Based on his recent "debate" with Dave Smith, I wouldn't waste two seconds of my time on anything this incoherent, pompous ass has to say. Sorry, not sorry.
No it's not. I watched the entire 3 hours and Douglas was on point: the lack of balance and depth of knowledge about all kinds of issues carried and amplified by many of the largest platforms. So I have to presume that 'incoherent, pompous ass' is synonymous with 'someone who raises a legitimate point with which one disagrees'. Or, as I have found, it means someone who does not share the 'acceptable tone' the self-appointed/anointed tone police determines is the only 'correct/righteous' false equivalency they demand.
Now watch the comment section take form and reveal what is correctly identified as rising antisemitism - how dare anyone defend Israel (ignoring the 25% Arab, Druze, Bedouin population or the vast numbers of atheists who are culturally Jewish) that in effect smooths the path for intolerant Islamic infiltration and subversion of the west - a religious/political totalitarian ideology in direct conflict with and opposite to enlightenment values.
I spent time in apartheid South Africa, visited Nazi concentration camps, saw Soviet troops and armor enter Prague. I passed through bombed out sections of Berlin before crossing the wall - surrounded by machine guns/barbed wire/anti-tank hedghogs, and soldiers with attack dogs - at checkpoint Charlie. All of these are expressions of what excuses and agreements with dehumanizing ideologies regularly produce: support for an Us v Them framework. You need both, this necessary division, for a war, BTW. Such growing antisemitism on display is just another flavour of the same anti-western, anti-enlightenment, illiberalism gaining ever more foolish adherents who honestly believe they are doing right by doing wrong.
If you want a deeper understanding of how Israel has gotten to present day, I suggest Martyr Made's 'Fear and Loathing' series here on Substack. (Darryl Cooper's work) I would also brush up on the Laws of Armed Conflict, particularly the part on Proportionality.
You presume my understanding is shallow. Yet you wave away the importance of Murray's warnings about rising tide of Islamic sympathy and the foolishness of its western apologists absorbing ever more Islamists. In the face of this, you pretend the issue of 'proportionality' is a reasonable concern between the acts of a dedicated death cult starting a war and the liberal democracy response to being subjected to directed mass murder. That tells me all I need to know about your own understanding.
I'm not commenting on Murray's work as I haven't read the book or had a chance to listen to that podcast. I'm merely offering a resource, which is extremely comprehensive. as to how Israel got to this present predicament. If you already know everything there is to know about Israel, then don't bother. I have no dog in the fight & really couldn't give a damn about the squabbles in the Middle East. Fuck them and fuck anyone who brings their fight to Canada. As to the LOAC, I'm intimately familiar with how the Geneva Convention & Rules of Engagement are supposed to work. The intent is to never get to the position where the warring will never stop. The amount of carnage visited upon the Gazans is a war crime, plain & simple. Israel is a signatory to the Geneva Convention & no matter the provocation of October 7th, it does not excuse the flattening of the infrastructure of Gaza and the disproportionate killing of civilians. Of course, Hamas plays up the maximizing of civilian death, it's their trump card for the asymmetric fight being waged. But that doesn't excuse the 10s of 1000s in dead Gazans or the forced flight of the entire population. But you tell me, what's your solution to end this conflict?
In view of your expertise in the Geneva Convention, are you concerned that Canada is breaking it by an Order in Council (Articles 25 and 124) by placing men with women in prison? Or are you only concerned with these Articles when it comes to Israel alone?
May I humbly suggest that you qualify your expectations about the Convention (as YOU understand them that leads you to conclude Israel's part in this war is a war crime... which tells me you do NOT understand the conventions) with Natasha Hausdorff's expertise easily available to you in multiple videos about the Geneva Convention and the double standards used by death cult apologists and sympathizers against Israel alone. You may recognize your own misaligned preferences in these expert accounts.
I heard her speak at the Munk debate in Toronto and her expertise (expert commentator on international law, including the law of armed conflict, foreign affairs and national security policy) is not just quite extensive but particularly relevant.
Oh, her debating partner was that "incoherent, pompous ass" Douglas Murray who helped reveal the scope and breadth of the gullibility needed from western media about these death cults and the many sympathetic western governments who have helped nourish them in the name of 'progress', in the name of 'civil rights', in the name of 'tolerance' in the name of 'freedom of speech', and so on... in the name of liberal values! Murray was on point revealing those politicians understandably fearful of taking on significant political costs in home ridings populated larger minorities of Muslims to support Israel, to support the local liberal democracy subjected to large scale mass murder. Think about that lunacy for a moment.
