Eetan
3mo ago
If you want better (but even more provocative and inflammatory) analogy, here is it.
Imagine the world looks as it is, except there is one large country looking like something from far future (Star Trek future, not Mad Max future).
In this land, ordinary menial laborer has big house affordable elsewhere only to millionaires, flying car and personal holodeck entertainment. Even basic health care can treat nearly all illnesses and diseases, including old age. The land is orderly, crime and violence is something unheard of.
What country is it?
It is Israel. Great Messianic Kingdom of Israel from Nile to Euphrates. It is Jewish land, but Gentiles can live there if they know their place.
As Gentile laborer, you live in Gentile community, travel to work and back in your flying car on specially designated Gentile flight tracks, and have to obey and defer to your Jewish bosses. While you have mansion and flying car, every Jew has Versailles sized estate and personal starship. And this is how it always will be. You and your children will be always laborers, will never rise up above their station. This is how G-d wills it.
Will you sign up for this deal?
Alternatively, if the Messiah decides to add country where you live to the Kingdom and bring the Messianic Order there too, will you fight, protest or welcome your G-d ordained overlords?
Eetan
11mo ago
Imagine we are in alternate world, where anyone who is someone says that South Africa is our greatest ally, that "our values" came from Pretoria, that United States would not exist without South Africa, where every American politician travels to South Africa to honor the Voortrekker memorial and swears to support South Africa to the end, supply it with unlimited money and weapons, and send US armed force to defend South Africa if necessary.
And when someone objects,people are asking: Why are you so obssessed with Afrikaners? Why you hate them so much? Do you want to send them to concentration camps again?
Eetan
3mo ago
My experience has been that normie conservatives basically all hold that Hitler and Stalin were equally or near-equally bad, and that fascism and communism are equally bad.
Yes, normie cons always held this view, and now normie libs hold it too (even more so due to current events in Eastern Europe).
On the left people will absolutely argue that communism is good
"left" as online people with hammer and sickle (and often rainbow, trans and Palestine flags), not as anyone remotely close to respectability.
occasionally you get someone who will argue that Stalin, while very bad, wasn't as bad as Hitler
Yes, this is the other mainstream respectable academic view. The 50's are over, you will not any more find Stalin's admirers in the academia and respectable professions(excepting Grover Furr)
Including professed Marxists like Zizek, here is his take on difference between Stalinism and Nazism
(most people would see killer who forces you to bow before him and lick his boots before he kills you as not lesser evil than ordinary killer who just does the deed withou any ceremony, but YMMV)
Eetan
3mo ago
Yes. Great power should be able to easily overrun small shithole country in three day special operation (and then get bored by decades of guerilla warfare and go home).
The implications of late Eastern European events are:
Either Russia is shithole country too or Ukraine is Great Power too.
Eetan
3mo ago
I had no idea who Ian Carroll was
Someone with 1,2 M Xitter followers is not exactly nobody.
Here is his Xitter and his Youtube channel
Eetan
2mo ago
I wouldn’t mind seeing more about those serious estimates
There are people out there counting dilligently.
Verified and documented (news announcements, obituaries, memorials, graves) number of Russian officers KIA is 5883 right now, enlisted men over 100k.
(one Alexei Burkov is the lucky winner)
Ukraine has much better OPSEC than Russia, but you can make your estimate based on how you perceive the disparity.
Eetan
3mo ago
Now I wouldn't be shocked if someone in Vance's or Elon's inner circle was on here, in which case we'd actually get monitored.
Since Elon seems to get all his news from 4chan and xitter shitposters, not some elite ninja research team, I would be shocked if it was the case.
Eetan
3mo ago
I’d assume some basic competence in mapping influence networks.
On whose side?
Mossad certainly.
CIA-FBI-NSA? Possibly.
FSB-GRU? Press D for doubt. Maybe some early Millenial working for FSB heard about big Yud and read HPMOR , but he is not making policy, he is working for Xer boss who is working for Boomer top boss.
Eetan
9mo ago
or is the ritual more important than the message?
Always had been.
