Transcript [00:00] Hey everyone, [00:01] I want to share a clip with you from a [00:02] recent interview. It's Winston Marshall [00:06] interviewing Sam Harris. Now Sam Harris [00:08] is not someone I agree with on [00:10] everything. He's a committed atheist. [00:13] I'm a rabbi, so we obviously have some [00:15] fundamental differences, but he's a [00:17] serious thinker and in this clip he's [00:18] grappling with something important. The [00:21] alliance between progressive left and [00:23] Islamist movements in America. Figures [00:26] like Hasan Zoran Mamdani, Ilhan [00:29] Omar and why the mainstream left keeps [00:33] embracing them. [00:35] Harris gets close to something really [00:36] important, but he doesn't quite connect [00:39] the final dot and that's what I want to [00:40] do today because the connection he's [00:42] missing is something we've been talking [00:44] about on this channel for a long time. [00:47] So let's go ahead and watch this video. [00:48] Here it is. This is Sam Harris being [00:51] interviewed by Winston Marshall. Here we [00:53] go. On the left you have this [00:56] ideology around your power relations and [01:00] that that, you know, all power on some [01:02] level is um [01:04] is corrupt and you know, in the limit [01:07] evil and [01:09] on the left it's [01:11] just direct ties historically to Marxism [01:14] and socialism and and um [01:18] other [01:19] kind of ethics of redistribution and and [01:21] you know, revolution frankly that are [01:23] more radical and [01:26] um it the left unlike the right has [01:28] captured mainstream institutions to a [01:31] remarkable degree. So you have in in [01:33] recent months the New York Times [01:35] not only platforming but really [01:37] celebrating Hasan as though he [01:39] were the new face of progressive [01:41] politics in America. [01:44] They gave him a big glowing [01:48] profile on the style section. They gave [01:49] him his own op-ed. [01:52] Ezra Klein embraced him as quote not the [01:54] enemy. [01:55] He was on another podcast [01:59] anchored by New York Times writer [02:02] with a with a New Yorker writer and he [02:03] and the New Yorker writer were agreeing [02:05] that looting was now an [02:07] Yeah, micro looting was now an [02:10] an ethical strategy of protest. Um, just [02:12] steal from corporations that you [02:14] that you think are too rich or that you [02:16] don't like. [02:17] Um, [02:18] this is this is obviously morally [02:20] deranged [02:22] and you would not get the the analogous [02:25] right coded derangement celebrated by [02:27] any kind of mainstream Hm. [02:29] >> [clears throat] [02:29] >> uh, you know, news outlet, right? So, [02:31] um, [02:33] All right, let's pause it there. [02:35] So, [02:37] Harris is identifying something very [02:38] real. [02:40] The you know, the left has a [02:42] historically rooted ideology [02:45] built on power relations, [02:46] redistribution, revolution. [02:48] [clears throat] [02:49] And and he's right that it captured [02:51] mainstream institutions to a remarkable [02:53] degree. [02:54] But what he [snorts] But notice what he [02:55] hasn't said yet. He's describing the [02:57] ideology from the outside, like what it [02:59] looks like, what it does. He hasn't told [03:01] you why it produces the alliances that [03:04] it produces, this red-green alliance. [03:05] Why does a movement built on progressive [03:07] values, women's rights, gay rights, [03:09] secularism end up platforming and [03:11] celebrating people who are allied with [03:14] or apologetic towards Islamist movements [03:16] that are the most hostile forces on [03:18] Earth to all those things? [03:20] And that's the question that Harris is [03:22] circling. [03:23] And it's a longer interview, he circles [03:24] it throughout the interview. [03:27] But the answer to this question, as I've [03:29] been arguing, [03:30] is that both movements, both the [03:32] Islamists and the Marxists, they share [03:35] something more fundamental fundamental [03:37] than their surface [03:39] uh, kind of pragmatic values, we'll call [03:41] them. They share a framework. [03:44] So, for example, one of the big ones, [03:45] and this is this is is a subtle point [03:48] and I explain it elsewhere and I'll I'll [03:49] keep talking about it. [03:51] Neither the secular left nor Islamists [03:54] have a category [03:56] for a an objective good and evil [04:01] that human beings can determine in any [04:03] way on their own. [04:05] Meaning for the for the secular left [04:07] that the post-modern secular left, there [04:08] is no objective good and evil. And for [04:11] for Muslims that kind of also isn't [04:13] because what they in according to Islam, [04:14] it's only what Allah wants and what [04:17] Allah doesn't want. [04:19] And human being has no real moral [04:21] compass that can determine good and [04:23] evil. [04:24] So [04:26] in in the end they just [04:28] both systems ask a question, are you for [04:31] us or against us? Meaning if in Islam, [04:33] are you for Allah or against Allah? [04:34] That's the only determinant of what you [04:36] might call good and evil. And the same [04:37] thing is on the left, are you on our [04:39] side or not on our side? [04:41] Anyway, once you see that the alliance [04:43] the alliance makes sense. Let's keep [04:44] watching and then I'll I'll pause it [04:45] again. [04:47] The fact that Hasan is not [04:49] recognized to be as odious as someone [04:53] like Nick Fuentes. I mean they're [04:54] they're they're fairly interchangeable. [04:55] I mean but maybe not maybe Fuentes is [04:58] got a little more topspin that that uh [05:01] makes him a little worse. But I mean [05:03] they're both [05:04] got a [05:05] morally nuts, right? And they don't and [05:08] they absolutely you know [05:10] contrary to what [05:12] you know, the title of the original [05:13] title of Ezra Klein's um [05:15] uh op-ed said, Hasan absolutely is [05:19] the enemy of any sane American politics. [05:22] And certainly any viable future for the [05:24] Democrats in America. So [05:26] I mean the fact that he's being sain [05:28] washed by [05:29] nothing less than the New York Times is [05:31] a sign of how fully the rot has spread. [05:34] And that's that's much more than I mean [05:35] Trump doesn't help, but [05:37] it's a much deeper problem than Trump. [05:38] But it's not entirely clear to me that [05:41] that's what's going on at the moment. If [05:42] you see for example, Obama two weeks ago [05:45] did a photo shoot with Mamdani. Mamdani [05:48] to me seems pretty radically left. Um [05:51] Obama very happy to be side by side with [05:54] him and [05:55] likewise the likes of Ilhan Omar and the [05:59] squad, these are not people who are [06:01] pushed aside by mainstream Democrats or [06:04] or as far as I've interpreted it. Do you [06:06] think I'm wrong? Do you No, no. [06:09] So that [06:10] the real [06:11] um error there is that the left [06:17] has been successfully manipulated by [06:19] Islamists and apologists for Islamists [06:22] and is and I mean it's in certain cases [06:24] this this is a knowing alliance and in [06:26] certain cases just frank manipulation [06:28] and people on the left are morally [06:29] confused. [06:31] Okay, let's pause it there again. [06:34] So [06:36] Harris makes an important distinction [06:38] here that in some cases it's a knowing [06:39] alliance and in some cases it's [06:41] manipulation. He thinks that and [06:42] Mamdani know exactly what they're doing. [06:45] That others on the left are morally [06:46] confused. Remember [06:48] and Mamdani are both Muslims and [06:51] leftist socialists. [06:53] So I think Harris is right as far as it [06:54] goes, but I want to push it further [06:56] because Harris is still treating this as [06:58] primarily a political phenomenon, a [07:00] strategic alliance [07:02] between groups that have found common [07:03] cause against a common enemy and that's [07:05] all true [07:07] but it's not the deepest truth. [07:10] You see the deepest truth of this [07:11] relationship is theological or or more [07:14] precisely you could call it [07:15] anti-theological or [07:17] philosophical. [07:20] Both Marxist progressive ideology and [07:22] Islamist political ideology [07:24] are structured around the rejection of [07:26] what I call biblical civilization, the [07:29] civilization that says human beings [07:31] have inherent dignity, that individual [07:34] has inherent dignity, that good and evil [07:36] are real and objective. [07:39] That power is accountable to a more to a [07:41] moral standard above itself. [07:44] Marxism rejects that because it's [07:46] because it's atheist. There's no [07:47] transcendent moral standard if you're a [07:49] Marxist. There there is only power. [07:53] Islamism rejects it because it insists [07:55] that the only legitimate authority is [07:57] Allah. [07:59] And human beings have no standing to [08:01] assess [08:04] the values of of of a particular act or [08:07] of a particular idea. [08:09] Uh they've no ability to make law or [08:10] hold power accountable [08:12] on their own term, on human terms. [08:16] So they end up in the same place. So [08:18] when Mamdani as a Democratic Socialists [08:21] of America [08:22] socialist and and Islamist aligned [08:26] organizations like CAIR [08:30] when they find themselves on the same [08:31] side, it's not just strategy. It's that [08:33] they're both operating in frameworks [08:35] that are structurally [08:36] hostile to the same thing, which is the [08:40] concept of [08:42] of human liberty and objective morality [08:44] and and biblical