I have no solution; just a path. And that path requires implementing and supporting liberal principles not just by those affected but by the west whose nations are supposedly built on classical liberal values. For example, the current civilian demonstration in Gaza City (March 25th) and Beit Lahia (April 16th) to rid themselves of Hamas and Islamic Jihad should be front page news and receive massive public support from western nations for these courageous efforts. It would be revealing to western apologists to understand how Hamas and IJ then use these gatherings to pretend they are in support of Hamas, in support of vilifying Israel (which gets posted immediately to sympathetic press like the BBC and al Jazeera), who try to fire rockets from nearby locations in order to entice a justifiable military response. The gullibility of westerners to support these death cults and whatever framing they present is truly as remarkable as it is breathtaking.
Islamist strategy is to use this gullibility, use critical theory 'colonial' framing, use antisemitism, using western 'refugee' funding, and it is working beautifully. Just look at the role of UNRWA funding Hamas, funding much of its infrastructure to wage terror behind and beneath the civilian population, indoctrinating an entire generation of new fighters for Islamist deployment (like Hezbollah in propping up Syria's Bashar al Assad but now it commanders fleeing Beirut mostly to Argentina and Brazil (sound historically familiar?). Look at how neighbouring Arab states quietly align their sympathies with Israel. Maybe they know something you do not understand. But you can certainly help by keeping true to the principles of classical liberalism and hold others who enjoy its benefits to do the same.
Wow, what a lot of repressed rage. Nice to see I'm living rent free in your head. Like I said, I don't particularly give a damn. But you're going to liken Canada's prison policies to the slaughter happening in Gaza? Nice gaslighting.
I recommend the 'Fear & Loathing' podcasts of Martyr Made (Darryl Cooper) here on Substack. They give a good background on the formation of Israel and where most of the feelings on both sides originated from.
Also, regarding the present flare-up in this ongoing conflict, Israel is committing war crimes under the Geneva Convention. Under the Laws of Armed Conflict, you must respond with proportionality. For example, if one of your soldiers is killed, you don't wipe out a village of civilians in retaliation. America did this in the aftermath of 9/11 when they devastated Afghanistan and Iraq.
Do you think the people of Gaza are ever going to forgive & forget the devastation rained down on them from vengeful Israelis? Back in the day, to beat your enemy when you had the upper hand, you literally wiped them out to the last person. Then the hatred from the conflict literally would never come back to bite you. Instead, with Gaza, this hostility will never cease. Israel has barely shown any restraint & that will come back to bite them when their enemies eventually have the upper hand.
America will not always be there to save Israel. Then what? All they'll have is their nukes to fire off.
Douglas Murray is hardly a voice of reason. He is an Israeli genocide apologist who supports the loathsome murderous actions of a theocratic Zionist murder cult. But don't take my word on it. Professor Norman Finkelstein, whose parents survived the Holocaust has described Israel as a, "Nation of murderers who kill with glee" and Israeli society as a, "culture of lies and propaganda where every Israeli is a liar." In his book, "The Holocaust Industry," Finkelstein correctly writes that the memory of the Holocaust is exploited as an ideological weapon to provide Israel a degree of immunity from criticism. Surely it is time to remove the blinders and recognize as have all the human rights organizations that Israel, like the Emperor in Hans Christian Andersons marvelous story, is not wearing any clothes.
James, your review of Mr. Murray’s latest book was nothing short of refreshing. I too read the book. I too found myself becoming emotionally “full” during my reading of it, such that I had to get up and “walk it off” every so number of pages, like too much turkey and fixings. I did not connect this pattern of behaviour as you poignantly have. Reading your piece, I had an “a ha!” moment or moments. Thanks for articulating this cause and effect. For no other reason, it at least explains why it took me four days to knock this book down.
The CIA Mocking Bird media is rebranding to try to be less obvious that they are lying to us as an institution; they are trying to hide among us, hiding in plain sight while doing the same thing; they are pretending to go independent when they appear to be independent Substackers, things become more complicated.
Fake news is easy to understand. It gets more complicated to point out which CNN Anchor on Substack, appearing to have their own independent thing, is still fake news.
The government money is still flowing to them to lie to us in a coordinated fashion.
Deception is the point. Read “the Devils Chessboard”
To clarify - I thank you, James, for your article and I agree that Douglas Murphy is truly a voice of reason.
