecuada e hipócrita de las universidades ante incidentes de antisemitismo, y señala la falta de tolerancia hacia el comportamiento inaceptable por parte de estudiantes y profesores. Harris también destaca la influencia de la doteción de Qatar a universidades y su impacto en la ideología de grupos como el Movimiento por la Justicia en Palestina.

05:02

💸 Influencia financiera y la desinformación en el conflicto de Gaza

Se discute la influencia del petróleo y el dinero en la política exterior, especialmente en relación con el apoyo de Qatar a universidades y su efecto en la forma en que se ven los conflictos, como el de Gaza. Harris señala la desinformación y la manipulación de la opinión pública por parte de grupos financiados por el Muslim Brotherhood y la necesidad de una mayor comprensión y honestidad en la cobertura periodística y académica.

10:04

📚 La crisis de valores universitarios y la respuesta al antisemitismo

Harris reflexiona sobre el daño a la reputación de instituciones educativas debido a su manejo del antisemitismo y la hipocresía en sus políticas. Aboga por una transformación en las universidades para rechazar la influencia del fundamentalismo y la teología política, y para volver a comprometerse con los valores de la Ilustración.

15:06

🤔 La confusión moral y la identidad política en el conflicto israelí-palestino

Se explora la confusión moral en la percepción pública, especialmente entre los jóvenes y la izquierda política, sobre el conflicto entre Israel y Palestina. Harris cuestiona la narrativa de víctimas y opressores y cómo esta puede llevar a apoyar a grupos como Hamás, que promueven la violencia y la intolerancia.

20:07

🕊️ La crítica a la extrema derecha y la necesidad de defender los valores occidentales

Harris aborda el extremismo de la derecha y cómo la narrativa de 'Gran Reemplazo' y otros prejuicios pueden ser perjudiciales. Sin embargo, enfatiza la importancia de defender los valores occidentales y la libertad de expresión, y cómo la identidad política y la polarización pueden socavar estos principios fundamentales.

25:08

🏛️ La importancia de la verdad y la comunicación honesta en la política y la sociedad

Harris insiste en la necesidad de una comunicación honesta y la importancia de los periodistas y políticos para entender y transmitir la realidad de la influencia del fundamentalismo religioso en conflictos globales. Critica la actitud de superioridad y la falta de entendimiento sobre las diferencias entre Islam y otros movimientos religiosos.

30:09

📖 La naturaleza intrínsecamente política del Islam y su impacto en la sociedad

Se hace una distinción entre el Islam y el islamismo, y se discute la naturaleza política del Islam desde su inicio, contrastando con otras religiones como el cristianismo. Harris señala la importancia de entender la historia y los fundamentos del Islam para contextualizar los conflictos modernos y la resistencia al cambio político.

35:10

🕊️ La paz imposible: el conflicto israelí-palestino y la misión del Islam

Harris reflexiona sobre la imposibilidad de lograr la paz en el conflicto entre Israel y Palestina debido a la misión del Islam de conquista y sumisión. Destaca la intolerancia y el amor por el martirio como elementos centrales en el Islam, y cuestiona la narrativa de que el conflicto es una cuestión de poder y no de fe religiosa.

40:11

🏥 El martirio y la barbarie: la perspectiva de un cirujano palestino

Se presenta una narrativa de un cirujano palestino que perdió a su familia debido a los combates entre Hamás y Israel. La historia ilustra la complejidad de las víctimas y los combatientes en la región y cómo la idea del martirio puede influir en la actitud de los militantes hacia la violencia y la muerte.

45:14

🌍 La lucha de civilizaciones y la importancia de defender los valores occidentales

Harris habla sobre la necesidad de defender los valores occidentales frente a la influencia del fundamentalismo islámico y otros valores que entran en conflicto con la tolerancia y la diversidad. Argumenta que la oposición entre el Islam tradicional y los valores occidentales es una preocupación existencial para Israel y podría serlo para el resto del mundo.

50:15

🚫 El reto de las sociedades abiertas: mantener los valores frente a los enemigos

Se discute cómo las sociedades abiertas pueden mantener y mejorar sus valores en un mundo con enemigos reales. Harris argumenta que es crucial limitar la propagación de la desinformación y la ideología extremista, y que los inmigrantes que comparten y promueven los valores occidentales son invaluables para la lucha de ideas.

🗣️ La libertad de expresión y la desinformación: el papel de las plataformas privadas

Harris reflexiona sobre el desafío de la libertad de expresión y la desinformación en las plataformas privadas y la sociedad civil. Critica la proliferación de mentiras que afectan la gobernabilidad de la sociedad y la necesidad de que las plataformas私营 (privadas) y la sociedad civil actúen para contener el problema.

Keywords

💡Protestas universitarias

Las protestas universitarias son un tema central en el video, donde se discuten las manifestaciones que han ocurrido en contra de la guerra en Gaza y cómo estas podrían estar siendo influenciadas por la capacidad de difusión en las redes sociales. El vídeo sugiere que algunas de estas protestas pueden ser 'performativas', es decir, diseñadas para captar la atención de los medios.

💡Antisemitismo

El antisemitismo es un concepto clave en el video, con el hablante expresando su preocupación sobre la creciente problemática del antisemitismo, tanto en el contexto de las protestas universitarias como en el mundo actual. Se destaca la hipocresía y la doble基準stad en la respuesta de las universidades ante el comportamiento abusivo y derogatorio hacia los estudiantes judíos.

💡Hamas

Hamas es mencionado como un grupo que representa la aniquilación de los valores que los estudiantes universitarios deberían valorar. Se discute cómo el apoyo a Hamas por parte de algunos estudiantes y profesores refleja una falta de comprensión de la naturaleza violenta y genocida de la organización.

