Do you pass the Israel Test?
The test is simple: how do you view what Objectivists would call "Producers"?
SOURCE URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfN2IvnIA4M#t=10
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Provided the capital? By creating it from nothing with little capital of their own.
While I admire producers who achieve things using their own abilities I don't admire this whitewashed advertisment that not only ignores but actually praises a group that uses guilt, religious manipulation, and bribery of government 'public servants' to gain advantage.
How would the ingenious producers in Israel have fared without funding from the US government, donations from hundreds of thousands of American Jews (made to feel guilty by propaganda), and manipulation of money and credit by banksters?
While I applaud ingenuity and individual brilliance, I despise unfair advantages handed out by the state that steal from some to benefit others.
Are some Jews brilliant? Yes, praise them, but don't belittle the true achievements with this propaganda.
Please provide some backup, as that is a fairly inflammatory claim.
I've worked with a couple of tech organizations (one makes high-capacity digital presses for HP, the other a programming environment) based in Tel Aviv, and they were sharp people. They built their companies from the ground up and were offering excellent products and services to customers all around the globe. Those who chose to invest in them gained back a healthy return.
And I would point out that the US bankrolls all kinds of governments and organizations around the world. Look what that has gotten countries in Africa like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Eritrea and others. We give millions in food aid to North Korea every year. We give millions to the Palestinians, who use it to wage war against the Israelis. We give billions to the UN, and what do we get from that?
At least with the money going to the Israelis, it isn't being utterly wasted.
But honestly, perhaps you have lots more information than I do (about the banksters for instance), you've lived around the world, I find it curious that you're worked up about this video over groups and religions whose goals are to destroy jews and christians. Once Hamas is crushed, Al Q is right behind them, and then the Muslim Brotherhood, then Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Qtar...on and on....
I would also ask this: what other point of view would you present, and how would you keep it strictly free from bias and propaganda yourself?
"Propaganda is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. Propaganda can be used as a form of ideological or commercial warfare."
also:
"Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist."
The purpose of the video IS deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response, in my opinion.
Propaganda should contain elements of truth in it to be convincing.
In my opinion this video is political propaganda.
Whether you know it or not, you have actually answered The Israel Test.
If you don't agree you "fail" the test.
It isn't a test at all; it's an opinion.
Gilder did not have to choose Israel as an example of productivity or Arabs as a supposed example of envy, there are other examples to prove his supposed point. But that wasn't his real point.
Again, I respect people for their genius and hard work regardless of their religion, race, or gender.
I resent those who attempt to manipulate whether by commission or omission.
I am disgusted by those who manipulate the system of government to obtain advantages over competitors.
Blarman, with all due respect, your concluding comment is nothing but an insult with no rational basis whatsoever. C'mon, disagree politely.
The example given was to use the treatment of the Israelis in such a context. Evidence was cited to compare and contrast what had been done by two constituent peoples with the same plot of land yet different ideologies to establish not only that success (by the Israelis) had been achieved, but then to use this as a gauge for application of the test as an example of proof of validity.
You chose not to question the premise of the test but the example - a completely valid debating technique. However, you failed to follow up with any kind of evidence to support your assertion that the example is flawed. Without such, your refutation of the example falls significantly short of sufficient support for your position.
In your first post, you made very specific and inflammatory accusations regarding the Israeli people. When I followed up asking what evidence you had for your claims, you diverged into claiming that the whole video was propaganda and prima faciae denied the premises of the video itself - again, citing nothing more than your opinion. You are welcome to your opinion, but please recognize that when you initiate such a conversation with openly hostile or inflammatory statements made without follow-up evidence, you will be challenged to either provide such evidence or retract your statements. If you can not back them up, those statement become ad hominem attacks - the very test posited in the video.