Based on his recent "debate" with Dave Smith, I wouldn't waste two seconds of my time on anything this incoherent, pompous ass has to say. Sorry, not sorry.
A very accurate appraisal.
No it's not. I watched the entire 3 hours and Douglas was on point: the lack of balance and depth of knowledge about all kinds of issues carried and amplified by many of the largest platforms. So I have to presume that 'incoherent, pompous ass' is synonymous with 'someone who raises a legitimate point with which one disagrees'. Or, as I have found, it means someone who does not share the 'acceptable tone' the self-appointed/anointed tone police determines is the only 'correct/righteous' false equivalency they demand.
Now watch the comment section take form and reveal what is correctly identified as rising antisemitism - how dare anyone defend Israel (ignoring the 25% Arab, Druze, Bedouin population or the vast numbers of atheists who are culturally Jewish) that in effect smooths the path for intolerant Islamic infiltration and subversion of the west - a religious/political totalitarian ideology in direct conflict with and opposite to enlightenment values.
I spent time in apartheid South Africa, visited Nazi concentration camps, saw Soviet troops and armor enter Prague. I passed through bombed out sections of Berlin before crossing the wall - surrounded by machine guns/barbed wire/anti-tank hedghogs, and soldiers with attack dogs - at checkpoint Charlie. All of these are expressions of what excuses and agreements with dehumanizing ideologies regularly produce: support for an Us v Them framework. You need both, this necessary division, for a war, BTW. Such growing antisemitism on display is just another flavour of the same anti-western, anti-enlightenment, illiberalism gaining ever more foolish adherents who honestly believe they are doing right by doing wrong.
If you want a deeper understanding of how Israel has gotten to present day, I suggest Martyr Made's 'Fear and Loathing' series here on Substack. (Darryl Cooper's work) I would also brush up on the Laws of Armed Conflict, particularly the part on Proportionality.
You presume my understanding is shallow. Yet you wave away the importance of Murray's warnings about rising tide of Islamic sympathy and the foolishness of its western apologists absorbing ever more Islamists. In the face of this, you pretend the issue of 'proportionality' is a reasonable concern between the acts of a dedicated death cult starting a war and the liberal democracy response to being subjected to directed mass murder. That tells me all I need to know about your own understanding.
I'm not commenting on Murray's work as I haven't read the book or had a chance to listen to that podcast. I'm merely offering a resource, which is extremely comprehensive. as to how Israel got to this present predicament. If you already know everything there is to know about Israel, then don't bother. I have no dog in the fight & really couldn't give a damn about the squabbles in the Middle East. Fuck them and fuck anyone who brings their fight to Canada. As to the LOAC, I'm intimately familiar with how the Geneva Convention & Rules of Engagement are supposed to work. The intent is to never get to the position where the warring will never stop. The amount of carnage visited upon the Gazans is a war crime, plain & simple. Israel is a signatory to the Geneva Convention & no matter the provocation of October 7th, it does not excuse the flattening of the infrastructure of Gaza and the disproportionate killing of civilians. Of course, Hamas plays up the maximizing of civilian death, it's their trump card for the asymmetric fight being waged. But that doesn't excuse the 10s of 1000s in dead Gazans or the forced flight of the entire population. But you tell me, what's your solution to end this conflict?
In view of your expertise in the Geneva Convention, are you concerned that Canada is breaking it by an Order in Council (Articles 25 and 124) by placing men with women in prison? Or are you only concerned with these Articles when it comes to Israel alone?
May I humbly suggest that you qualify your expectations about the Convention (as YOU understand them that leads you to conclude Israel's part in this war is a war crime... which tells me you do NOT understand the conventions) with Natasha Hausdorff's expertise easily available to you in multiple videos about the Geneva Convention and the double standards used by death cult apologists and sympathizers against Israel alone. You may recognize your own misaligned preferences in these expert accounts.
I heard her speak at the Munk debate in Toronto and her expertise (expert commentator on international law, including the law of armed conflict, foreign affairs and national security policy) is not just quite extensive but particularly relevant.
Oh, her debating partner was that "incoherent, pompous ass" Douglas Murray who helped reveal the scope and breadth of the gullibility needed from western media about these death cults and the many sympathetic western governments who have helped nourish them in the name of 'progress', in the name of 'civil rights', in the name of 'tolerance' in the name of 'freedom of speech', and so on... in the name of liberal values! Murray was on point revealing those politicians understandably fearful of taking on significant political costs in home ridings populated larger minorities of Muslims to support Israel, to support the local liberal democracy subjected to large scale mass murder. Think about that lunacy for a moment.
