Leo Gura

You should be careful. Don't just be a spam approach machine on college campus. They will kick you out. You gotta have some tact and be less direct and less obvious.

That's where you tell him, "Have you heard of the power of Satan? Come with me to Satan worship class on Thursday. There will be free pizza."

@Raze If you are gonna take that stance then I have nothing more to say to you.

1) The book is not an annoymous account. And in Islam talking about rape is life-ending for women. Any woman who gets raped brings shame to her family and custom requires she be killed to restore family honor. So of course women are not going to come forward with their real names just to please your conspiracy minded self. 2) On an average day, Gadaffi had 30 teenage girls locked up in his basement. He would rape them for a few months or years, then discard them and replace with new ones. He did this every day for over 20 years. He did this until NATO finally bombed him out of his palace.

Being a genius doesn't mean one's theory is ultimately correct. I think Wolfram is capturing some limited aspects of reality, not the full picture.

I do enjoy their takedowns of Brand, JP, Bret Weinstein. But they are not intellectually fair in their takedowns. They don't bother to actually see the perspective of the people they criticize. Someone like JP, you can't just laugh him off or mock him endlessly. He makes valid points.

I just read 5 books on Middle East history and issues.

Okay, but then you must admit that Islamic extremism is a rampant problem in the Middle East.

There's your answer.

But Libyan's were sick of his rule. They wanted to do a revolution themsleves. You couldn't keep them supressed forever. At some point a revolution would need to happen. You're assuming that a dictator can just peacefully stay in power forever. That's not how it works. The oppressed get restless.

1) It is very good evidence. You should read the book. 2) There are dozens of interviews of such girls. What more evidence do you need? Video tapes of the rapes? Don't be silly. Gadaffi raped so many girls he didn't have time to video tape them all.

Obviously Iraq is a special case and a big US mistake. But if the US did not invade Iraq, it would still be an underdeveloped hell-hole run by Saddam's psychopathic sons. And Muslims like Bin Laden would still criticize it for not being Islamic enough.

Oh yes there is. I just finished reading the biography of a 13 year old girl who Gadaffi raped and imprisoned in his basement for 7 years. She describes all 7 years in vivid detail, and hundreds of other girls who he raped just like her. Gadaffi was an absolute monster. I will add the book to my book list soon and you can read it yourself.

I agree that if the US entirely pulled out of the Middle East and Israel didn't exist, there would be very little terrorism in the Middle East. But the Middle East would then be even more backwards, poor, and warring against each other.

Now here's the funny part: Bin Laden hated Saddam, considered him a secular American stooge, and wanted to otherthrow him and replace him with a proper fundamentalist Taliban-style Islamic state. That's what ISIS was. And as for Gadaffi, he personally raped over 1000 teenage girls, who he held in his sex basement as slaves for years. There's no winning in the Middle East. You only got bad options.

I said that myself earlier. But the West interfered in many parts of the world and they ain't doing terrorism. You don't see South Korea or Philippines doing terrorism.

He actually had 5 wives in all, I think, but a few divorced him.

No one denies there was been some of that. But that is not the Middle East's chief problem. I am only speaking about the last 100 years here, not ancient history. The Middle East is backwards as hell. Beyond anything the West did.

I enjoy watching them, just for laughs. Just don't mistake it for serious analysis.

Uncle Stalin approves.

Wolfram and Hoffman are just doing very different kinds of work. I see no point in pitting them against each other. Wolfram is a genius. But don't go asking him to explain consciousness. And for that matter, don't ask Hoffman to explain consciousness because he has no idea what it is.

I am not going to keep arguing against this leftist talking point. The Middle East's lack of development is not the result of the West, it is rooted in much deeper internal problems.

In the Middle East, without a strong and Western-like government you end up with endless petty tribal conflict and extreme religious fundamentalism which leads to extreme poverty and backwardness like in Yumen, Sudan, or Afghanistan. The West isn't just a different culture, it is a more effective, more developed, more prosperous way if running people. Most people in the Middle East want the material benefits that the West affords. Most people are not Bin Laden, who was happy living with 4 wives and 11 children in a cave, feeding them bread and water.

Yes, of course. That's part of how Westernization happens. Secular leaders are much better for global business. This is capitalism at work. And don't pretend like capitalism doesn't benefit all these nations. Saudi Arabia is swimming in cash thanks to Western capitalism. Saudi Arabia would be Yemen without Western capitalism.

1) Plenty of US government & policy is influenced by Christianity. That's important not to forget. 2) Middle East countries are not secular. They are much more theocratic. There is no seperation of church and state. Their whole legal system is based on Sharia. Sharia judges and courts. Totally different from the Western legal system. The rulers and elites may skirt Sharia, but not the average masses.