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Iuval Clejan's avatar

Yes, attention spans are declining, thanks to the attention economy. But I am interested more in the question of how to deal with a death cult. Not evil, because everyone thinks they are doing good in some way, for someone (maybe only for themselves). A death cult teaches its followers to hate some enemy that is a whole group, and to want to kill members of that group, because that is considered good and the will of God or the leader, or made palatable by some other machination. If death cult members were like animals who could be deterred by punishment or by killing, or by some reward, there would be either proportionate punitive ways of dealing with them, or kind "Christian" or liberal ways, like increasing their wealth, giving them land, etc. But death cult members do not respond to punishment (even killing) or reward. They just want to kill. In fact they get even more fervent when other members of their group are killed, because they love martyrdom. One doesn't have to hate such people to recognize that once they are in the cult, nothing short of killing them will stop them. Of course if someone has not entered the death cult yet, then all kinds of other measures may be possible, for example, if one can control their education, they can be taught not to hate others outside their group. Note the Sufis and other peaceful muslims, so it is possible within Islam, and most Jews do NOT hate non-Jews, only a small right wing minority does, though they have a disproportionate majority in the Israeli government.

I would find it interesting, Ugo, if you told me the history of when the Christians realized that simply allowing themselves to be massacred (turning the other cheek) was not a viable strategy with some Islamists. It worked with the Romans, but it didn't work with these new people they encountered.

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Transcriber B's avatar

W & P is written from the heart. This is its immense power.

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