I have no solution; just a path. And that path requires implementing and supporting liberal principles not just by those affected but by the west whose nations are supposedly built on classical liberal values. For example, the current civilian demonstration in Gaza City (March 25th) and Beit Lahia (April 16th) to rid themselves of Hamas and Islamic Jihad should be front page news and receive massive public support from western nations for these courageous efforts. It would be revealing to western apologists to understand how Hamas and IJ then use these gatherings to pretend they are in support of Hamas, in support of vilifying Israel (which gets posted immediately to sympathetic press like the BBC and al Jazeera), who try to fire rockets from nearby locations in order to entice a justifiable military response. The gullibility of westerners to support these death cults and whatever framing they present is truly as remarkable as it is breathtaking.
Islamist strategy is to use this gullibility, use critical theory 'colonial' framing, use antisemitism, using western 'refugee' funding, and it is working beautifully. Just look at the role of UNRWA funding Hamas, funding much of its infrastructure to wage terror behind and beneath the civilian population, indoctrinating an entire generation of new fighters for Islamist deployment (like Hezbollah in propping up Syria's Bashar al Assad but now it commanders fleeing Beirut mostly to Argentina and Brazil (sound historically familiar?). Look at how neighbouring Arab states quietly align their sympathies with Israel. Maybe they know something you do not understand. But you can certainly help by keeping true to the principles of classical liberalism and hold others who enjoy its benefits to do the same.
Wow, what a lot of repressed rage. Nice to see I'm living rent free in your head. Like I said, I don't particularly give a damn. But you're going to liken Canada's prison policies to the slaughter happening in Gaza? Nice gaslighting.
I recommend the 'Fear & Loathing' podcasts of Martyr Made (Darryl Cooper) here on Substack. They give a good background on the formation of Israel and where most of the feelings on both sides originated from.
Also, regarding the present flare-up in this ongoing conflict, Israel is committing war crimes under the Geneva Convention. Under the Laws of Armed Conflict, you must respond with proportionality. For example, if one of your soldiers is killed, you don't wipe out a village of civilians in retaliation. America did this in the aftermath of 9/11 when they devastated Afghanistan and Iraq.
Do you think the people of Gaza are ever going to forgive & forget the devastation rained down on them from vengeful Israelis? Back in the day, to beat your enemy when you had the upper hand, you literally wiped them out to the last person. Then the hatred from the conflict literally would never come back to bite you. Instead, with Gaza, this hostility will never cease. Israel has barely shown any restraint & that will come back to bite them when their enemies eventually have the upper hand.
America will not always be there to save Israel. Then what? All they'll have is their nukes to fire off.
Douglas Murray is hardly a voice of reason. He is an Israeli genocide apologist who supports the loathsome murderous actions of a theocratic Zionist murder cult. But don't take my word on it. Professor Norman Finkelstein, whose parents survived the Holocaust has described Israel as a, "Nation of murderers who kill with glee" and Israeli society as a, "culture of lies and propaganda where every Israeli is a liar." In his book, "The Holocaust Industry," Finkelstein correctly writes that the memory of the Holocaust is exploited as an ideological weapon to provide Israel a degree of immunity from criticism. Surely it is time to remove the blinders and recognize as have all the human rights organizations that Israel, like the Emperor in Hans Christian Andersons marvelous story, is not wearing any clothes.
James, your review of Mr. Murray’s latest book was nothing short of refreshing. I too read the book. I too found myself becoming emotionally “full” during my reading of it, such that I had to get up and “walk it off” every so number of pages, like too much turkey and fixings. I did not connect this pattern of behaviour as you poignantly have. Reading your piece, I had an “a ha!” moment or moments. Thanks for articulating this cause and effect. For no other reason, it at least explains why it took me four days to knock this book down.
Thank you so very much.
The CIA Mocking Bird media is rebranding to try to be less obvious that they are lying to us as an institution; they are trying to hide among us, hiding in plain sight while doing the same thing; they are pretending to go independent when they appear to be independent Substackers, things become more complicated.
Fake news is easy to understand. It gets more complicated to point out which CNN Anchor on Substack, appearing to have their own independent thing, is still fake news.
The government money is still flowing to them to lie to us in a coordinated fashion.
Deception is the point. Read “the Devils Chessboard”
On spot, Peter. Thank you for bringing fact into a fantasy shrouded article.