I’m a paid subscriber to Laith Marouf (FPTV) and Bettbeat Media. I listened and learned a lot, quickly. People with a very different ideology—or even theology—ethnicity, culture, etc., will give you a different perspective, whether it’s right or not. Westerners may miss out if they only listen to certain people. Also, people on the receiving end of imperialism unsurprisingly usually have a less ignorant take than many highly propagandized Westerners. [everyone is propagandized, hence more Arabic speaking outlets then English in the world]
Like Prof. Beattie was talking about, c. 35 min., you may find some poor takes from someone in the global south. Still, I’m only saying I’ve learned very quickly by listening to different people. I went to south Lebanon and learned things from Shia friends of mine that I wouldn’t have learned from the YouTube commentators discussed here…and no offense to them if their cause is just. Offense intended though if they’re orientalists.
I am very happy that you have kept this subject in the limelight! Many of these individuals are libertarians and do not like that to be known including Matt Taibbi and Whitney Webb. You should review The Duran interviewing Ron Paul, it is obvious they see that man as a god. I do not think that any of them are anti-capitalist and that most of them just think it needs a tweak here and there.
Never ever ask anyone of them questions that counter their narrative or they will go full blown Jimmy Dore on you, that our walk out in a huff.
I would like to hear their responses to your critique of them because I need a good laugh these days.
I am being seriously critical of them because like Dimitri I think they have a lot to offer but should not be viewed as all knowing.
The fact that children who I remember are innocent are just being killed like insignificant objects or things is so disgusting and disturbing! It’s almost like how was this possible? such a disconnection.
To Karim: I read your professional abstract, and was absolutely psyched. I really believe that your deconstructing of your discipline can have much wider ripples throughout the west. Marx wrote that philosophers explain the world. The point is to change it. Your seminal treatise gives scientists and administrators much more ammunition to defend soft, humanistic policies for social application. I suspect that you are not attracted to popularizing what is your field of expertise, but you and Noundja and Benji are all charismatic and more than interesting as regular folks.
I humbly suggest that you all hire an agent to get your names and message into the ether. Platforms that you may not like particularly, could serve to raise your profiles and generate more inquiries into what you are saying that cannot be reduced to a slogan. Your Substack platform could grow exponentially with exposure on platforms like M.O.A.T.S. or Going Underground TV on RT, and Sabby Sabs and Bad Faith.
I know that many academic papers and books are mostly digested and scrutinized by peers, but I think the opportunity to reach a broader audience occasionally becomes available, and my gut sense tells me that a wide swath of the global public is ready for what your research is saying. The great east - west divide is marked by spiritual and philosophical differences that intersect in areas that the humanities and your field can serve as cultural bridges to soften.
Right now, the ignorance that white Christians display toward Muslims is frightening and so sad. I was raised Catholic and am now an atheist, and that has everything to do with the dissonance between what is taught and what is ignored. Every Muslim that I have met, endeavors to live their faith as it has been taught to them. This scares many Christian’s who have been taught to hate through their religion.
I’m 70 years old, but my sense is that the youth in my country are so used to being fed lies that they have cast off much of the indoctrination that worked so effectively on their parents and grandparents.
I have the feeling that you could commission an entertaining documentary, with lots of voice-over and regular, brief on-camera bits featuring you and your colleagues, with some simple graphics and visuals that sync with the many examples in your paper of false assumptions and unexplored consequences of bad information and misinformation. That could be a staple in the educational mission.
This episode is very welcome and quite "funny" as I've been critical of the alternative media for a long time, and felt quite alone, since no one else was critical of it. I wrote about it last July, focussing on the pharmaceutical angle, you can read it here: https://sarahalard.substack.com/p/alternative-media-vs-mainstream-media.