💡Performativo

El término 'performativo' se utiliza para describir el comportamiento que es exagerado o diseñado para impresionar o para ser visto por otros, particularmente en el contexto de las protestas en las universidades. Esto sugiere que algunas de las acciones podrían ser más una cuestión de espectáculo que de auténtica pasión o convicción.

💡Universidades

Las universidades son un eje central del discurso, ya que se cuestiona su respuesta a las protestas y a la intolerancia. Se argumenta que las políticas universitarias han sido violadas y que hay un claro doble estándar en la forma en que se toleran ciertos comportamientos si se comparan con otras comunidades.

💡Identidad de género

La identidad de género se menciona como parte de la narrativa más amplia sobre las políticas de las universidades y cómo estas han sido cuestionadas por eventos recientes. Se sugiere que la protección de las identidades de género puede estar en conflicto con otras consideraciones, como la seguridad y la integridad académica.

💡Estado de Israel

Israel se presenta como una democracia en el Medio Oriente que tiene el derecho de defenderse contra las críticas y los ataques que recibe. Se discute la postura de algunos que no apoyan la existencia del Estado de Israel y cómo esto se relaciona con el antisemitismo.

💡Extremismo islámico

El extremismo islámico es un tema recurrente a lo largo del video, donde se discute cómo representa una amenaza para las sociedades abiertas y la libertad. Se argumenta que la falta de comprensión sobre la naturaleza del extremismo islámico lleva a una confusión moral en la percepción pública sobre conflictos como el de Israel-Palestina.

💡Valores occidentales

Los valores occidentales, incluyendo la libertad de expresión, la diversidad y la tolerancia, son discutidos como fundamentales para la sociedad abierta. Se cuestiona cómo estos valores son amenazados no solo por el extremismo islámico, sino también por la propia sociedad occidental a través de la política de identidad.

💡Inmigración

La inmigración es un tema de discusión en el contexto de mantener los valores occidentales y cómo las decisiones sobre quién se permite entrar en una sociedad pueden afectar la integridad de sus valores fundamentales. Se argumenta que es importante ser selectivo sobre los inmigrantes para garantizar que compartan y respeten los valores de la sociedad anfitriona.

💡Libertad de expresión

La libertad de expresión es un derecho fundamental en las sociedades occidentales, especialmente en los Estados Unidos debido a la Primera Enmienda. Sin embargo, el video plantea preocupaciones sobre cómo la desinformación y la propagación de mentiras a través de la libertad de expresión pueden erosionar la capacidad de la sociedad para ser gobernada.

Highlights

Sam Harris discusses the performative nature of campus protests and their relation to social media.

Harris expresses concern over the impact of smartphones and social media on societal behavior.

He criticizes the response of universities to protests, highlighting a perceived double standard constituting anti-Semitism.

Harris argues that students who physically prevent Jewish students from accessing buildings should be expelled.

He draws an analogy between the response to protests about China's treatment of Uighur Muslims and the protests on campus.

Harris condemns the support for Hamas among student protesters, calling it a genocidal death cult.

The influence of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood on Western universities is examined.

Harris criticizes identitarian politics and its impact on the perception of conflicts, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He calls for a defense of Western values against the threats of identity politics and Islamic extremism.

Harris discusses the challenges of being a committed Zionist in light of the current political climate.

The podcast touches on the anti-Semitism Awareness Act and its potential issues.

Harris expresses the need for a clear understanding of the threat posed by Islamist extremism to open societies.

He emphasizes the importance of not allowing misinformation about Israel to go unchallenged.

Harris addresses the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of religious beliefs in fueling the conflict.

The podcast concludes with a call to protect Western societies from those who would undermine their foundational values.

Transcripts

[Music]

[Music]