Western civilization. [08:46] Meaning they're both hostile to those [08:48] same concepts. [08:50] They don't need to agree on They don't [08:52] need to agree on the theology, but they [08:54] agree on the enemy. And they also have a [08:56] similar [08:57] framework. They have a similar structure [08:59] for how they see the world and how they [09:00] see power. And [09:02] And And therefore they're comfortable [09:03] with each other. That's the point that [09:05] I've been making. [09:07] Oh, you know what? Let's continue the [09:07] clip. Let's go a little further here. [09:11] Um [09:12] I'm not you know, I don't think someone [09:13] like Hasan is confused. I think he [09:15] knows exactly what sort of alliance he [09:17] has. And And I think that's true of [09:18] Mamdani, too. [09:19] Um Do you think Mamdani is an Islamist? [09:22] Yeah, I mean, well, he's [09:24] he is a certainly an apologist for [09:27] Islamists, right? He's He's just not The [09:29] fact that he's um [09:31] you know, he can't quite figure out [09:33] what's wrong with the phrase globalized [09:36] intifada. And the that the worst he'll [09:37] say of it is that he doesn't use that [09:39] language nor does he encourage it but [09:41] he's not going [clears throat] to you [09:42] know condemn it. [09:44] >> [snorts] [09:44] >> Um [09:45] and then he's just so fixated on [09:48] the Middle East, right? He's he's he's [09:50] mayor of New York. Mhm. And his main his [09:52] main fixation is Israel and Palestine [09:54] and Gaza etc. [09:56] Um the first one of the first things he [09:58] did was change the definition of [10:00] anti-Semitism. Uh you know that that [10:03] um Eric Adams had uh [10:06] uh [10:07] uh kind of ram that through as a as some [10:09] kind of executive order at the the [10:11] mayoral level and I'm done he changed [10:13] it. Now I don't necessarily [10:14] uh I don't necessarily agree with the [10:16] the definition of of anti-Semitism that [10:18] is being promulgated by uh Deborah [10:21] Lipstadt and and other people who are um [10:24] um I forgot the name of it but it's it's [10:25] a very expansive conception of what it [10:29] means to be anti-Semitic and [10:30] >> Which shuts down conversation. [10:31] >> seems to shut down at least to my eyes [10:34] some conversation about um what Israel's [10:37] doing as a nation and you're just going [10:38] to criticize Israeli politics and [10:41] Okay, this isn't exactly fair just as a [10:42] side point. He's talking about the [10:45] um [10:46] the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism and [10:49] in it it says that [10:51] um [10:52] that criticizing Israel [10:54] uh [10:55] basically having a double standard where [10:57] you where where one criticizes Israel [10:59] for things that they would they don't [11:00] criticize other nations about. They hold [11:03] them to a different standard that that's [11:04] anti-Semitism and it's been widely [11:06] misinterpreted as trying to silence [11:08] criticism of Israel which it's not. Um [11:11] whatever that's a side point. Let's go [11:12] on. etc. Um so I I I I agree that [11:15] there's something to debate there and [11:18] just how we should bound you know uh you [11:20] know the Overton window on that topic. [11:23] But uh the fact that Mamdani is just you [11:26] know he's a [11:27] proud you know DSA member you know [11:30] Democratic Socialists of America. They [11:32] were out on October 8th uh supporting [11:34] Hamas, right? I mean, like how do [11:36] there's no way you that should be [11:37] possible. And there's no way that anyone [11:39] who's got that level of callousness and [11:42] confusion if confused I mean confusion [11:44] being charitable. Um [11:47] should be running a major American city, [11:49] right? Much less being you know, the [11:51] darling, you know, the poster boy for [11:53] the future of Democratic politics. So, [11:55] it's yes, he knows exactly how fully the [11:59] Muslim Brotherhood through the Council [12:01] of American Islamic Relations CAIR in in [12:04] America has gamed [12:06] you know, our politics. Uh I mean, [12:09] there's something very sinister about [12:10] the way Islamists have spread their [12:12] ideology through the West and targeted [12:15] um [12:16] liberals, right? I mean, the people [12:18] people whose primary the center of of [12:21] ethical gravity for them is [12:23] to never be quote racist, right? As [12:25] though race tracked any kind of [12:27] criticism of Islam, which of course it [12:28] doesn't. But, that's the notion. It's [12:30] like, okay, to to to criticize Islam is [12:32] to be racist. You know, that's the the [12:34] first piece of confusion. [12:37] Um and Islamophobia as a meme is used to [12:40] silence any criticism of the doctrine of [12:43] Islam [12:44] uh as um [12:46] indistinguishable from just bigotry [12:48] against Muslims as people, right? And [12:49] so, [12:51] Okay, so this I think is the sharpest [12:52] thing that Harris says in this clip. [12:55] The Islamophobia meme is a precision [12:58] instrument, right? It collapses the [13:00] distinction [13:01] between criticizing a doctrine [13:05] and being bigoted against a people, [13:07] right? You know, Islamophobia it makes [13:09] you racist. It makes you bigoted. It's [13:10] it's an ideology. It's a set of ideas. [13:15] And [13:16] the concept of Islamophobia [13:19] says that you can't criticize a set of [13:21] ideas. And why does that Why is that [13:22] bigotry, right? That's That's a That's a [13:24] key point that Harris makes and he's [13:25] made it many times. [13:27] Now, once you accept that collapse, that [13:28] you that equation of criticizing an a [13:31] set of ideas with criticizing a people, [13:34] any serious analysis of Islamist [13:36] political ideology becomes off-limits [13:38] because you can't criticize this [13:39] religion. You can't criticize people's [13:41] faith. [13:42] Which is exactly what the concept of [13:44] Islamophobia is designed to do. This is [13:46] a great point by Harris here. [13:48] But here's what I want to add to it. [13:51] Harris frames this as manipulation, [13:53] right? The smart Islamist operators [13:55] exploiting the left's fear of being [13:57] called racist. And yes, that's true. [13:59] That's happening. That is That is there. [14:03] But it works The reason it works is [14:05] because of something deeper than just [14:07] naivete by the left. The left aren't [14:09] just useful idiots. [14:11] It works because the progressive left [14:12] has already accepted a framework [14:15] in which the only moral categories [14:18] are oppressor and oppressed. [14:21] And in that framework, Muslims as a [14:23] minority in Western societies, [14:26] are by definition oppressed. [14:28] And once you're the oppressed, [14:30] by definition, your cause is legitimate. [14:34] Cuz that's the whole moral framework. [14:37] And And then your allies are legitimate. [14:40] And criticizing your ideology is [14:42] indistinguishable from attacking you as [14:44] a people. [14:48] So, that's not necessarily just [14:50] manipulation. [14:52] Um [14:53] it's what happens when you replace [14:54] objective good and evil with [14:57] with power [14:59] as the as the measure. Oppress oppressor [15:01] versus oppressed. And [15:03] and uh and how does how do things how [15:05] does uh how does what this person says [15:07] make me feel? [15:09] Think about the honor culture in Islam. [15:11] And the political correctness is what we [15:13] used to call it. That culture of [15:15] anything that's offensive is wrong. It's [15:17] the it's it's the same construct. [15:20] Right? You lose the ability to say [15:23] that two things can be true at once, [15:25] that there there can be people who are [15:27] oppressed, who are minority, and their [15:30] ideology is wrong. [15:32] Right, that framework doesn't have [15:34] the framework of the left doesn't have [15:36] room for both of those statements [15:38] simultaneously. [15:40] By being oppressed, your ideology is [15:43] then protected by the fact that you're [15:44] oppressed in their in their in their [15:47] world view. I hope that made sense. [15:49] So, the manipulation works because the [15:50] framework [15:52] it fits the framework. It's not just [15:55] devious manipulation. It fits the [15:57] framework of leftist thinking. [15:59] And that's what Harris is missing. It's [16:00] not just that bad actors are exploiting [16:02] good people's confusion. That's how he [16:04] puts it. It's that the ideology that [16:06] those good people have adopted has no [16:09] defense against this kind of [16:12] exploitation that's built into it. Let's [16:15] continue a little bit more and then [16:16] we'll we'll wrap up. [16:17] >> piece of confusion that's being [16:18] leveraged. And Mamdani is someone who [16:21] knows enough about this, right? I mean, [16:23] both his parents are just up to their [16:25] eyeballs in this kind of discourse. Uh [16:28] so, he grew up with this. [16:29] Um he knows that he's, you know, not [16:33] saying the quiet part out loud or [16:35] struggling not to say it out loud, and [16:36] he knows [16:38] um just how um [16:41] calculated all of this is to confuse [16:43] people about really what what is in fact [16:47] spreading theocracy. If you take [16:51] Okay, we'll stop it there. We'll leave [16:53] it we'll leave it there. [16:55] Um [16:58] So, what's the takeaway of all this? [17:00] So, Sam Harris is one of the clearest [17:02] thinkers engaging with this problem. [17:05] And he's right about almost everything [17:06] he says here. Like I said, the alliance [17:08] is