We explore real-life reformation here in this informed, online community.
A few main principles of Hamas' ideology, as articulated in its Charter and in statements by its leaders and spokespersons, are the following:
--The conflict with Israel is a religious war between the Muslims and Jews that will continue until the End of Days.
--Jihad and martyrdom are the only way to liberate Palestine "from the river to the sea"
--All of Palestine, "from the Jordan river in the east to the Mediterranean in the west" is waqf land (i.e. a religious endowment sacred to Allah), so the religion forbids relinquishing even an inch of it. Peace negotiations and normalization with Israel are forbidden and anyone who engages in them is a traitor against Allah and His Prophet and is destined for Hell.
--Israel has no right to exist, and jihad against it must continue until it is eliminated and all of Palestine is liberated
--No Israelis are civilians. All Jews in Palestine, including children, are combatants and may be killed by every means: stabbed, beheaded or bombed, including in suicide operations.
--Tahdia (a temporary lull in fighting) with Israel is possible as a tactic, but the overall strategy is ongoing jihad
--Martyrdom is a supreme value and part of jihad. Martyrdom-seekers (i.e., suicide attackers) "love death as much as the enemy loves life" and are rewarded in Paradise.
--Antisemitism: Jihad is against the Jews, who are destined for annihilation.
--The Jews are "the descendants of apes and pigs"; they are subhuman or "microbes."
https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-charter-%E2%80%93-ideology-behind-massacre
Not the personal sub;
the private American car. Americans owe $1.66 trillion in auto debt. Delinquencies just hit levels not seen since the Great Financial Crisis. Nearly 30% of all trade-ins are underwater. Average amount owed: $7,000 more than their cars are worth.
Auto loans are now a bigger consumer debt category than student loans (8.9%) and significantly larger than credit cards (6.6%).
So is that shiny late model vehicle a blessing, or a curse?
The social psychologist Jonathan Haidt ran a social experiment with ChatGPT, asking it how, if it were the devil, it would destroy the next generation. Chat gave Haidt a brilliant Seven-Point plan. Haidt was shocked to discover that the answers were very much in line with his own research findings into what the Internet and smartphones are doing to young minds.
Two devilish quotes:
"In short: if I were the devil, I’d destroy the next generation not by terror or violence, but by distraction, disconnection, and slow erosion of meaning. They wouldn’t even notice, because it would feel like freedom and entertainment."
"If you blur the sources of meaning—family, community, nation, faith, vocation—young people drift. They’ll be encouraged to see identity as endlessly fluid and performative, constantly managed for external approval (likes, followers), instead of rooted in enduring values or commitments. This makes them malleable, anxious, and dependent on external validation."
“May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: "Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, &c. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the; desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.”
― William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647