welcome to the making sense podcast this

is Sam

Harris well I suppose I should say

something about the campus protests

there's a lot of anger and confusion out

there just how much of a problem is

this well there's no question that much

of the chaos we see online is

performative which is to say that it's

being staged for the cameras that

doesn't mean it's entirely

insincere but it is interesting to

consider whether the events themselves

would have happened or would have

happened at this scale and have this

character absent an ability to broadcast

them on social media of course this

concern relates to far more than what's

happening on college campuses in

response to the war in Gaza the

combination of a smartphone and social

media appears to be driving our species

crazy we're all effectively walking

around with a television studio in our

pockets and the question is what is this

doing to us so this is just to say that

when I see video of crowds of very smug

and very hostile kids at our finest

universities effectively supporting

Hamas I'm a little slowed to conclude

that this tells me everything I need to

know about the scope of the problem as

I've said before the entire aftermath of

October 7th has convinced me that I've

been almost totally asleep to the

current reality of anti-Semitism so I

think it is a far bigger problem than I

realized but I still don't know how

informative it is to see a video of some

imbecile at Colombia or Harvard shouting

for the Jews to go back to

Poland what I can say is that the

response of these universities has been

totally inadequate and hypocritical

their policies around protests have

clearly been violated and have been for

months and as many people have pointed

out it's the obvious double standard

here that constitutes

anti-Semitism I'm less worried about the

specifics of each ugly incident than I

am about the fact that the

administrations have been tolerating

behavior that they simply would not

tolerate had the objects of all this

derision and abuse been anyone else if

these colleges had any number of people

shouting that blacks should go back to

Africa or that trans people deserve to

die these students to say nothing of

professors who said such things would be

expelled and this is clearly what should

happen to the most uncivil actors here

all the kids who've been physically

preventing Jewish students from

accessing buildings on campus

threatening them with violence simply

because they are Jewish these kids

should be expelled without

question even if you concede that Israel

is totally in the wrong this would not

justify the behavior we've been seeing

on

campus imagine that China was doing

something awful and worthy of protest

which of course China often is it's put

2 million Wagers and turkic Muslims in

concentration camps where they are

reportedly subjected to torture and

sterilization and forced labor where the

protests apparently no one cares not a

peep out of Harvard or Stanford or

Princeton or Yale but let's say all

these activist students started caring

about China's abuse of their Muslim

population and were protesting that

imagine how the universities would

respond if these protesters started

targeting other students on campus just

because they happen to be Chinese as

though ethnically Chinese Americans or

even Chinese Nationals at Harvard could

be culpable for what the Chinese

government was now doing imagine them

not letting Chinese students access

buildings okay this would be immediately

recognized to be morally insane and it

odds with every core value of a

university and there would be zero

tolerance for it but the analogy

actually understates the perversity of

what's been happening because many of

these students are not merely protesting

Injustice and cruelty and innocent death

and just happen to be harassing the

wrong people rather many of them are

supporting Injustice and cruelty and

innocent death

explicitly globalize the inapa isn't a

call for peace it's a call for the

indiscriminate murder of Jews I mean I'm

willing to cut college kids a fair

amount of slack but you mean to tell me

that students at Harvard and Princeton

and Stanford don't know that Palestinian

in do entail a fair amount of suicidal

terrorism and the deliberate murder of

non-combatants the deliberate murder of

non-combatants I might have been

confused about a few things when I was

19 but I was never that

confused how did these kids get so

turned

around well there are many reasons but

here's one Qatar the pro state has given

tens of billions of dollars to US

Canadian and British universities Qatar

has given more money to Western

universities than any other country on

Earth the regime that controls Qatar is

directly governed by the Theology of the

Muslim Brotherhood of which Hamas is an

offshoot where Jews are concerned the

Muslim Brotherhood is a fusion of

islamism and Nazism and actually

genocidal in intent through another

radical group American Muslims for

Palestine the Muslim Brotherhood funds

the student group that has been one of

the primary organizers of these protests

students for justice in Palestine they

also fund a group of very confused Jews

at these protests Jewish voices for

peace this money Trail was exposed by

Charles Asher small at The Institute for

the study of global anti-Semitism and

policy Qatar also owns major soccer

teams in Europe and Al jazer the

so-called news organization which has

the same journalistic Integrity as

Russia Today okay it's just a fountain

of islamist lies all of this to a scop

on the west and on Western education in

particular for decades we have had

Middle Eastern studies departments

funded by islamist theocrats and

anti-semites why have we tolerated this

malicious exercise of soft power seems

that money and oil are still just

irresistible students for justice in

Palestine wrote The Following in

response to the atrocities of October

7th National Liberation is near glory to

our resistance to our Martyrs to our

steadfast people resistance comes in all

forms arm struggle General strikes and

popular demonstrations all of it is

legitimate and all of it is

necessary okay this was their immediate

response in support of the intentional

Massacre of families and the taking of

children as hostages before Israel did

anything in response that's the moral

Vision that inspired these campus

protests

however direct funding by islamist

theocrats is only one strand of

influence as I'll discuss there's also

the identitarian moral Panic that has

duded the left for years which I've

covered a lot on this podcast which Maps

every conflict in the world to an

oppressor oppressed narrative again I

don't want to exaggerate the scope of

the problem but it is pretty appalling

that the largest student protest

movement since the 1960s has

distinguished Itself by being this

confused about what is really going on

in the world and is lending support to

groups like Hamas that represent the

annihilation of everything these

students should

value and the next time I see a job

applicant from what used to be a great

University Harvard Princeton Yale or

even my own Alma moders Stanford and

UCLA which have been terrible my first

thought literally my first thought will

be were you one of these imbeciles who

couldn't figure out who the bad guys

were on October 7th really the brand

damage to these institutions has been

extraordinary okay we now know that

hundreds of professors at these schools

support

Hamas which again is a genocidal death

cult that's not my opinion that is how

Hamas describes itself they want to kill

all the Jews on Earth and to die as

Martyrs that is is the recipe for being

an anti-semitic genocidal death cult any

Professor who supports Hamas should be

fired as you would fire any Professor