But Karim is right, the racist angle is equally prevalent. In fact, I called out Tarik Cyril Amar, one of the best alt media analysts out there, last year March, on his racism, following his appearance on The Duran; you can read my four successive comments to him here: https://rumble.com/v4k5i73-geopolitical-reality-w-tarik-cyril-amar.html
As Dimitri says in this video, the alt media has done lots of good, but I also think it could and should do much more, and that that's where they fail. They should interact a lot more with their public and help organize meetings. Just sitting in front of your camera, talking to it, and asking people to give you money for that, is not going to help make the world a better place, because that is by far not enough to fight the Evil forces that have been unleashed upon us. Alt media podcasters would be far more useful and effective, if they were also activists, and engaged more with their public. For that, I do give Scott Ritter credit, with his "ask me" show twice a week. True, the show is quite unprofessional, but one has to admit that it takes courage to do what Scott is doing, something no other podcaster is doing. It would be great if more alt channels had more interaction with their audience, like Scott's show, but without Scott's anger and juvenile outbursts, and without the whole ridiculously unprofessional design of the show. I agree that Scott got a lot wrong, but that is neither here nor there, since we, as viewers, should not follow him or ANY blogger blindly, but always be critical. Unfortunately, in today's world however, there is no room for criticism, because everyone has to "be positive". People today have lost the ability to distinguish between constructive criticism and destructive criticism - to everyone's detriment.
Anyway, here's an idea, why don't you, Karim & Peter, invite Scott Ritter, and others who are "very selective in their analysis" on YOUR show and confront them on their shortcomings, and have a good, old-fashioned discussion with different points of view? Because, while I greatly value your work on Bettbeat, I would value it more, if you didn't always have people on your show who agree with you. Invite Scott, and take him to task! He said several times that he's willing to argue with others who disagree with him, so he should accept such an invitation.
I also agree with Dimitiri about interviewing analysts from "the region", and I actually sent an email about that to Pascal Lottaz a few months ago, accusing him of having all whites on his show regarding topics covering the Middle East/Western Asia, and I and gave him names of Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Libyan analysts to invite. Till now, he has not invited one single one of those analysts on his show, nor any other Arab analyst, despite the fact that he and his guests regularly talk about current events in the Arab world. I find that scandalous, shocking, and utterly racist. But he's young, so hopefully he'll improve with time, provided he doesn't let being an assistant professor at a university in Japan get to his head too much. There's only so much one can do in academia; too many academics vastly over-estimate themselves.
I also agree with what Karim said about Judge Nap's show; I too, no longer watch most of it, and I commented on his facebook page, last year March, about his guests and topics, read it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/950483449941028/?active_tab=discussion. The only two guests on Judge Nap that I still follow, are Karen Kwiatkowski and Phil Giraldi, the two regular guests that score the lowest number of viewers, unfortunately. As for the Duran, I stopped watching those two racist, misogynist clowns years ago.
As for Orban, those in the alt media are completely oblivious to the fact that he is a Zionist par excellence, along with other Eastern Europeans, including Russians, but also the AfD of Eastern Germany and the FPÖ in Austria. Let us not forget that Zionism was born and bred in Eastern Europe and still flourishes there today; all their anti-EU and anti-NATO talk has no bearing on their Zionist aspirations.
Last but not least, kudos to Dimitri for offering free legal assistance to The Legal Centre for Palestine.
One aspect you could discuss: what happens when the tide turns, when the Global South gets it full independency, will the West encounter revenge? Example, Sahel Africa with the help of Russia kicked France out. They are not even willing to sell Uranium to France! The West is going to have a wild ride very soon.
I don’t know. Look how formerly colonized countries treat Western tourists. It’s not in the blood/culture of non-Western people to be so vindictive and nasty to others. That’s a very European characteristic.
This was an important discussion and Karim's suggestion for further "meta-discussions" with Dimitry and others would be wonderful. Karim made useful, but perhaps unintended, points about mental schema and education when he said (beginning about 1:03),
"if there's one thing that Palestine has shown us is that our justice systems and our democracies are just one big fat failure and they are not what we belived they were and what we learned at school that they are, it's an eye opener on so many levels; Palestine I think has forever destroyed someting when it comes to the myth of the west and forever changed the way we see the world, also on life... it has completely reshaped my understanding of reality, of the way humanity works, of the way our societies work. The way I see history, it changed everything, it's so much more brutal also the things that happened in history than we think. If you see what's happening now in plain sight you can just guess when there were and there are no cameras. Humanity is more brutal than I even thought already and I already knew they were brutal ... what I see now the pscychopathy on a collective level and I'm taliking about not just the Israeli Society, I'm also talking about the whole political class all over the West..."
