The Conformist — From Japan-ism to Islam-ism (an Ex-Buddhist Perspective)

Source: <archive.org>

Date: 09 November 2017

Kanadajin3 is a Canadian vlogger who recently made the transition from (white, Canadian) pro-Japanese conformist to (white, Canadian) Muslim conformist. This video explores some of the personal, philosophical and practical issues.

The film mentioned (by Woody Allen) is titled, “Zelig”. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086637/

Kanadajin3: I did not like the way that I was living my life and I did not like the path that I had went down. I made lots of choices in my life and they led me to get my heart broken and just terrible things happening to me.

IntrovertedSmiles: Kanadajin3 has become Muslim. She's famous. YouTuber and I think a lot of people will, you know, Leech off these views. She got over like 300,000 views on it. The main thing I want to say is that it's actually good that people like this go on camera and say why they converted to Islam because years ago when the climate was a little bit rougher where it was like near the September 11th. And the Iraq war prime type of era, it was sort of a mystery why a Westerner would convert to Islam.

Kanadajin3: I didn't like. The future that was going to come over me if I did not make a change. It was a few days that I felt a little bit down and I went to the bookstore and I went and bought this Quran. I just started to read from front to continuing forward and I just felt like it was true. In the Quran there's a lot of stuff that's backed by science and in the beginning when I decided, OK, I'm going to be Muslim, I was a little bit worried because, you know, you have to learn how to pray.

IntrovertedSmiles: And she mentions in this video that it's not a phase that she's going through, and I hate to break the sad news. It's it is a phase and we have to face reality when it comes to these things. People go through so many phases. It's sort of like saying. I feel bad for not being Mexican, so I'm gonna wear sombrero and sing la cucaracha and everything and blended with my Mexican brothers and sisters. And meanwhile the Mexican American is just like standing there. You know, staring at you like you're an idiot.

Kanadajin3: And I know there will be people, non-Muslims, who will judge me and sadly I know there will be Muslims who also judge me and I've been warned by my friends that. I will be. Judged by other Muslim people and it is kind of hurtful. And sad that they. They would judge one of their brothers or sisters.

IntrovertedSmiles: I give her credit. She's not afraid to go on camera and smoke hookah and do what she wants and not wear the hijab and some of her videos. Those and that, and that's exactly what the Muslim world needs to see more often, they need to see the the convert like doing all this crazy stuff and saying, you know, don't judge me, that kind of thing. And we just need to stand by on the sidelines and just be like, OK, do your thing. So I think it's great. That we have this like public. Fear of people like giving not so intellectual reasons of why converting to their religion.

Kanadajin3: I wasted a lot of time. The most valuable thing we have is time because you can't take it back. You can plan to do stuff in the future, but you cannot unplanned what you have already done. And I'm 27 now and I feel like I have spent a lot of time. Just going around in circles, I did spend a lot of time basically going in circles.

Eisel Mazard: I describe myself as a nihilist, but the study of religion has been a huge part of my life. The study of ideology and political ideology has been a huge part of my life. There was a time when I really did, when I really did convert to Buddhism. Orthodox terabit of Buddhism. And when I had to go through a process of explaining to people in my life what that religion meant and what it meant to me and what I described myself as being a Buddhist and not merely being a scholar of Buddhism, not merely studying Buddhism from the other side, you know how I did and didn't relate to. Oppressive aspects of the religion, supernatural aspects of the religion. What have you as a white Western person, you know, born, raised and educated in Canada. Obviously I couldn't relate to terabit of Buddhism the same way as a rice farmer who grew up in rural Myanmar, literally believing in ghosts. You know, literally like, you know, burning incense and making religious offerings to ghosts or literally believing. In astrology and the position of the stars determining their fate, there are all kinds of supernatural beliefs that are ruled out with Buddhism, or indeed you know. Obviously I I wasn't the same as someone who grew up with a belief in the actual omniscience or omnipotence of the Buddha, or of any of the Buddhist gods. Because Buddhism is a polytheistic religion. Indra and what have you. So there was a lot to negotiate there. And there's definitely a level on which I can sympathize with Kanadajin3's position, even though it is totally unsympathetic and indeed laughable the first time we watched this video together. Full disclosure, we laughed our asses off like we laughed for like, 45 minutes because it was so ridiculous we laughed at her own rationale for why she converted to Islam, her explanation about just the shape of Saudi Arabia as a country on the map, we laughed at her use of the English language, it's mind blowing. You know she.