who openly supported the Nazis in the

immediate aftermath of a Nazi atrocity

this is not a First Amendment issue no

one has a constitutional right to be at

Harvard in any

capacity and I can say with confidence

that the first good schools to

accomplish a hard reset here admitting

that they've lost their way purging the

Dei bureaucracy and theocracy that

they've built over decades where the

best of intentions grew malignant and

metastasized the first universities to

fully Reb Buddha commitment to

Enlightenment values no more money from

Qatar you idiots no more stealth

islamism in your Departments of Middle

Eastern studies no more Reverse Racism

against Asian and white applicants no

more identitarian victim culture no more

ding for racists no more winging about

Halloween costumes no more

intersectional arsonists pretending to

put out fires that they started just

great books and great teachers and real

research and no more apologies

the first Elite schools to do that will

win so much support and Good Will and an

avalanche of applications and donors

they'll solidify their reputations into

the next

Century I wouldn't even know where I

would want to send my daughters to

college at this point happily we don't

have to think about this for a couple of

years but all the best schools and even

the second and third best schools appear

to be in the process of destroying

themselves again I realize it's a

minority of students protesting on even

the most baguer campuses but it's the

response of the institutions themselves

that has been so

reprehensible now as a result of all

this there is a widespread sense in the

Jewish community that more must be done

to combat anti-Semitism there's even a

bill that has just passed the House of

Representatives the anti-Semitism

awareness act which would make it easier

for Jews to make civil rights complaints

unfortunately this bill seems to

conflate certain criticisms of Israel

with

anti-Semitism I'll grant that most

people who claim to be anti-zionist at

this point are probably also

anti-Semitic this is pretty obvious from

what they're saying and what they're not

saying it used to be the case you could

be anti-zionist without being

anti-semitic my friend Christopher

Hitchens certainly was that and I was

sort of that at one point but I'm not

sure it's a position one can truly

occupy now October 7th changed my

thinking on this I remain uncomfortable

with the concept of any sort of

religious ethnostate but given the

murderous anti-Semitism of so much of

the world given that almost every

country that has had a population of Jew

Jews has at some point actively

persecuted them and driven them out

literally almost any country you can

name in Europe or North Africa or the

Middle East has done this at some point

given the tolerance of this Reality by

billions of onlookers well then the Jews

clearly need a state of their own and it

should defend itself without apology yet

we have the two largest religions on

Earth Christianity and Islam which

Encompass half of humanity whose

theology has reviled the Jews as Eternal

enemies for thousands of years if half

the world hated the EES like this and if

much of what the world believed about

them amounted to a deranged conspiracy

theory I would say that the Idis needed

their own State too I'll be happy to

revisit this issue in a 100 years when

we made some moral progress but until

then count me a committed

Zionist however I think talking about

Zionism is totally counter productive we

should talk about Israel's right as the

lone democracy in the Middle East to

defend itself I also think that focusing

on anti-Semitism at this moment as much

as it really is a problem is the wrong

approach to addressing a much more

fundamental problem which is the hatred

of Western Civilization coming from so

many of its own inhabitants and

beneficiaries and the very real clash

between the West which includes Israel

and every other civilized democracy and

Islam in particular particular islamism

and jihadism depending on the context we

can call it radical Islam or Islamic

extremism or Islam

fascism call it whatever you want but

what you can't do honestly is say that

this species of belligerent lunacy has

no connection to the mainstream religion

of Islam why do I think that a narrow

focus on anti-Semitism is mistaken well

there are many people on college

campuses now who support Hamas which

seems as anti-semitic on its face as

supporting the Nazis however I think

that hating Jews is not really what many

of these people are about as I said some

of them are Jewish so what explains

their behavior well they hate the west

or think they do they hate Western power

in the American context they hate

whiteness perhaps above all and they

think that the sin of racism subsumes

everything in the conflict between

Israel and the Palestinians they

consider the Jews White and the

Palestinians black is this utterly

moronic yes it is at least half the Jews

in Israel are Middle Eastern or North

African in descent the only black people

you'll find there are Ethiopian Jews

some of whom are fighting for the IDF so

kids all your concern about white

privilege as you bounce between lacrosse

practice and Starbucks is misapplied

here should you be kicked out of Y for

being this stupid probably but your

stupidity is not quite the same as anti-

semitism yes anti-Semitism cuts across

this landscape in ways that are very

depressing and I'm not seeking to

minimize it for instance As you move

rightward along the political Spectrum

you meet more and more people who

effortlessly recognize the derangement

of the left and the sickening apologies

for Islamic fanaticism that come from

people who imagine that Harvey Weinstein

is the worst person who ever lived

whereas there are whole Societies in the

Muslim world where a person like

Weinstein would be considered unusual

well adjusted in his attitude towards

women the left is still full of the

sorts of people who blamed Salon rushy

for the fatwa that forced him into

hiding for a decade and which finally

got him nearly killed on stage in New

York after 33 years of looking over his

shoulder these are the same people who

blame the Charlie hebbo cartoonists for

having had the gall to get themselves

murdered in Paris these imbeciles on the

left range from current Darlings of

alternative media like Glen greenw

to members of elite institutions whose

very purpose is to defend freedom of

speech like the pen America Foundation

As you move rightward in our politics

you meet more and more people who easily

see the insanity of all this words are

violence but clitorectomies and suicide

bombing is somehow indigenous wisdom and

the voice of the

oppressed but then of course as you move

further rightward you meet more and more

people who hate Jews as scheming

globalists who want Americans to fight

in Foreign Wars perhaps today in defense

of Israel or Ukraine which happens to be

run by a Jew this allegation goes all

the way back to World War I and World

War II both world wars were instigated

by Jews don't you know this is Tucker

Carlson's audience the great replacement

cult when things recently went sideways

over the daily wire these are the

Geniuses who followed the crackpot

Candice Owens into the abyss and finally

got a chance to tell Ben chapiro what

they really think of him and his fellow

Jews but of course if you land on just

the right spot on the right among old

school Evangelical Christians then you

can find people who can generally be

counted upon to worry about the fate of

the Jews and who will defend Israel

which is a relief frankly but their

support comes with a strange twist

because they expect that when the temple

is finally rebuilt in Jerusalem and

Jesus returns let's just say he won't be