After 500 years of continuous Western brutality on most of the world, from India to Mexico, Indonesia, Australia and the Phillipines to China and New Zealand, or just the horrors of the 20th and 21st centuries, why on earth does the Palestinian genocide surprise or "completely reshape" Karim's understanding of the West? The West has always been this way. But why? Is this due to "humanity", as Karim suggested in haste? Really? From the rest of what Karim, Dimitry and Peter discussed, they clearly do not believe that Western psychopathy is due to "humanity". Instead they focused on other underlying reasons.
Peter was right to say that education plays a role (the quote about "From each according to..." is from "Critique of the Gotha Program", not the Manifesto), Dimitry was right to point the finger at citizens who keep voting for genocidal psychopaths, and Karim was right to say that wilful ignorance is not an excuse. All excellent points, but none of these social phenomena occur in a vacuum, but in a specific socio-economic, cultural and historical context. Understanding this context is necessary if we want change social conditions. For example, if you're struggling from pay-check to pay-check, over-worked, and constantly tired, your level of civil engagement may be limited to placing an X on a voting card, where the only choice is between psychopath A vs psychopath B. Similarly, there may be many individuals who escape from or overcome abuse, oppression, poverty and ignorance. Such examples prove the irrepressible yearning for a better life that all people have, but they are not a solution to a f***d socio-economic system. For that we need solidarity, organising and action.
This is not completely fair. I see your quoting of my words conveniently excludes the part where I said that I knew the colonists themselves were this brutal, but it surprises me that so many more people of the public have this psychopathy. And it still surprises me, regardless of the fact that our capitalist system screws up our brains. And yes, Karim talks about "humanity" as the shocking lack of response from the rest of the world disappoints me.
Precious Karim, pls interview Jewish journalists who are anti Zionists: Max Blumenthal and Aaron Matte. You need those perspectives also. Victims of crimes against humanity need to be interviewed by judge Napalitano. I shall make a public comment about it. You are absolutely right about that. Had Americans heard their experiences in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and Syria, those from the Middle East, they would have never supported legalized murder in Gaza . The US media would not have recruited them to be force-fed Israeli propaganda to justify and defend Evil.
Max Blumethal is a POS! His father is Sidney Blumenthal, and Max helped his daddy help Killary destroy Libya and murder Col. Muamar Qadhaffi. Furthermore, just last week, Max admitted on the Judge Nap show, that he provided a list of Palestinian activists, which included Mahmoud Kahali's name, when he (Blumenthal) was arrested, and claimed he didn't know what they would do with the people on the list. Yeah, right, and I'm the Queen of Sheba. His "arrest" was a show, it's all staged; he's 100% controlled opposition and cannot be trusted. A total POS, like his daddy.
I appreciate the perspective of thinkers and humanists who see injustices and react with valuable observations.
I thought that Karim’s critique of alternative media had a slightly bourgeois ring to it. I worked in broadcast media most of my adult life, and Karim’s critique of the alternative media has much more validity in the commercial media than the alternative media. When NBC News is assailed for being too white or too male or too old, the corporate response is Oprah Winfrey or Connie Chung. It’s a simple, superficial adaptation that sustains a viewership that is still in an information bubble. That is the lens through which I view this issue.
The mission of many alternative media platforms is to pierce the information bubble…with truth and facts and insights that are anathema to the mainstream media, and the empire that it serves. I appreciate that virtually any perspective can be promoted on alternative media, but I think Karim’s comments were going after the handful that are anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist and/or anti-capitalist, arguing that the programs should be more inclusive in their choices of guests. I would submit that that is a valid judgment to the extent that it aligns with the platform mission.
The Duran is a platform to espouse a libertarian ideology in a low-key discussion of geopolitical politics. It has provided timely information updates about the proxy war, but it doesn’t critique the sham that is the American “democracy.”
