The exact part that boggles me is this principle: I will take an action—let's use Hamas as an example—that I know will result in the deaths of thousands, even tens of thousands, of my own people, literally my family. And I am willing to sacrifice them so that my organization becomes stronger in the name of God.
The exact part that boggles me is this principle: I will take an action—let's use Hamas as an example—that I know will result in the deaths of thousands, even tens of thousands, of my own people, literally my family. And I am willing to sacrifice them so that my organization becomes stronger in the name of God.
It’s one thing for individuals to be brainwashed into doing irrational or destructive things—that’s not new. What I can’t wrap my head around is how the broader society seems to accept this. They don’t revolt or push back against leaders who are essentially treating them as expendable pawns. The fact that this dynamic doesn’t lead to mass rejection, anger, or rebellion against those responsible is genuinely weird to me.
We are all Homo sapiens. A part of our brain, often referred to as the "lizard brain" (the basal part of our brain), is responsible for our most primal instincts, like survival, self-preservation, and avoiding harm. This is supposed to act as a natural safeguard against behaviors that would jeopardize our own lives or the lives of those we care about. Yet here, that self-preservation instinct seems completely overridden by ideological brainwashing.
And that’s what’s so weird to me—so freaking weird. It’s as if the fundamental drive to stay alive has been suppressed or redirected toward something abstract, like martyrdom or collective sacrifice, and I just can’t make sense of how that happens on such a large scale.
The exact part that boggles me is this principle: I will take an action—let's use Hamas as an example—that I know will result in the deaths of thousands, even tens of thousands, of my own people, literally my family. And I am willing to sacrifice them so that my organization becomes stronger in the name of God.
It’s one thing for individuals to be brainwashed into doing irrational or destructive things—that’s not new. What I can’t wrap my head around is how the broader society seems to accept this. They don’t revolt or push back against leaders who are essentially treating them as expendable pawns. The fact that this dynamic doesn’t lead to mass rejection, anger, or rebellion against those responsible is genuinely weird to me.
We are all Homo sapiens. A part of our brain, often referred to as the "lizard brain" (the basal part of our brain), is responsible for our most primal instincts, like survival, self-preservation, and avoiding harm. This is supposed to act as a natural safeguard against behaviors that would jeopardize our own lives or the lives of those we care about. Yet here, that self-preservation instinct seems completely overridden by ideological brainwashing.
And that’s what’s so weird to me—so freaking weird. It’s as if the fundamental drive to stay alive has been suppressed or redirected toward something abstract, like martyrdom or collective sacrifice, and I just can’t make sense of how that happens on such a large scale.