Today I listened to “An Extraordinary Introduction to the Birth of Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (with Haviv Rettig Gur)” on EconTalk because Heshy told me to. Wow. This is a mind blowing episode. I thought it was so important that I painstakingly transcribed (didn’t want to pay AI $99 to do it for me, which is what Notta charged) an excerpt from the episode. But you should listen to the whole episode in full. I’ve bolded parts that I find especially important.
That's a very deep and intriguing concept you discuss here. "The big idea". Yes, something crucial to explore and understand. The interesting thing is, it seems the Palestinians also have "the big idea". They also have "nowhere to go" and are unshakeable in their resistance. Is the world responsible for a group's "big idea", when that idea allows the "big idea" group to relentlessly believe they have the right to take land, seize control of people's lives, imprison or kill them, or monitor and control their every move or simply enslave them? I'm not taking sides here-I'm trying to apply your concept to other people groups to see if if it travels, because if it doesn't then something is wrong. Does any people group have the potential, and right, to their own "big idea" and its execution? Or is "the big idea" only legitimate for the group with the most manpower and weapons and skillful violence ? Who decides whether a people group has this "big idea" to begin with, and what rights it confers on them? Germany seems to have had "the big idea", which mushroomed into a horrific narcissistic superiority psychopathology that led them to target and murder Jews, and others, deeming them "inferior" and themselves "superior", and deeming themselves fit to decide which humans were worthy and which were not, hence the atrocity and murder. British and European colonialists came to America and they seemed to have this "big idea". It was big, and so unstoppable that its parent nation couldn't stop them, in the case of the Brits, or didn't want to. British colonialists eventually tossed off the mantle of Britain and their king, and moved on to create a nation that we are taught to be so very proud of, for its "liberty" and "inalienable rights", etc. Yet, in their unshakeable "big idea", they decimated the native populations, shoved them off onto "reservations", broke treaties repeatedly when it suited their "big idea", and never batted an eye. Because they were "right", these natives were just "savages" getting in the way of their "big idea", which, really, just appears to be, "I decided I'm inherently better than you, and your job is to turn over your resources and serve me". And having thrown off their king, these British colonialists had nowhere to go, either. So do they get compassion? Is that what makes someone's "big idea" right, no matter what it costs the humans around them? This "big idea" in America also went forward and brought people from an entirely different continent, under torturous circumstances, turned them into slaves first, then decreed them "less than human", because the "big idea" also made these colonialists "superior", (and they conveniently built a whole body of "science" to back them up and justify them). This allowed atrocities to continue for generations, implacably, because their "big idea" was insurmountable, and still exists in some forms to this day. These people called themselves "Christians" and "good people". Interestingly, Israeli leadership calls itself the "rightful owners of the land" based on a Torah they at best ignore, and at worst reject, yet use it to claim the land was given to them. (The Germans just claimed themselves to be "Aryan" gods, no holy book needed.) Does Torah/Bible/religion matter in any of this at all? These two people groups claim their "big idea" centers on this book/religion, both claiming that it gives them the right to take, kill, enslave, rinse and repeat; yet when you read their books, you do not see what they claim. You've got me thinking, and thinking...and I really wonder what "the big idea" truly is, and what part, if any, the Torah/Bible/religion plays in "the big idea"? Or is Torah itself "the big idea", and people groups are simply warping it and using it to justify what this "big idea" of mankind really is: "What I want is more important than the needs or rights of others around me, and when I get the power to put myself first, I am justified in all I do to keep myself first." And I can't help but see that THAT "big idea" definitely travels, showing up repeatedly throughout history and up until today, in patterns of power and its abuse. "Nothing new under the sun"? Man is good at coming up with justifications for his cruel treatment of his fellow. Is "the big idea" just another justification?
That's a very deep and intriguing concept you discuss here. "The big idea". Yes, something crucial to explore and understand. The interesting thing is, it seems the Palestinians also have "the big idea". They also have "nowhere to go" and are unshakeable in their resistance. Is the world responsible for a group's "big idea", when that idea allows the "big idea" group to relentlessly believe they have the right to take land, seize control of people's lives, imprison or kill them, or monitor and control their every move or simply enslave them? I'm not taking sides here-I'm trying to apply your concept to other people groups to see if if it travels, because if it doesn't then something is wrong. Does any people group have the potential, and right, to their own "big idea" and its execution? Or is "the big idea" only legitimate for the group with the most manpower and weapons and skillful violence ? Who decides whether a people group has this "big idea" to begin with, and what rights it confers on them? Germany seems to have had "the big idea", which mushroomed into a horrific narcissistic superiority psychopathology that led them to target and murder Jews, and others, deeming them "inferior" and themselves "superior", and deeming themselves fit to decide which humans were worthy and which were not, hence the atrocity and murder. British and European colonialists came to America and they seemed to have this "big idea". It was big, and so unstoppable that its parent nation couldn't stop them, in the case of the Brits, or didn't want to. British colonialists eventually tossed off the mantle of Britain and their king, and moved on to create a nation that we are taught to be so very proud of, for its "liberty" and "inalienable rights", etc. Yet, in their unshakeable "big idea", they decimated the native populations, shoved them off onto "reservations", broke treaties repeatedly when it suited their "big idea", and never batted an eye. Because they were "right", these natives were just "savages" getting in the way of their "big idea", which, really, just appears to be, "I decided I'm inherently better than you, and your job is to turn over your resources and serve me". And having thrown off their king, these British colonialists had nowhere to go, either. So do they get compassion? Is that what makes someone's "big idea" right, no matter what it costs the humans around them? This "big idea" in America also went forward and brought people from an entirely different continent, under torturous circumstances, turned them into slaves first, then decreed them "less than human", because the "big idea" also made these colonialists "superior", (and they conveniently built a whole body of "science" to back them up and justify them). This allowed atrocities to continue for generations, implacably, because their "big idea" was insurmountable, and still exists in some forms to this day. These people called themselves "Christians" and "good people". Interestingly, Israeli leadership calls itself the "rightful owners of the land" based on a Torah they at best ignore, and at worst reject, yet use it to claim the land was given to them. (The Germans just claimed themselves to be "Aryan" gods, no holy book needed.) Does Torah/Bible/religion matter in any of this at all? These two people groups claim their "big idea" centers on this book/religion, both claiming that it gives them the right to take, kill, enslave, rinse and repeat; yet when you read their books, you do not see what they claim. You've got me thinking, and thinking...and I really wonder what "the big idea" truly is, and what part, if any, the Torah/Bible/religion plays in "the big idea"? Or is Torah itself "the big idea", and people groups are simply warping it and using it to justify what this "big idea" of mankind really is: "What I want is more important than the needs or rights of others around me, and when I get the power to put myself first, I am justified in all I do to keep myself first." And I can't help but see that THAT "big idea" definitely travels, showing up repeatedly throughout history and up until today, in patterns of power and its abuse. "Nothing new under the sun"? Man is good at coming up with justifications for his cruel treatment of his fellow. Is "the big idea" just another justification?