I think the alternative media, just like everything else, needs to be assessed on its mission before it is judged on how broadly or poorly it represents a diversity of races in its coverage. Dimitri cited Nima Alkorshid of Dialogue Works, and his agenda is clearly promoting peace through understanding. His guests are often white guys, because they have access to inside information that very few people have and are willing to share. Neutrality Studies is another peace platform that offers alternative perspectives on who and what prevents diplomacy, and why. I am partial to these two platforms in addition to BettBeat because they all address the way the mind processes the world, and that is not ever invited by the legacy media.
Ben Norton who has his own platform, The Geopolitical Economy is a brilliant exposer of the lies of the American empire and the media that peddles them. This week he deconstructed a speech given by the Vice President to a Silicon Valley who’s who. Vance (the VP) was trashing the neoliberal “left,” promising that Trump was going to restore well paying manufacturing jobs to the heartland, and do right by the many thousands of families that were the victims of the corrupt Democrat Party. Norton pointed out that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Peter Theil and Tim Cook were all present. These are the wealthiest people in the world, and they weren’t convening to celebrate the working class. They are waging class war and deflecting by blaming China as the enemy of freedom. Norton works out of China, and regularly corrects the narratives about China coming from Washington. I think his message is instructive:
The class war that is being waged inside America, and globally by corporations and billionaires is the absolutely essential message that must pierce the American bubble. When Americans know and feel the truth of socialism as a vehicle for democracy that they have never experienced, the world will get the message.
I think it's because he loves what he does, he's crazy about statistics and he loves china. His opinion of "china's non interference policy" bothers me. Like if you're taking a walk and you see a girl being raped..."i have a non interference policy"
I haven’t explored that in depth. My knowledge of how the Chinese government approaches violent crime is scant. I’d be interested in knowing if mental illness is accorded compassionate attention or rigid criminal punishment. I have no delusions about big states being as careful not to overstep their authority as they can be. Being righteous when you don’t need to be is the profile of great people and the system that rewards them.
I am encouraged that China pours so much of its resources into achieving and sustaining its autonomy. If America did anything close to what China does in that regard, wars would be the exception rather than the rule.
Glad to hear you call out Ritter, Galloway, Gabbard...
I fully agree with Dimitri re to understand the devastating effects of Western Imperialism, one needs to spend significant time in the places targeted.
Though the 2025 Ramadan massacre was one of the bloodiest ones, it definitely was not the largest one.
Worth remembering that in the months preceding the Genocide Convention breach denounced by South Africa to the International Court of Justice, many more Palestinians were being massacred on a regular base .
According to analysts, as many as 3000 may have been killed in the single bombardment of a refugee camps bombed with as many as 6 2000 pounds bombs, and this happened not just once but many times.
Remember also that on a single bombing of an hospital’s court yard, “absurdly blamed on a stray rocket from Hamas”, even before the israeli invasion of 2023, over 400 were incinerated and killed and more than 1000 wounded.
And that is just one example, the flour massacre is an other one of those massacres which resulted in the death of over 500 and more than 1200 wounded. “Many of which died in consequence to their wounds”.
About racism, before we can end it we must first end zionism and every other type of supremacists indoctrination.
Max Blumethal is a POS! His father is Sidney Blumenthal, and Max helped his daddy help Killary destroy Libya and murder Col. Muamar Qadhaffi. Furthermore, just last week, Max admitted on the Judge Nap show, that he provided a list of Palestinian activists, which included Mahmoud Kahali's name, when he (Blumenthal) was arrested, and claimed he didn't know what they would do with the people on the list. Yeah, right, and I'm the Queen of Sheba. His "arrest" was a show, it's all staged; he's 100% controlled opposition and cannot be trusted. A total POS, like his daddy.
I’m a paid subscriber to Laith Marouf (FPTV) and Bettbeat Media. I listened and learned a lot, quickly. People with a very different ideology—or even theology—ethnicity, culture, etc., will give you a different perspective, whether it’s right or not. Westerners may miss out if they only listen to certain people. Also, people on the receiving end of imperialism unsurprisingly usually have a less ignorant take than many highly propagandized Westerners. [everyone is propagandized, hence more Arabic speaking outlets then English in the world]
Like Prof. Beattie was talking about, c. 35 min., you may find some poor takes from someone in the global south. Still, I’m only saying I’ve learned very quickly by listening to different people. I went to south Lebanon and learned things from Shia friends of mine that I wouldn’t have learned from the YouTube commentators discussed here…and no offense to them if their cause is just. Offense intended though if they’re orientalists.