in a mood to debate def finer points of

theology with the Jews so evangelicals

are philosemitic only up to a point so I

don't mean to downplay the reality of

anti-Semitism a vastly disproportionate

amount of hate crime in the US is

committed against Jews it's not against

blacks and it's certainly not against

Muslims despite what the islamist front

group the Council on American Islamic

relations would have you believe in fact

a lot of this crime comes from blacks

and Muslims themselves who just happen

to do more than their fair share of

hating Jews Jews are about 2% of the

population and they've always received

around 50% of the hate crime even after

9/11 they received far more hate than

Muslims did in America since October 7th

the number of incidents has soared and

this is in response to the worst

atrocity perpetrated against Jews since

the

Holocaust so if you're Jewish or even if

you're not and you think all of this is

seriously alarming I think you're right

and I'm sure I will do some future pods

and other work on the problem of

anti-Semitism but I also think that Jews

should not try to compete in the

oppression Olympics that have derange so

much of Western culture the direction of

progress is not to convince the rest of

America that we Jews have it worse than

blacks and Muslims or just as bad and I

don't think the UK is going to sort

itself out by becoming more focused on

its Jewish population as a victim group

we simply have to get pass the politics

of identity and we have to defend

Western values we have to defend not

identities but the ideas that make

freedom and tolerance possible we have

to recognize that there are real threats

to freedom and tolerance in this world

and identity politics is one of them

another happens to be coming from the

fastest spreading religion on Earth

which has some two billion adherence are

all Muslims a threat to freedom and

tolerance no

but almost all of them are doing a

terrible job of acknowledging much less

combating the dangerous fanaticism that

is seething at the core of their

religion so I don't think we need a new

Jewish media platform to compete with

the malicious fantasies that pour forth

from Al jazer as harmful as those have

been we need the New York Times and the

BBC to become morally sane again I am

not suggesting the anti-semitism isn't a

problem I'm suggesting that a real

defense of Western values would solve

that problem among many others

nevertheless it is easy to see why some

of our kids are confused about Gaza they

are being inundated with misinformation

about Israel that the Jews are settler

colonialists that they have built an

apartheid state that they are guilty of

genocide these lies did not start on

October 8th they've been promulgated for

decades and it seems that no matter how

patiently one corrects them nothing

changes and the photos coming out of

Gaza certainly don't help as I've said

before there is no political analysis or

moral argument that makes sense of

images of dead children being pulled out

of

rubble it's also natural for people to

look at the history of the conflict

between the Israelis and the

Palestinians and imagine that there's

some moral parity between the two sides

in fact because Israel has become more

powerful most people imagine that the

responsibility for the ongoing conflict

Falls more on the Jews Israel is now

perceived to be a bully with Advanced

weaponry and the Palestinians are merely

victims throwing rocks even in the

aftermath of October 7th when you had an

avowedly genocidal organization like

Hamas butchering non-combatants and

taking women and children hostage and

firing rockets by the thousands

purposely into civilian areas we still

have vast numbers of westerners and a

majority of our own youth apparently

believing that Israel is in the wrong

and that it effectively has no right to

defend itself or to even exist leaving

other variables aside like the

identitarian disgrace of wokeism the

oppressor oppressed framing of

everything that has become standard on

the left as well as the Frank

anti-Semitism that we know is there what

we were seeing on our college campuses

is only possible because people don't

understand the threat that Islam

extremism poses to open societies

everywhere again what's happening on our

college campuses is many things but the

level of moral confusion required to

support Hamas and to demonize the people

who are fighting Hamas requires that one

not recognize what Hamas is and in a way

this is also understandable it is

natural to imagine that people

everywhere are more or less the same and

that they basically want the same things

in life life it's easy to see how one

might think that normal people would

never resort to violence of the sort we

saw from Hamas on October 7th burning

families alive on purpose raping women

and cutting their breasts off and then

killing them and shrieking with joy all

the while right normal people wouldn't

do this couldn't do this unless they've

been subjected to some unendurable

misery and Injustice I mean they must

have been driven

insane by their own trauma let's leave

aside the people who claim that those

things didn't happen on October 7th most

people understand what happened and yet

given the assumption that people

everywhere are more or less the same the

very extremity of the violence we saw on

October 7th seems to put the moral onus

on its victims somehow and this weird

Distortion of moral intuition casts a

shadow over the whole history of the

Israeli Palestinian conflict the fact

that the Palestinians could have

produced an endless supply of suicide

bombers during the second andata and

that they would Target

noncombatants even children with this

barbarism that itself was considered

proof that they' had been pushed well

beyond the brink by the

Israelis otherwise normal human beings

would never behave in so extraordinarily

destructive away it is easy to see how

uninformed people could make this

assumption

this is a very useful point that the

writer Paul Burman made 20 years ago in

his book Terror and liberalism similarly

people assume that groups like Hamas or

Al Qaeda or even the Islamic State

attack Western targets for more or less

normal political reasons they think

these movements are anti-colonial or

straightforwardly nationalistic and so

they think that the extremity of their

violence is once again at bottom the

fault of Western Powers the chickens

have finally come home to roost while

while understandable these assumptions

have been obviously wrong for decades

for longer than I've been alive even to

believe any of this now as almost every

secular person does by default certainly

As you move left of center politically

is to be totally duded by a masochistic

fantasy and it's a dangerous fantasy

because it's being consciously

weaponized against not just Israel but

against every Western Society Islamic

extremists know that most of us

especially in our Elite institutions are

simply drunk on white guilt and

self-doubt they can see that we live in

a Perpetual circular firing squad of

sanctimony they know that if they just

use the word racism even though it has

absolutely no application when we're

talking about the fastest growing

religion in a 100 countries they know

this word settles all arguments left of

center no matter how idiotic the person

is is who wields it they know that we

are constantly worried about being the

bad guys they know that our kids find it

very easy to believe that we are and

have always been the bad guys and they

have been manipulating Western Society

for decades and they've been aided by

Legions of useful idiots on the left and

so there's a pervasive inability and

even unwillingness on the part of

journalists and politicians and Scholars

