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"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." – George Carlin
We have seen that aphorism illustrated in many ways over the last week.
Consider the Hamas invasion of Israel last Saturday. (It is now clear it was an invasion.) They intended to hold Southern Israel and carve out a larger state. While they managed to kill between 1,300-2,000 people in Israel, they utterly failed to hold any territory outside the Gaza Strip within two days.
Did Hamas seriously believe they could fortify their conquests before the Israeli Army reacted? Did they seriously believe their butchery of innocents would cow Israel? I would say they did. Otherwise, why take an action that would destroy Hamas if it failed? They thought they would succeed. They were that stupid.
Equally stupid were the large numbers of leftist students in US elite universities who reflexively took the side of Hamas. At least until the $100K-$200K job offers they were expecting upon graduation began getting pulled by horrified potential employers. (One child -- her behavior indicates she is not an adult, despite being in her mid-twenties -- lost a job with a prestigious law firm that would have gotten her around $200K right out of college.)
They did not read the room. They were so immured in their progressive bubble they did not think they had to. So now they face adverse consequences for unthinking actions, perhaps for the first time in their lives. My attitude towards them is they got off easy. They only lose money. If they had been at an anti-Israeli rave in the Negev, they could have lost their heads (often literally) after being gang raped.
Let's not let the Israelis off the stupidity hook completely, either. You often saw pictures of Israelis walking around -- sometimes babes in bikinis -- carrying automatic rifles. I thought that meant every Israeli was armed. Nope. I was stupid about that. Instead, those were off-duty active-duty soldiers. They were the only ones allowed to carry weapons. Civilians -- even those living a few miles from Hamas-dur -- are unarmed. Because their government didn't trust them with firearms. That is the definition of the power of stupid people in large groups (in this case, the Israeli government).
As a thought experiment, let's put the Gaza Strip on the Texas border. Imagine Hamas trying the same action anywhere in rural Texas. There probably would have still been 1,000+ dead Texans, but they would have taken out at least that number of the Hamas invaders. Probably double or triple that. Regardless, it would have been a first-day fail for Hamas. Texans routinely pack heat, and a large percentage of rural Texans keep and bear arms for hunting and self-defense.
It is not just foreign governments that demonstrate the power of stupid people in large groups. We can look to our own. They don't call the Republicans the Stupid Party for nothing. (Although the Democrats seem to be adding stupid to evil recently, but let us focus on the Republicans for now.) Take the clown show in the Republican Caucus in the House of Representatives. We had 45 days to pass a budget for 2024. Not much, but enough to get the bills out and passed in the House, maybe even using regular order instead of an omnibus.
Instead, we have wasted over a week as posturing weenies block the election of a new Speaker of the House. Weenies on both sides of the Republican divide. We might get a Speaker in another week. Or not. Meanwhile, a budget crisis grows larger and nearer. Guys, pick a damn Speaker and get back to work. Or continue fighting among yourselves and wonder why the Democrats walk off with the 2024 elections. (Unless they manage to be even more egregiously stupid than the Republicans.)
Carlin nailed it. Get enough stupid together and you reach critical mass. Spontaneous detonation follows.
Discussion (25)
CHARTER MEMBER
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Individuals, on the other hand, made what difference they could.
Retired Major General Noam Tibon got a phone call from his son. The son's kibbutz had been infiltrated. The son and his young family were hiding in their safe room. The general was in Tel Aviv, maybe 40 miles away.
"Trust me, I will come."
The general, his wife, and his handgun hit the road. A series of adventures leads to a weapons upgrade and another retired general also headed to the fighting.
The rest of it is here.
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There are so few real leaders. Not many born but some can be trained and raised up. I think real leaders never really retire. Blessings on this family.
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“Consider the Hamas invasion of Israel last Saturday. (It is now clear it was an invasion.) They intended to hold Southern Israel and carve out a larger state.”
Really? I missed that report. If true, it was really stupid.
On the other hand, Bret Weinstein and his spouse, Heather Heying, on their Dark Horse podcast were speculating that the attack might have been a massive snatch and grab campaign designed to create a prisoner exchange for high value Hamas operatives in Israeli prisons, that went horribly wrong because of the atavistic nature of Hamas fighters. If true, that was stupid as well.
More likely (IMO), is that barbarians are going to barbarian. I don’t think they are concerned with consequences. They take joy and satisfaction in destruction and cruelty toward the objects of their hatred. Those that utilize this — to focus and launch barbarity — are not stupid. Barbarians may or not be of high intelligence, but they subordinate that intellect to their lizard brains.
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Agree on your overall point. Here I see it a little different. We have had Islamic terrorism now for decades back with no lasting accomplishments. Do any of the Islamic terrorist factions believe they can alter the geopolitical facts on the ground through their terrorism? You have to come to the conclusion they are wildly stupid or they have some other intention in mind. I think you're looking at it from Western logic and not Islamic logic. What they seem to be after is Islamic cohesion in unity through hatred of a common enemy. You would think that the Palestinian people would have dumped Hamas and this sort of thing with their constant losing streak. But just the opposite. Their cohesion is their victory.
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I think this might be right. If the reward they sought was something recognizable (to us) then unrewarded, they'd cease. That they haven't ceased surely means they are getting their jollies (in my late mother's inelegant phrase) from this somehow.
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