I wish I could support you monetarily.
I am very happy that you have kept this subject in the limelight! Many of these individuals are libertarians and do not like that to be known including Matt Taibbi and Whitney Webb. You should review The Duran interviewing Ron Paul, it is obvious they see that man as a god. I do not think that any of them are anti-capitalist and that most of them just think it needs a tweak here and there.
Never ever ask anyone of them questions that counter their narrative or they will go full blown Jimmy Dore on you, that our walk out in a huff.
I would like to hear their responses to your critique of them because I need a good laugh these days.
I am being seriously critical of them because like Dimitri I think they have a lot to offer but should not be viewed as all knowing.
I don't think they have anything to offer any more. They did once, but now they're boringly repetative.
The fact that children who I remember are innocent are just being killed like insignificant objects or things is so disgusting and disturbing! It’s almost like how was this possible? such a disconnection.
It’s unbearable what is going on. I cannot put it in any other way.
To Karim: I read your professional abstract, and was absolutely psyched. I really believe that your deconstructing of your discipline can have much wider ripples throughout the west. Marx wrote that philosophers explain the world. The point is to change it. Your seminal treatise gives scientists and administrators much more ammunition to defend soft, humanistic policies for social application. I suspect that you are not attracted to popularizing what is your field of expertise, but you and Noundja and Benji are all charismatic and more than interesting as regular folks.
I humbly suggest that you all hire an agent to get your names and message into the ether. Platforms that you may not like particularly, could serve to raise your profiles and generate more inquiries into what you are saying that cannot be reduced to a slogan. Your Substack platform could grow exponentially with exposure on platforms like M.O.A.T.S. or Going Underground TV on RT, and Sabby Sabs and Bad Faith.
Great comment! Thank you. Very motivating.
I know that many academic papers and books are mostly digested and scrutinized by peers, but I think the opportunity to reach a broader audience occasionally becomes available, and my gut sense tells me that a wide swath of the global public is ready for what your research is saying. The great east - west divide is marked by spiritual and philosophical differences that intersect in areas that the humanities and your field can serve as cultural bridges to soften.
Right now, the ignorance that white Christians display toward Muslims is frightening and so sad. I was raised Catholic and am now an atheist, and that has everything to do with the dissonance between what is taught and what is ignored. Every Muslim that I have met, endeavors to live their faith as it has been taught to them. This scares many Christian’s who have been taught to hate through their religion.
I’m 70 years old, but my sense is that the youth in my country are so used to being fed lies that they have cast off much of the indoctrination that worked so effectively on their parents and grandparents.
I have the feeling that you could commission an entertaining documentary, with lots of voice-over and regular, brief on-camera bits featuring you and your colleagues, with some simple graphics and visuals that sync with the many examples in your paper of false assumptions and unexplored consequences of bad information and misinformation. That could be a staple in the educational mission.
We will definitely do a show on it again. Peter wants to talk about the paper more as well.
Here's another link to FPTV https://rumble.com/v6r194u-what-is-really-happening-in-syria-testimonies-from-survivors.-40-thousand-k.html?playlist_id=X61ocMl1Q_M
You might combine "white" and "American" into a special case of Manifest Destiny, Monroe and American exceptionalism Making America Ugly Again.
They don't forgive, they "dismiss and deliberately omit" to mention the Gaza Holocaust. Their fear of offending subscribers. That compromises them
This episode is very welcome and quite "funny" as I've been critical of the alternative media for a long time, and felt quite alone, since no one else was critical of it. I wrote about it last July, focussing on the pharmaceutical angle, you can read it here: https://sarahalard.substack.com/p/alternative-media-vs-mainstream-media.