to recognize the degree to which sincere

religious belief and identity Drive

conflict in the Muslim World between

rival sects and between Muslims and

non-muslims there's a fundamental lack

of understanding about how Islam differs

from other religions here in fact it's

widely considered a symptom of bigotry

to even say that Islam is different from

other religions in any way that matters

there are over 50 Muslim majority

countries none of them are good places

to live if you care about human freedom

this is very unlikely to be an

accident Who Would Imagine That killing

people for blasphemy or apostasy would

have a chilling effect on free thought

who would imagine that the explicit

denial of political equality for women

might have something to do with its

absence throughout the Muslim world even

noticing the connection here between

explicit religious doctrines and the

unambiguous abridgment of Human Rights

is thought to be a symptom of quote

islamophobia so I want to make a couple

of basic observations about Islam that

have the virtue of being important and

uncontroversial or at least they should

be uncontroversial because they're quite

obviously true and if you think I've

said all this before and it bores you

well then just think about how I feel I

wouldn't touch this topic ever again if

I thought other people were doing an

adequate job of it there's a spell that

simply has to be broken here because it

threatens to ruin everything and if you

don't see it as many don't you are just

blind from the point of view of Islam

our world is divided into two Realms the

realm of belief and the realm of

unbelief this is something that Islam

shares with Christianity of course but

the similarities pretty much end there

there is no Render unto Caesar those

things that are Caesars in

Islam rather Islam is meant to totally

subsume a person's life and the

governance of

society it is intrinsically

political therefore the modern

distinction upon which so many of us

have placed our hopes between Islam and

islamism which is the explicit intrusion

of the religion into politics is just

that a modern distinction it is one that

we hope can be made true and effective

and we hope that the latter orientation

that of 20th century aggressively

resurgent political Islam can be

resisted and ultimately extinguished in

modern societies but this secular

distinction has little traditional

justification if any this is where the

differences between Islam and

Christianity become highly relevant and

ominous and take a moment to consider

this as though for the first time

Muhammad wasn't the Muslim Jesus it's

important to notice that the man was not

crucified he was a Statesman and a

warlord he fought in dozens of battles

and was

Victorious and in Islam Muhammad is the

very model of the ideal man me just

imagine how Christianity might be

different if Jesus routinely had his

enemies killed and their wives taken as

sex slaves you think it might just be a

little

different do you think Christianity

might be just a little different if

Jesus had been less like a hippie with a

steady supply of MDMA and more like Tony

Soprano the first Muslims didn't spend

centuries as the early Christians did as

Outsiders being oppressed by their

unbelieving masters they tasted

political power from the very beginning

the first Muslims created an Empire more

or less immediately after the death of

the prophet and then they just crushed

everyone for 500

years unlike Judaism Islam enjoins its

followers to spread their faith the one

true and completely correct Faith to the

ends of the Earth Christianity is also a

relentlessly missionary faith of course

but from its Inception it was a religion

of weakness again Christ was

crucified blessed are the meek for they

will inherit the earth

remember Islam from the first moment was

a religion of power okay the idea of

non-muslims ruling over Muslims or even

having equivalent power alongside them

perpetually has always been anathema

it's an error to be rectified through

spiritual struggle sure but also through

physical

violence the fact that Islam has failed

to achieve dominance in our world and

has proven for nearly a thousand years

to be quite backward and weak is a

perennial source of

humiliation By the Light of the doctrine

it makes absolutely no sense it is a

sacrilege from the point of view of

Islam the status quo is

intolerable and this General attitude of

affronted dignity this yearning for

victory which century after Century has

been Out Of Reach affects everything

that Islam touches it's why the history

of Peace negotiations between is Israel

and the Palestinians has been so

hopeless have the Israelis made mistakes

of course do the Jews have their own

religious Fanatics yes but the peace

process between the Israelis and the

Palestinians has been rendered hopeless

from the start because for a majority of

Palestinians and for vast numbers of

Muslims in the region the mere presence

of a Jewish state in the holy land is

totally

unacceptable it's a Noca a catastrophe

it is a perversion of a sacred history

and it is an abject failure of the

mission of Islam which is to conquer the

world for the glory of God and above all

to never forsake Muslim lands once they

have been conquered which of course

Palestine once was as it is said in the

Quran kill them wherever you find them

and drive them from the places from

which they drove you this is not a

religion of Peace it is a religion of

conquest and

submission there's a lot to criticize in

all religions and I've certainly done my

fair share of that but it is simply a

fact that the doctrine of holy war and a

love of martyrdom and an utter

intolerance for blasphemy and apostasy

are Central to Islam in a way that they

are not Central to other religions of

course not all Muslims want to live this

way and that is wonderful that's why our

world isn't in total chaos

but the problem is that when you look at

the worst examples of jihadist barbarism

and atrocity the behavior of Hamas on

October 7th or the Islamic State on

every day of the year it is very

difficult to say how these people are

getting Islam wrong to be clear I am not

saying that there's only one Islam and

that the extremists have it right I'm

saying that they don't have it obviously

wrong their version of the faith is all

too

plausible what did the worst members of

the Islamic State do that Muhammad

himself didn't do or wouldn't have

approved of that is a very difficult

question to answer and the fact that is

a difficult question to answer is

increasingly a problem for the entire

world if you ask the same question about

Jesus or Buddha it's a very easy

question to answer what is Hamas doing

that Jesus or Buddha didn't do or

wouldn't have approved of

everything I recently stumbled upon an

article in the New York Times from 15

years ago I doubt the times would

publish such an article today it's very

short so I'm going to read you the whole

thing the title is fighter sees his

paradise in gaza's pain this was

published January 8th

2009 the writer is taged El

kodari Gaza City the emergency room in

chifa hospital is often a place of Gore

and despair on Thursday it was a lesson

in the way Ordinary People are squeezed

between suicidal Fighters and a military

Behemoth Dr Ani alju 37 a surgeon at the

hospital rushed in from his home here

dressed in his scrubs but he came not to

work his head was bleeding and his

daughter's jaw was broken he said Hamas

militants next to his apartment building

had fired mortar and Rocket rounds

notice the detail here next to his

apartment building Israel fired back

with force and his apartment was hit his

wife Alina originally from Ukraine and

his one-year-old son were killed my son

has been turned into pieces he cried my