real, some of it is knowing, some of [17:09] it's manipulation. The Islamophobia meme [17:13] is a silencing tool. That's all true. [17:16] And figures like Mamdani and Hassan [17:18] [clears throat] and these guys, [17:19] they're not confused. They know exactly [17:21] what they're doing. But the explanation [17:23] he's missing is this. [17:25] This is why I made this video. [17:27] The red-green alliance, the alliance [17:28] between the radical left and the [17:30] Islamist movements, is not primarily [17:32] It's not primarily a political [17:34] convenience. [17:36] It's the natural convergence of two [17:39] worldviews that share a common enemy and [17:42] a common way of thinking about the [17:43] world. [17:45] The common enemy is biblical [17:46] civilization. [17:48] The civilization built on the idea that [17:50] human beings have inherent dignity, that [17:52] good and evil are real, that power is [17:54] accountable to a moral standard above [17:56] itself, [17:59] that no earthly authority and no divine [18:02] authority claiming earthly power owns [18:04] you, [18:06] that you don't have virtue [18:09] You're not assumed to be virtuous by [18:13] by the fact that that someone is [18:14] oppressing you. You can still be evil. [18:18] So, both Marxism and political Islam are [18:20] structured around the rejection [18:23] of those ideas. [18:26] From opposite directions, using [18:27] completely different language, with [18:29] completely different ultimate goals, [18:32] but they're fighting the same thing. [18:35] And that's why the alliance, this [18:36] red-green alliance, keeps forming [18:37] wherever you look. [18:40] And it it goes all the way back. There [18:41] was you know, the Soviets and and [18:45] uh Yasser Arafat [18:47] and the Muslim Brotherhood actors. I [18:49] mean, these guys have been in bed with [18:50] each other all the time. [18:54] The [18:55] the socialist Marxist left [18:58] and the Islamist. [19:00] That's why this alliance formed so [19:01] easily right after October 7th, within [19:03] hours [19:05] of the massacre. [19:07] That's why it shows up in New York City [19:09] politics in the pages of the New York [19:10] Times, on university campuses across the [19:13] Western world. That's why it That's why [19:14] it spread so easily [19:17] because it's not a conspiracy. It's not [19:18] just It's not It's not this carefully [19:21] orchestrated, [19:22] you know, op that's always being run in [19:24] all these Western cities. It works and [19:27] it spreads so quickly because it's [19:29] actually a convergence of two worldviews [19:31] that fit well together. [19:34] And understanding the difference [19:36] between [19:38] between understanding this fact, [19:41] understanding Well, not fact, this [19:42] analysis. Understanding the the fact [19:45] that it's a It's a convergence of [19:48] of overlapping ideologies and not just a [19:50] marriage of convenience, [19:53] it helps us respond more intelligently. [19:57] Um [20:00] That's what I wanted to share in this [20:01] video. [20:02] Uh please drop me a comment. I'm not [20:04] sure I explain things as well as I as I [20:06] want to. I'm trying to tease these ideas [20:08] out. [20:09] I'm starting to write about them a [20:10] little bit more. [20:11] Uh I think this is really important to [20:13] kind of look under the hood, look more [20:16] closely at this alliance between the [20:18] left and and and Islam, [20:21] you know, to really fully understand it [20:23] at a deeper level. [20:24] So, thanks for watching. Please like, [20:26] share, subscribe, do all that great [20:27] stuff. Tell people about what we're [20:28] doing on this channel. Please spread the [20:30] word. You know, word of mouth is the [20:31] only real way things is that things [20:33] spread. [20:34] And I'm very grateful to everyone who [20:36] has who has spread [20:38] uh everything that we're doing on this [20:39] channel. Make sure that you're [20:40] subscribed and that you're that you're [20:42] subscribed to Israel 365 News cuz [20:44] there's a lot of content going up there [20:45] as well, [20:46] a lot of my content. [20:48] And make sure that you um that you watch [20:50] Shoulder to Shoulder. The Shoulder to [20:51] Shoulder podcast is now on this channel, [20:53] but it's also on all the audio [20:55] platforms. You can find it on Spotify [20:56] and Stitcher and and iTunes and all the [20:59] rest. Make sure you follow that podcast. [21:02] And uh and make sure you subscribe to [21:04] the newsletters at Israel 365 Action and [21:06] Israel 365 News. You'll find a link in [21:08] the description of this video. [21:11] And [clears throat] [21:12] uh yeah, sorry about that. And we will [21:13] we'll see you next time. We'll see you [21:15] on the next episode. [21:17] Um [21:18] God bless.