But Karim is right, the racist angle is equally prevalent. In fact, I called out Tarik Cyril Amar, one of the best alt media analysts out there, last year March, on his racism, following his appearance on The Duran; you can read my four successive comments to him here: https://rumble.com/v4k5i73-geopolitical-reality-w-tarik-cyril-amar.html
As Dimitri says in this video, the alt media has done lots of good, but I also think it could and should do much more, and that that's where they fail. They should interact a lot more with their public and help organize meetings. Just sitting in front of your camera, talking to it, and asking people to give you money for that, is not going to help make the world a better place, because that is by far not enough to fight the Evil forces that have been unleashed upon us. Alt media podcasters would be far more useful and effective, if they were also activists, and engaged more with their public. For that, I do give Scott Ritter credit, with his "ask me" show twice a week. True, the show is quite unprofessional, but one has to admit that it takes courage to do what Scott is doing, something no other podcaster is doing. It would be great if more alt channels had more interaction with their audience, like Scott's show, but without Scott's anger and juvenile outbursts, and without the whole ridiculously unprofessional design of the show. I agree that Scott got a lot wrong, but that is neither here nor there, since we, as viewers, should not follow him or ANY blogger blindly, but always be critical. Unfortunately, in today's world however, there is no room for criticism, because everyone has to "be positive". People today have lost the ability to distinguish between constructive criticism and destructive criticism - to everyone's detriment.
Anyway, here's an idea, why don't you, Karim & Peter, invite Scott Ritter, and others who are "very selective in their analysis" on YOUR show and confront them on their shortcomings, and have a good, old-fashioned discussion with different points of view? Because, while I greatly value your work on Bettbeat, I would value it more, if you didn't always have people on your show who agree with you. Invite Scott, and take him to task! He said several times that he's willing to argue with others who disagree with him, so he should accept such an invitation.
I also agree with Dimitiri about interviewing analysts from "the region", and I actually sent an email about that to Pascal Lottaz a few months ago, accusing him of having all whites on his show regarding topics covering the Middle East/Western Asia, and I and gave him names of Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Libyan analysts to invite. Till now, he has not invited one single one of those analysts on his show, nor any other Arab analyst, despite the fact that he and his guests regularly talk about current events in the Arab world. I find that scandalous, shocking, and utterly racist. But he's young, so hopefully he'll improve with time, provided he doesn't let being an assistant professor at a university in Japan get to his head too much. There's only so much one can do in academia; too many academics vastly over-estimate themselves.
I also agree with what Karim said about Judge Nap's show; I too, no longer watch most of it, and I commented on his facebook page, last year March, about his guests and topics, read it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/950483449941028/?active_tab=discussion. The only two guests on Judge Nap that I still follow, are Karen Kwiatkowski and Phil Giraldi, the two regular guests that score the lowest number of viewers, unfortunately. As for the Duran, I stopped watching those two racist, misogynist clowns years ago.
As for Orban, those in the alt media are completely oblivious to the fact that he is a Zionist par excellence, along with other Eastern Europeans, including Russians, but also the AfD of Eastern Germany and the FPÖ in Austria. Let us not forget that Zionism was born and bred in Eastern Europe and still flourishes there today; all their anti-EU and anti-NATO talk has no bearing on their Zionist aspirations.
Last but not least, kudos to Dimitri for offering free legal assistance to The Legal Centre for Palestine.
Great, you have noticed.
One aspect you could discuss: what happens when the tide turns, when the Global South gets it full independency, will the West encounter revenge? Example, Sahel Africa with the help of Russia kicked France out. They are not even willing to sell Uranium to France! The West is going to have a wild ride very soon.
I don’t know. Look how formerly colonized countries treat Western tourists. It’s not in the blood/culture of non-Western people to be so vindictive and nasty to others. That’s a very European characteristic.
This was an important discussion and Karim's suggestion for further "meta-discussions" with Dimitry and others would be wonderful. Karim made useful, but perhaps unintended, points about mental schema and education when he said (beginning about 1:03),
"if there's one thing that Palestine has shown us is that our justice systems and our democracies are just one big fat failure and they are not what we belived they were and what we learned at school that they are, it's an eye opener on so many levels; Palestine I think has forever destroyed someting when it comes to the myth of the west and forever changed the way we see the world, also on life... it has completely reshaped my understanding of reality, of the way humanity works, of the way our societies work. The way I see history, it changed everything, it's so much more brutal also the things that happened in history than we think. If you see what's happening now in plain sight you can just guess when there were and there are no cameras. Humanity is more brutal than I even thought already and I already knew they were brutal ... what I see now the pscychopathy on a collective level and I'm taliking about not just the Israeli Society, I'm also talking about the whole political class all over the West..."
