Leo Gura

He actually had 5 wives in all, I think, but a few divorced him.

No one denies there was been some of that. But that is not the Middle East's chief problem. I am only speaking about the last 100 years here, not ancient history. The Middle East is backwards as hell. Beyond anything the West did.

I enjoy watching them, just for laughs. Just don't mistake it for serious analysis.

Uncle Stalin approves.

Wolfram and Hoffman are just doing very different kinds of work. I see no point in pitting them against each other. Wolfram is a genius. But don't go asking him to explain consciousness. And for that matter, don't ask Hoffman to explain consciousness because he has no idea what it is.

I am not going to keep arguing against this leftist talking point. The Middle East's lack of development is not the result of the West, it is rooted in much deeper internal problems.

In the Middle East, without a strong and Western-like government you end up with endless petty tribal conflict and extreme religious fundamentalism which leads to extreme poverty and backwardness like in Yumen, Sudan, or Afghanistan. The West isn't just a different culture, it is a more effective, more developed, more prosperous way if running people. Most people in the Middle East want the material benefits that the West affords. Most people are not Bin Laden, who was happy living with 4 wives and 11 children in a cave, feeding them bread and water.

Yes, of course. That's part of how Westernization happens. Secular leaders are much better for global business. This is capitalism at work. And don't pretend like capitalism doesn't benefit all these nations. Saudi Arabia is swimming in cash thanks to Western capitalism. Saudi Arabia would be Yemen without Western capitalism.

1) Plenty of US government & policy is influenced by Christianity. That's important not to forget. 2) Middle East countries are not secular. They are much more theocratic. There is no seperation of church and state. Their whole legal system is based on Sharia. Sharia judges and courts. Totally different from the Western legal system. The rulers and elites may skirt Sharia, but not the average masses.

I disagreed with general statements. You are asking me about your personal sense of manhood, on which I have no opinion.

This is like what Bin Laden said. Look, no ideology can ever be applied 100% faithfully, because ideology is always a cartoonish view of the world. Of course top-level national policy will be about raw power and money, not Sharia faithfulness. But to say the Middle East is not run on Sharia is silly. Of course Middle East governments are westernizing and secularizing too. But that process is far from total.

It definitely is an ideological issue. Remember, it only takes a handful of radicalized people to create serious problems. It doesn't matter that 70% of people are peaceful. That time is long gone. They will hate Israelis for at least 50 years now. And it failed to deliver a solution, leading to the current situation. This is a common misconception about terrorism. Most terrorists are well educated. The average Arab terrorist has higher college education than the average American. Islamist terrorists are better educated than the average MAGA supporter. So it is about ideology, but not just Islam but also nationalism. Then they have an endless line of new recruits stretching around the block.

That's exatly why I don't want to give you my opinion of you. What matters is your opinion of you.

Not the same. Different ideology. These Islamists are too proud and too eager to martyr themselves. Those are the ones who self-selected to be okay with Israel existing. The ones outside self-selected otherwise. Those outsiders are a different beast who refuse to be tamed. You can tame a horse but not a rhinocerous. But you would still need to heavy blockade and police them because they will be blowing you up every week from the inside. The harassment and hatred will not just melt away.

So Boomer is best. The circle is complete.

Most of them fawn over Sharia law.

It won't work to accept them. They will not be part of an Israeli state when they believe that Israel should not exist. They will just do endless terrorism from the inside.

What is it called when one sees all of that as cringe larping?

I don't know and it doesn't matter. My judgment of you is not what matters. Contemplate for yourself whether you are a weak man.

It's easy when a third of the Congress thinks Muslims are children of Satan.

Netanyahu is considering plan to force all civilians out of North Gaza: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/22/middleeast/netanyahu-gaza-hamas-expulsions-plan-intl/index.html All hell will break loose soon. You Israelis here are in for 50 years of new terrorist attacks. Palestinians will never forgive you. And even us Americans will get hit. This is like Bin Laden breeding ground x10.

Yeah, I disagreed with all those. Lots of bad leftist ideas there which do not deserve normalization. Haha. Yeah, well, that was said jokingly. But seriously, even a weak man is still a man in the end. Just because a man is underdeveloped doesn't mean he ain't a man.

They are a good example of being overly dismissive and cynical. It's more comedy than serious sensemaking.

I don't think that's true. Well, I don't expect him to understand my work. He's in a very different line of work. And sure, he may easily see my as a cult leader. It's pretty obvious that anyone in the debunking business is gonna find it irresistible to criticize me. Because debunking is just a form rationalism, which my work challenges. As I said, there is a right and wrong way to do criticism. It has to be done very carefully. I have talked many times about how skepticism can be abused and weaponized. What you're talking here is the abuse of skepticism. That is a big trap.

I don't think he has a problem with courses per se, he has a problem with grifty courses which offer little new content at huge fees and sleazy sales tactics. That sort of thing is a big problem within the get-rich-quick industry. Many newbies get outright scammed. Coffeezilla is one of the good debunkers out there. He does good research and the guys he targets are major sleazebags and conartists for the most part. They do serious fraud. So I got no issue with Coffeezilla.