wife was cut in half I had to leave her

body at home because Albin was a

foreigner she could have left Gaza with

her children but Dr jaru lamented she

would not leave him behind a car arrived

with more patience one was a 20-year-old

man with shrapnel in his left leg who

demanded quick treatment he turned out

to be a militant with Islamic Jihad he

was smiling a big smile hurry I must get

back so I can keep fighting he told the

doctors he was told that there were more

serious cases than his that he needed to

wait but he insisted we fighting the

Israelis he said when we fire we run but

they hit back so fast we run into the

houses to get away he continued smiling

why are you so happy this reporter asked

look around you a girl who looked about

18 screamed as a surgeon removed

shrapnel from her leg an elderly man was

soaked in blood a baby a few weeks old

and slightly wounded looked around

helplessly a man lay with parts of his

brain coming out his family wailed at

his side don't you see that these people

are hurting the militant was asked but I

am from the people too he said his smile

incandescent they lost their loved ones

as Martyrs they should be happy I want

to be a martyr

too that's the end of the

article this is the

problem we don't have to get into a time

machine and sort out the history of the

region we don't have to talk about 1948

or

1967 without this specific form of

religious fanaticism the conflict

between Israel and her neighbors would

be an ordinary conflict it would be easy

enough to

negotiate it would be possible for the

Jews and the Muslims to decide to build

wealth

together they could have turned Gaza

into an absolutely gorgeous Resort on

the

Mediterranean if all you care about is

the well-being of the

Palestinians you should want them to be

free of this Luna itic ideology that has

made them impossible to live

with but for some reason most academics

and journalists refuse to recognize what

is being revealed in an article like

this they desperately want to think that

specific religious doctrines like the

idea that Martyrs go straight to

paradise are either not believed by

anyone or if believed have no effect on

a person's

Behavior this is without question the

most mystifying and infuriating form of

ignorance I have ever

encountered of course we all desperately

want to believe that there's a clear

line of distinction between the real

Fanatics in a group like Hamas and the

Palestinian people and this will be true

for many Palestinians I have no doubt

those people are effectively hostages

but it's not true for all Palestinians

and it's probably not even true for most

of them for instance whenever p support

for suicide bombing against civilians

has always been sickeningly high among

Palestinians around 70% and support for

specific terrorist groups like Hamas and

Hezbollah generally ranges between 40

and

60% so we're not talking about just a

few

radicals I mean have you seen the videos

of Israeli hostages being taken into

Gaza on October 7th the images of blood

covered girls being dragged into

vehicles and onto motorcycles have you

seen the men swarming around these

hostages celebrating their capture

shouting Allahu Akbar may put yourself

in the minds of these men may perhaps

you can understand all this jubilance

and Malice being expressed over captured

male soldiers like the Blackhawk Down

incident in Somalia but imagine

celebrating the kidnapping of girls some

of whom have been clearly raped and

seriously injured in one of these videos

a young woman appears to have had her

Achilles tendons cut so that she can't

run away imagine celebrating the capture

of a terrified woman holding her

children can you imagine

this after 9/11 as an American

traumatized by an act of Terror of A

Sort that we have never seen on our

Shores imagine if Seal Team 6 had

captured some random Saudi women and

children and and paraded them as

hostages Through Time Square I me can

you imagine dancing for joy and spitting

in the faces of these terrified women

imagine our soldiers dragging the

mutilated bodies of other Saudi

non-combatants along the sidewalk can

you imagine people coming out of their

offices and shrieking with joy and

stomping on their bodies can you imagine

the Israelis doing this to the bodies of

Palestinian non-combatants in the

streets of Tel

Aviv no you can't can't culture

matters beliefs

matter so whether they belong to the

organization or not the people you see

in those videos are the same as

Hamas once again I need to touch the

handrail here so you all don't fall over

am I saying that all Muslims are

dangerous

Fanatics no are they all aspiring

Martyrs committed to waging Jihad of

course not and that is a very good thing

do all Christians believe in the

physical resurrection of Jesus I'm sure

that many many millions at this point

don't it is after all getting harder and

harder to believe such things but it is

neveress true to say that a belief in

the physical resurrection of Jesus is

absolutely core to

Christianity this is not controversial

it's like saying that Apple builds

smartphones

any debate on that topic is a fake

debate you want to be a Christian who

thinks that the resurrection was just

spiritual or

metaphorical great you've changed the

religion you're making progress we love

you for it any debate about whether

Islam really teaches at its core a

worldview that justifies the barbarism

of Hamas is a fake debate because Islam

does teach this and much depends on the

majority of Muslims worldwide reframing

and ignoring or otherwise relinquishing

some of the core tenants of Islam

because they're absolutely at odds with

our common project of building open

pluralistic

societies acknowledging this and

demanding that Muslims themselves

acknowledge this is not bigotry it is

basic

sanity the opposition between radical

Islam and Western values is an

existential concern for Israel and it

could One Day become an existential

concern for the rest of us am I saying

that things are hopeless No in fact it's

a very hopeful sign that several Middle

Eastern regimes appear to want

normalized relations with Israel at this

point and the fact that the Saudis and

the jordanians helped repel Iran's

recent drone and missile attack was also

very promising However the fact that a

Arab monarchs and dictators can see the

wisdom of changing their policies toward

Israel does not mean that attitudes have

changed on the so-called Arab Street and

what the street will tolerate will limit

what even dictators can do these

attitudes will of course be massively

informed by Islam there's also the fact

that any Arab solidarity with Israel

against Iran might have less to do with

truly shared human values and more to do

with the sectarian Schism between Sunni

and Shia Islam but if these autocrats

want to drag their countries into the

modern world I am certainly rooting for

them however the deeper principle is

that there is a clash of civilizations

between traditional Islam and Western

values and what we're seeing on college

campuses is a very successful

manipulation of Western weakness wherein

we can have our own values of Tolerance

and diversity and self-criticism and

compassion weaponized against us ask

yourself what is it that we want and a

right to want and must defend without

apology in the west rational

conversation individual Freedom the rule

of law the consent of the governed the

peaceful transfer of power a strong

civil society and yes tolerance of

difference where that difference doesn't

put all other good things in Peril what

do these good things give us they give

us open societies where scientific

progress and creative intelligence and

increasing wealth and social mobility

and personal security and public Justice

and a healthy environment and