After 500 years of continuous Western brutality on most of the world, from India to Mexico, Indonesia, Australia and the Phillipines to China and New Zealand, or just the horrors of the 20th and 21st centuries, why on earth does the Palestinian genocide surprise or "completely reshape" Karim's understanding of the West? The West has always been this way. But why? Is this due to "humanity", as Karim suggested in haste? Really? From the rest of what Karim, Dimitry and Peter discussed, they clearly do not believe that Western psychopathy is due to "humanity". Instead they focused on other underlying reasons.
Peter was right to say that education plays a role (the quote about "From each according to..." is from "Critique of the Gotha Program", not the Manifesto), Dimitry was right to point the finger at citizens who keep voting for genocidal psychopaths, and Karim was right to say that wilful ignorance is not an excuse. All excellent points, but none of these social phenomena occur in a vacuum, but in a specific socio-economic, cultural and historical context. Understanding this context is necessary if we want change social conditions. For example, if you're struggling from pay-check to pay-check, over-worked, and constantly tired, your level of civil engagement may be limited to placing an X on a voting card, where the only choice is between psychopath A vs psychopath B. Similarly, there may be many individuals who escape from or overcome abuse, oppression, poverty and ignorance. Such examples prove the irrepressible yearning for a better life that all people have, but they are not a solution to a f***d socio-economic system. For that we need solidarity, organising and action.
This is not completely fair. I see your quoting of my words conveniently excludes the part where I said that I knew the colonists themselves were this brutal, but it surprises me that so many more people of the public have this psychopathy. And it still surprises me, regardless of the fact that our capitalist system screws up our brains. And yes, Karim talks about "humanity" as the shocking lack of response from the rest of the world disappoints me.
Precious Karim, pls interview Jewish journalists who are anti Zionists: Max Blumenthal and Aaron Matte. You need those perspectives also. Victims of crimes against humanity need to be interviewed by judge Napalitano. I shall make a public comment about it. You are absolutely right about that. Had Americans heard their experiences in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and Syria, those from the Middle East, they would have never supported legalized murder in Gaza . The US media would not have recruited them to be force-fed Israeli propaganda to justify and defend Evil.
Max Blumethal is a POS! His father is Sidney Blumenthal, and Max helped his daddy help Killary destroy Libya and murder Col. Muamar Qadhaffi. Furthermore, just last week, Max admitted on the Judge Nap show, that he provided a list of Palestinian activists, which included Mahmoud Kahali's name, when he (Blumenthal) was arrested, and claimed he didn't know what they would do with the people on the list. Yeah, right, and I'm the Queen of Sheba. His "arrest" was a show, it's all staged; he's 100% controlled opposition and cannot be trusted. A total POS, like his daddy.
I appreciate the perspective of thinkers and humanists who see injustices and react with valuable observations.
I thought that Karim’s critique of alternative media had a slightly bourgeois ring to it. I worked in broadcast media most of my adult life, and Karim’s critique of the alternative media has much more validity in the commercial media than the alternative media. When NBC News is assailed for being too white or too male or too old, the corporate response is Oprah Winfrey or Connie Chung. It’s a simple, superficial adaptation that sustains a viewership that is still in an information bubble. That is the lens through which I view this issue.
The mission of many alternative media platforms is to pierce the information bubble…with truth and facts and insights that are anathema to the mainstream media, and the empire that it serves. I appreciate that virtually any perspective can be promoted on alternative media, but I think Karim’s comments were going after the handful that are anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist and/or anti-capitalist, arguing that the programs should be more inclusive in their choices of guests. I would submit that that is a valid judgment to the extent that it aligns with the platform mission.
