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PaperclipPerfector  8d ago (text post)   25471 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 23, 2026

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Sure, but I do think you might get fewer able-bodied young men volunteering to martyr themselves for the cause when the cause being sold to them by the terrorist recruiters is "I know things are fine around here, but there's all these disgusting enemies of the Prophet who hurt our ancestors over there, let's go attack them" as opposed to "you know how everything around here is shit? it's because of those hated infidels who are currently oppressing and bombing us, so let's kick them out of our rightful fatherland". Observably, stable, independent Muslim nations spend considerably less effort on trying to wipe Israel off the map than Hamas does, even if many of them still have that as one of their long-term goals.

Sure, but I do think you might get fewer able-bodied young men volunteering to martyr themselves for the cause when the cause being sold to them by the terrorist recruiters is "I know things are fine around here, but there's all these disgusting enemies of the Prophet who hurt our ancestors over there, let's go attack them" as opposed to "you know how everything around here is shit? it's because of those hated infidels who are currently oppressing and bombing us, so let's kick them out of our rightful fatherland"

I am pretty skeptical about that. ISIS was able to do quite a lot of recruiting in Western countries. Perhaps more in poor countries, but was that due to the wealth disparity or just ease of access?

It's not widely reported but Israel (and Western NGOs) have put a lot of effort into economic development among Palestinian Arabs, in part with the idea that this will lessen animosity along the lines you proposed. Has it worked? I'm skeptical, but of course there's really no way to know that there hasn't been SOME positive effect. Certainly it hasn't solved the problem.

I feel like it has worked pretty well, if you compare the West Bank and Gaza there's obviously a huge difference.

I feel like it has worked pretty well, if you compare the West Bank and Gaza there's obviously a huge difference.

I would say the main difference between Gaza and J & S is that one is occupied by Israel and was not.

Anyway, are you saying that there haven't been efforts by Western NGOs towards economic development in Gaza?

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