SkippyNLNov 17, 2023
George Takei  🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽
Young people fall for online garbage less than we older folks do. But just in case, if some one wants you to read Osama Bin Laden’s “Letter to America,” and you think it’s cool or okay in any way, please put the social medias down, go outside and breathe, and think about your life and your choices more wisely.
Nov 17, 2023 at 6:26pmWeb
Show threadPhil M0OFXNov 17, 2023
@georgetakei I think if that popped up on my screen I would be looking at who posted it. If they were a friend I'd probably ask if they were feeling quite alright, if not I'd block and walk away.
I wouldn't want to read that document, ever.
Show threadVayl Larkin (they/them)Nov 17, 2023

@georgetakei We have a real problem with Binary Thinking. Either you are always right and good, or you are always wrong and evil.

Sometimes those harming us Can see what's wrong with us clearer than we can, just like We Can With Them. Outsider insight is Easy. We should Learn, but not emulate.

While it appears this crisis was somewhat inflated, it is sad that we still haven't, as a species, managed admit our flaws And our strengths, without using them as weapons.

Show threadRodneyPetersonTalentAgencyNov 17, 2023

@georgetakei

I don’t know if that’s true. Young people are easily influenced by shiny bright objects. Bullshit like NFTs, cyber currency, scam type careers, and people who have lots of wealth and power but are actually scum like Donald Trump and Elon Musk are also bright shiny objects.

Show threadThat_Damn_FrankNov 17, 2023

@georgetakei

Read... that...?

All things considered, I'd rather be raking leaves...

Show threadPeachMcDNov 17, 2023

@georgetakei

People need to read Franz Fanon, not bin Laden

Fanon understood the reasons using terrorism as a tactic in asymmetrical warfare was effective

That doesn't excuse terrorists - I'm a #ChristianPacifist - but please believe me, bin Laden, #Hamas, & #Netanyahu ALL have read Fanon & understand the playbook

Our leaders & media NEED to make ppl aware of the theory behind these actions

Otherwise, we're all doing EXACTLY what the terrorists (& arms merchants) want us to do

Show threadgluttoNov 17, 2023
@georgetakei
I would almost recommend the youth of today read up about the speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", by Nikita Khrushchev. At the very least read about what happened and how it was allowed from a non-Soviet or non-Russian source.
Show threadmyrmepropagandistNov 18, 2023

@georgetakei

This is a fake moral panic. (with real jerks getting in on it to make it seem more real.)

Teens are not and did not.

(be very wary of stories that suggest that large numbers of young people have suddenly lost their minds... anymore so than the base rate among all age groups that have.)

Show threadapophisNov 18, 2023
@futurebird @georgetakei when i was a teenager we had a full unabridged translation of Mein Kampf in the school library and nobody thought anything of it

the *reason why* OBL's letter is going viral now is that it and anything like it have been suppressed and hidden from young Americans for so long that the few real points amidst the Jew-hating fundamentalist stuff end up hitting people unexpectedly like a sudden deep revelation of unspeakable glorious truth

after 9/11 that letter should have been *required reading* for high schoolers
Show threadapophisNov 18, 2023
@futurebird @georgetakei it's the same old story that's happened all my life

> some bad person does something bad
> the authorities refuse to let you see anything from that person's point of view
> nobody's allowed to talk about that person except to say how bad they are
> one day you suddenly chance upon that bad person's own words
> the bad person turns out not to be a cartoon monster but actually has a point in there somewhere
> you've been lied to all your life about this guy
> you're sent on a big reading binge to try to find out more about the bad guy's POV
> the authorities put on a surprised pikachu face
Show threadderptronNov 19, 2023

@georgetakei It's not what goes in the mouth which defiles a man, but what comes out.

It's perfectly OK, and maybe even prudent, to read the works of humanity's enemies. When I was in college a section of Mein Kamph was in a set of essays we could select from to rebut. I felt like I had sandbagged when I selected it and tore it apart. If you are so scared of it that you have to consider everyone who looks immoral--maybe the problem is actually you.