The Duran is a platform to espouse a libertarian ideology in a low-key discussion of geopolitical politics. It has provided timely information updates about the proxy war, but it doesn’t critique the sham that is the American “democracy.”
I think the alternative media, just like everything else, needs to be assessed on its mission before it is judged on how broadly or poorly it represents a diversity of races in its coverage. Dimitri cited Nima Alkorshid of Dialogue Works, and his agenda is clearly promoting peace through understanding. His guests are often white guys, because they have access to inside information that very few people have and are willing to share. Neutrality Studies is another peace platform that offers alternative perspectives on who and what prevents diplomacy, and why. I am partial to these two platforms in addition to BettBeat because they all address the way the mind processes the world, and that is not ever invited by the legacy media.
Ben Norton who has his own platform, The Geopolitical Economy is a brilliant exposer of the lies of the American empire and the media that peddles them. This week he deconstructed a speech given by the Vice President to a Silicon Valley who’s who. Vance (the VP) was trashing the neoliberal “left,” promising that Trump was going to restore well paying manufacturing jobs to the heartland, and do right by the many thousands of families that were the victims of the corrupt Democrat Party. Norton pointed out that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Peter Theil and Tim Cook were all present. These are the wealthiest people in the world, and they weren’t convening to celebrate the working class. They are waging class war and deflecting by blaming China as the enemy of freedom. Norton works out of China, and regularly corrects the narratives about China coming from Washington. I think his message is instructive:
The class war that is being waged inside America, and globally by corporations and billionaires is the absolutely essential message that must pierce the American bubble. When Americans know and feel the truth of socialism as a vehicle for democracy that they have never experienced, the world will get the message.
I love Ben Norton
His retention is incredible. I don’t think he uses a teleprompter when he does 30-minute monologues, and longer.
I think it's because he loves what he does, he's crazy about statistics and he loves china. His opinion of "china's non interference policy" bothers me. Like if you're taking a walk and you see a girl being raped..."i have a non interference policy"
I haven’t explored that in depth. My knowledge of how the Chinese government approaches violent crime is scant. I’d be interested in knowing if mental illness is accorded compassionate attention or rigid criminal punishment. I have no delusions about big states being as careful not to overstep their authority as they can be. Being righteous when you don’t need to be is the profile of great people and the system that rewards them.
I am encouraged that China pours so much of its resources into achieving and sustaining its autonomy. If America did anything close to what China does in that regard, wars would be the exception rather than the rule.
Glad to hear you call out Ritter, Galloway, Gabbard...
I fully agree with Dimitri re to understand the devastating effects of Western Imperialism, one needs to spend significant time in the places targeted.
Though the 2025 Ramadan massacre was one of the bloodiest ones, it definitely was not the largest one.
Worth remembering that in the months preceding the Genocide Convention breach denounced by South Africa to the International Court of Justice, many more Palestinians were being massacred on a regular base .
According to analysts, as many as 3000 may have been killed in the single bombardment of a refugee camps bombed with as many as 6 2000 pounds bombs, and this happened not just once but many times.
Remember also that on a single bombing of an hospital’s court yard, “absurdly blamed on a stray rocket from Hamas”, even before the israeli invasion of 2023, over 400 were incinerated and killed and more than 1000 wounded.
And that is just one example, the flour massacre is an other one of those massacres which resulted in the death of over 500 and more than 1200 wounded. “Many of which died in consequence to their wounds”.
About racism, before we can end it we must first end zionism and every other type of supremacists indoctrination.
Thx for sharing
Good job guys. Ps i think Max Blumenthal is great and i think he had some arabs on his show with Aaron mate.
Max Blumethal is a POS! His father is Sidney Blumenthal, and Max helped his daddy help Killary destroy Libya and murder Col. Muamar Qadhaffi. Furthermore, just last week, Max admitted on the Judge Nap show, that he provided a list of Palestinian activists, which included Mahmoud Kahali's name, when he (Blumenthal) was arrested, and claimed he didn't know what they would do with the people on the list. Yeah, right, and I'm the Queen of Sheba. His "arrest" was a show, it's all staged; he's 100% controlled opposition and cannot be trusted. A total POS, like his daddy.