Church Latin is not language spoken of streets of first and second century Rome. It is much older, it is formal ritual religious language used in Roman worship long before Christianity.
Christians saw no problem in appropriating this pagan language to worship Christ, just as later, when they had power to do it, eagerly reused old pagan temples as churches.
See work of Christine Mohrmann
Of course, this is historical detail you will learn only on obscure traditional Catholic places, because it torpedoes the whole purpose of Second Vatican council. The liturgy was never meant to be "vernacular", comprehensible to the ordinary plebs.
Eetan
11mo ago
"Practically speaking, you can’t adequately calculate the consequences of the assassination"
But you can study history. How many cases in history are there where successful hit at high value target worked as hitman intended (few) and made the world, from objective standpoint, a better place (much fewer) ?
Eetan
11mo ago
E Michael Jones is Catholic who believes that all problems caused by Jews (and anyone else) result from rejection of Jesus. Squishy by hard racist and antisemitic standards.
For academic, scientific HBD case for antisemitism, Kevin MacDonald is the author to check out.
Of course, this theory of Jewish "revolutionary subversion" as "evolutionary strategy" is easily disproven by pointing that this strategy clearly failed, that the revolutionary Jews are going extinct both by low birth rate (revolutionary needs to be focused all the time and cannot be distracted by babies yelling and screaming), high death rate (revolution is rather dangerous business) and free mixing with gentiles, while the Jews who stay exclusive and are breeding in large numbers are as unrevolutionary as possible.
Eetan
3mo ago
This is one of the drawbacks of a purely spiritual religion that isn’t concerned with genetic ties.
This is drawback of being world religion with billions of adherents. If you really tried to "defend" every persecuted Christian everywhere, you would find yourself in perpetual Iraq style quagmires all over the world (which would be rather suboptimal situation even for world's first super power).
Eetan
11mo ago
Yes, most outward marks of class vanished, but class remains. In classless society, there would be no such thing as luxury shops and luxury products.
What happened is that class is disguised. Your boss is not dressed in silks and adorned in gold any more, he does not demand you bowing and scraping before him any more. He looks equally shlubby as you, he shakes your hand and calls you by your first name, but is still your boss.
But I'm curious as to how and why we abandoned any effort to screen for class or presentation in these situations.
Clearly the lack of screening "works."
Clearly, modern capitalism works much better for the upper classes.
Remember, in trad sharply dressed society 100 years ago, lower class dissent and revolution was omnipresent threat. Massive strikes, riots and urprisings were commonplace, revolutionary parties demanding expropriation of the capitalists had mass support.
These things are unthinkable now, the rich are simultaneously richer than ever before, and more secure than ever before. No one in mainstream politics is any threat to them, and they know it.
I am not saying it is because lack of high fashion, but this can be part of the explanation of this mystery.
Eetan
4d ago
I find it weird people don't have those qualms about PTSD. But then again we refused to believe it was a thing for a long time.
There are still holdouts who refuse to believe. Not only cranks, but as esteemed HBDIQ rationalist adjacent people as Greg Cochran (his argument: "There was no PTSD in ancient Rome").
Eetan
2mo ago
Also https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43169974
More such cases, but not many - collecting human beings like funko pops is sign of serious psychopathy, and such types were always rare on the ground.
Eetan
2mo ago
I'm not sure that the way most modern religions are actually practiced would cause significant impacts on people's lives.
Well, what Douthat means by "everyone shall be religious"? "Everyone should be regularly weekly attending church/synagogue/mosque", or "Everyone should follow the holy book of his faith to the letter"
Eetan
2mo ago
"Was the Enlightenment a good idea?"
I am sorry, but all of this seems to me as lots of crying over spilt milk. The Enlightenment bad. What is then good?
The Enlightenment is done deal, there is no going back. Even if you think that humanity peaked in 1700, that palace of Versailles of Louis XIV was the pinnacle of perfection, you are not bringing it back.
The whole world runs on Enlightenment now. Everyone wears Western suits or military uniforms, everyone pays lip service to the high ideas, everyone from Kim and Putin to ordinary African strong man claims to be democratically elected leader serving the people.