institutional transparency and a

generous social safety net are more and

more the norm obviously we have

imperfectly secured these Goods even in

the best societies on Earth but it is

just as obvious that some places have

none of them and worse some people some

groups even whole cultures don't want

most of these things it is time to admit

that not everyone wants a good life as

you and I understand it hey kids Hamas

does not want what you want they would

throw your lgbtq friends off rooftops

and I'm sorry to say many Palestinians

want what Hamas wants this is a hard

truth and has made peace in the Middle

East so far

impossible the people of the future

and perhaps our future selves will know

what we can't know now which is how we

handled this moment how or whether we

Rose to the challenge of having our

deepest principles used against us

carefully inverted and used against us

freedom of speech tolerance of diversity

self-doubt right these virtues can be

used against their adherence cynically

and with evil intent that is what

Islamic extremists are doing all over

the world World okay that is what their

organizations are doing inside our own

societies this is not a conspiracy

theory this has all been publicly

visible for decades and they are being

facilitated by useful idiots as is now

especially evident on our college

campuses of course we're also being

played by Russia and China and perhaps

other hostile foreign actors who are

Fanning the Flames of our own

partisanship and hysteria but part of

that hysteria is is that many of us now

perceive any effort to limit the spread

of misinformation and social contagion

to be the first signs of orwellian

repression from our own government okay

we live in a country where people go

berserk whenever they learn that our

government can access information

through a court order that they

themselves routinely give to random apps

and other services just for the sake of

convenience it is utterly childish to

imagine that our as a nation are best

served by total institutional distrust

where we have people like Edward Snowden

and Julian Assange hacking and leaking

State Secrets

continuously most people haven't spent 5

minutes Imagining the gravity of what

must be in every us president's Daily

Briefing we have to grow up and do what

it takes to protect our society from

people and groups and foreign

adversaries that actually want to

destroy it of course it's true that

fighting Terror and confusion can put

the very freedoms we seek to protect in

Jeopardy it's also true that in the

presence of sufficient Terror and

confusion we will Embrace a regime of

surveillance and censorship and even

violence that could seem to justify the

fears of every conspiracy theorist and

make it seem that the real threat to

Liberty is coming from our own side from

our own institutions and from our own

government we we have to perform this

Highwire act successfully but we can't

forget our actual values you take

immigration providing Sanctuary to real

refugees fleeing violence and welcoming

immigrants who are seeking to better

their lives and want to build those

lives in the west this is one of our

core humanitarian values we don't want

to get rid of that Emma lazarus's poem

inspired by the Statue of Liberty which

is now inscribed on a plaque there give

me your tired your poor your huddled

masses yearning to breathe free that's

not just sentimental that's the

best of America it's never quite been

our immigration policy it's always been

aspirational but we want to be a country

that is strong enough and generous

enough to be a light unto the rest of

the world Emma lasarus incidentally was

Jewish the great replacement started

there fellas with the Statue of Liberty

you might want to get on that Tucker

that's your bread and butter right

there the question we have to answer is

how can open societies like ours

maintain their values and even improve

them in a world where we have real

enemies okay you don't have to be a

xenophobe or a Christian nationalist or

a Nazi or any other species of

to recognize that some people are coming

into our societies with no intention of

ever sharing our

values again this is about culture ideas

and their consequences not the color of

people's skin okay if we imported a

sufficient number of Communists into the

United States it would be no surprise if

we one day discovered that we had a

problem with Communists seeking to

demolish the very foundations of our

economy and it would serve us right they

were wearing their antipathy for

capitalism on their sleeves the whole

time they were telling us ad nauseum

what they want to accomplish the

destruction of capitalism how could we

be surprised if a massive influx of

committed Communists eventually posed a

threat to our way of life similarly if

we import a sufficient number of

islamists and jihadists we will

eventually have a problem with political

and militant Islam this is guaranteed

and to my eye much of Western Europe

already has this problem to a degree

that it should find intolerable it is

completely rational and not at all an

expression of bigotry as an American to

not want to follow Western Europe down

that path does this mean that I was in

favor of Trump's idiotic ban on Muslim

immigration no given that we need to win

a war of ideas within the Muslim

Community given that we need to

inoculate Western societies against

Islamic extremism some of the most

valuable immigrants we could have in my

view are truly secular Muslims truly

liberal Muslims and above all exm

Muslims we want people who come from

Muslim majority societies and who

understand exactly why life in those

societies is not as good as it is in the

west not just because we have more money

but because we have better values we

want people from Pakistan and Iran who

are appalled by religious fanaticism put

these people at the front of the line

there is not a shred of xenophobia or

bigotry

much less racism implied by anything I

have said on this podcast but let's not

lie to ourselves that our societies can

absorb an endless number of profoundly

ideological people who only Fain

tolerance of diversity because they are

in a position of weakness and who when

strong will seek to impose their

religious strictures on everyone else

the truth is islamists to say nothing of

jihadists seek to impose their religion

on everyone else even from a position of

weakness and Western Europe has been

groaning under that pressure for

decades as with immigration so it is

with free speech I think the US is in a

much better position than any other

country because we have the First

Amendment but the First Amendment isn't

a perfect guide for private platforms

and Publishers deciding what speech to

disseminate or to amplify

algorithmically or to sponsor we are

simply drowning in lies that are

rendering our soci Society increasingly

ungovernable this problem exists equally

if differently on both sides of our

political

landscape right of Center some of the

most prominent voices in alternative

media regularly launder Russian

propaganda about elections and US

foreign policy and the war in Ukraine

and vaccines left of center there's

almost pure confusion about Israel and

its enemies at our best universities

we're witnessing a zombie apocalypse of

profoundly misinformed kids of course

broadcasting device of Lies is generally

legal because it's protected by the

First Amendment but that doesn't mean

private platforms and Civil Society

organizations shouldn't do something to

contain the

problem as I've said many times before

if liberals remain confused about

Islamic extremism the appetite for

rightwing authoritarianism is going to

continue to grow throughout the West we

need to do everything we can to avoid

this thanks for listening

[Music]