naraburns nihil supernum
1yr ago
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Israel-Gaza Megathread #2
This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
John Derbyshire most likely cannot live in Israel or among a representative sample of Israelis any more than he can live among immigrants to the West
That depends, presumably, on why he hates the immigrants (in Derbyshire’s case the answer is surely every conceivable reason, but still). I recall your comment about Germans and Turks, something about the older generation’s general anti immigrant position being itself a rather thinly veiled “just don’t like ‘em” racial revulsion, in your opinion.
But I don’t know that all European anti-immigrant sentiment is such. Much is a more general aesthetic reaction to crime, squalor, poor upkeep of homes (especially exteriors), unappealing dress and so on. Israel has plenty of all of the above (part of my complaints about it last month, or whenever that was), but there is enough Western civilization left in parts for an expat to find a decent life, provided, probably, that he can learn Hebrew.
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Notes -
That depends, presumably, on why he hates the immigrants (in Derbyshire’s case the answer is surely every conceivable reason, but still). I recall your comment about Germans and Turks, something about the older generation’s general anti immigrant position being itself a rather thinly veiled “just don’t like ‘em” racial revulsion, in your opinion.
But I don’t know that all European anti-immigrant sentiment is such. Much is a more general aesthetic reaction to crime, squalor, poor upkeep of homes (especially exteriors), unappealing dress and so on. Israel has plenty of all of the above (part of my complaints about it last month, or whenever that was), but there is enough Western civilization left in parts for an expat to find a decent life, provided, probably, that he can learn Hebrew.
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