Multiparty democracy, one party rule, military dictatorship - all are creations of the Enlightenment.
As they say, TINA. Where are any non-enlightened models in today's world?
Iran? There are elections, parliament and the whole shebang.
Gulf oil states? Areas controlled by Al Qaeda or ISIS? Less than appealing alternatives.
Remember, the Enlightenment won not because of beauty of its ideas, it won because Enlightened armies and fleets trashed all of their opposition.
When Yemen starts sinking US carrier groups, not once in freak accident but repeatedly and consistently, when new revolutionary discoveries and technologies start arriving from ISIS controlled zones in Africa, then we can talk.
Eetan
3mo ago
British Empire wasn’t going to survive either.
British Empire was artifact of 19th century industrial revolution, no one ever explained how should few hundreds of thousands of British aristocracy and upper classes control 25%+ of human race for all time.
Eetan
3mo ago
Depends on definition of "golden age". Time of peace? Time of prosperity for average person? Time of great scientific/literary/art creative genius?
Eetan
11mo ago
If you are really wealthy, you do not have to care how you appear to the plebs at all. The middle classes must care about their appearance, bums and billionaires are free.
Eetan
3mo ago
No one even slightly mainstream questions that America in WW2 was good guy.
If "WW2 revisionism" means the idea that the major combatants, Nazis and Soviet, were just about equally bad (Nazis 100% and Soviets 99,9% evil), it is not universal point of view, but, by now, common one that can be published in mainstream academic press.
The implications are now just starting to percolate into mainstream debate, and the question "Was it right choice for High Elves to join fight between Orcs and Ogres, and if so, on whose side? is now open.
Eetan
3mo ago
If there was a large Jewish community being slaughtered in Syria, Israel would defend them militarily and they’d be right to do it. Christians get slaughtered anywhere in the world and Christian countries actively ignore it and really couldn’t care less. Why would people want to join a faith whose followers can’t be bothered to stand up for each other?
There was large Jewish community in Syria.
It left, mostly to Israel. Israel is defending persecuted Jews by giving them asylum.
By analogy, does Tucker Carlson supports open borders for Christians? Does he advocate that any Christian in the world should be let into United States?
Eetan
2mo ago
Well, this is the only argument for protectionism - rebuild national high tech industry to ensure independent supply chain.
Now, this is out, and protection of (nonexistant) clothing, shoe and plastic Mickey Mouse industry remains.
Eetan
3mo ago
Continuing my alt hist scenario- epistemic status, considering moving over to an alternate history forum, open to recommendations.
Online oldest and biggest AH place is here but beware. It is extremely PC, woke long before wokeness was a thing, space. Expect to be banned for the slightest infraction (mere mention of HBDIQ concepts, taken for granted here or other rationalist and post rationalist spaces is sufficient). Enter at your risk.
Just one example: short althistorian career of famous Eric S. Raymond
Others- few old time forums and bulletin boards exist.
Only I can think about is Axis History Forum unsurprisingly dedicated to WWII history with lively alt-his subforum. It is nerd paradise, highly technical discussion backed by proper citations is expected (and it is normie place, nothing resembling Nazi apologia and Holocaust revisionism is tolerated).
Extra thick tinfoil hat take:
This is all kayfabe, and deal, big beautiful deal, had already been made - deal trading Ukraine for Syria and Iran. The surprising fall of Syrian regime had been only the beginning, and Iran is next on the chopping block.
Just one current puzzle piece supporting this take - not only US and Israel, but Azerbaijan too seems to be readying.
Yes, it is something from Tom Clancy novel - US air, naval and space forces engage in brilliant shock&awe campaign, while mighty Azeri Army rolls to Tabriz and Tehran and inside Iran several unexpected surprises in September 2024 style happen. Freedom wins, bald eagles rejoice, all who remember 1979 get their revenge.
But current world is place where things are against happening in true Hollywood kino way. The new screenwriters hired in 2020 are pros who know their job.
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