Melissa: She was born and raised in Canada, yet she says things like from a kid, Saudi Arabia was my favorite country

Eisel: Just her sentence structure, yeah. Saudi Arabia was her favorite country from a kid. I mean, it's such strange use of the English language number. There were so many things that just made us burst out laughing again and again. Her rationale for her faith, and I think also, you know, the gap between that rationale, the excuses she's making and what what are pretty plainly the the underlying. Now, now we both watched a couple of Woody Allen movies. Lately. I I'd like to make a YouTube video talking about Woody Allen movies, actually, because that's also kind of interesting, though I'm not. I'm not a Woody Allen fan, by the way, was kind of understand and, you know, one of them was Zelig. So Woody Allen has this movie called Zelig. And Zelig really deals with the mentality of. The conformist? And. So so you. Open anytime, baby. But I mean, from my perspective, somebody like Kanadajin3 is somebody who wants to be exceptional without earning that exception. And when she first went to Japan as a young white woman, a high school dropout, someone with no career and no ambitions and no. Future. Ahead of her, she went from being a non descript, somewhat ugly, presumably learning disabled, white Canadian young woman to suddenly being the center of attention to suddenly having a kind of unearned fame in Japan, being treated like a celebrity when she went to a nightclub. All the attention was on her being treated as beautiful and desirable and exotic. She went to Japan and she simultaneously became an ultra conformist. She became extremely pro Japanese, really a Japanese nationalist, and I've met and spoke with other white people who become white Japanese nationalists. It's bizarre, but yet again, it's not hard to imagine why she became an ultra conformist. But her form of conformism, like Zelig was not intended to become an anonymous member of the crowd. On the contrary, by conforming she at the same time became an exception, got a kind kinds of undeserved, positive attention, undeserved, unearned fame. You know, she was getting all kinds of. That that, that's all there is to say about it. Positive, flattering attention. And you know, in terms of her work history, she has worked as a waitress. She has worked as a I guess what you're trying to call an entertainment worker where you you dress up elaborate hair and makeup and stand around serving drinks in a specialized kind of bar and lighting people cigarettes. What have you? I'm not hating on her for that. Then you know by her own account, her life in the past, before she converted to Islam, she spent a lot of time in nightclubs and discos and bars. And as she says, having her heart broken and you know, I'm not going to speculate on what that means, but to some extent, we all know what having a heart broken means. And now this has led up to her making these sudden. I think rash decision to to convert to.

Melissa: Purchase a Quran and read it from start continuing on.

Eisel: She she did. Not from cover to cover. She did not read it from cover to cover. She did not read it from start it. She read from the the front cover to continuing on and then decided to convert to Islam because as she says, she found things in the Quran that were confirmed by. But yeah, I think this is another Zelig, like case of ultra conformism. At the same time, making you an ultra exception. I mean, you know, once that's normalized for you, once you're once you've gotten used to being the white girl at the nightclub in Japan. Once the thrill is gone from that once it's worn off. Well, now being the white girl in hijab. In Japan now, I mean now she's the special white girl at the mosque now. I mean it's it's the same pattern. You know, she's the ultra conformist and she doesn't just become invisibly a low key Muslim. She doesn't become a liberal, watered down Muslim. She goes all out the same way. She didn't just become a normal.

Melissa: Right.

Eisel: You know immigrants to Japan, she had to do, you know, go to this extreme. Where she's, you know, wrapping herself in the Japanese flag, becoming kind of a, you know, Japanese nationalist, same way she's she's really wrapping herself in Islam. And the more she conforms also, the more she stands out. She stands out within Islam. She stands out within Japanese society, etcetera, etcetera. And she gets a certain kind of. Undeserved fame, undeserved notoriety, unearned attention. I think that's that's what she's been after all. So yeah, I hope you get the impression. I don't say my heart, but I did have one really memorable conversation with Candida Jensen via Facebook messages, and I wrote to her because of her series of videos that were new at that time. She made videos dealing with immigration law, immigration policy, and national identity in Japan. And at the University of Victoria, I just formally researched and wrote essays on that exact topic, including I looked at the specific laws. And I have never been more convinced that someone I was talking to was learning disabled and or literally ********. I mean, I I think she is someone who has very serious mental impairment, very serious problems and compared that I think one of the saddest things about religion you can even see this about. Prism religion prays on the weak religion, prays on people who want to believe and need to believe. I mean, you can see it within a Christian Church. You can see it within Catholicism within, you know, process what have you. But you know. If you think.

Melissa: Not so bad for making fun of her grandma.

Eisel: Yeah. Well, anyway, she's never announced she doesn't identify as as mentally ********, but sure, I've I've, you know, just from my interaction with believe. I've never been more convinced the person I was talking to was a really serious mental disability or combination of learning disabilities and mental impairment or what have you.

Melissa: Yeah, but I agree. You know, religion prays on the weak.

Eisel: Right. But I mean it, it's really sad. Now. Buddhism is a relatively harmless religion because it's against violence, which is very fundamental. Buddhism is in principle even against hurting a fly or a mosquito, by the way. But you know, when you, whenever you look at Islam or Christianity, you'll meet people. Some of them are weak because they're ex Alcoholics, you know, and they convert for that reason and they're trying to quit alcohol trying to quit the bottle. Some of them are weak because as Canadian since she had her heart broken and that's the realist part of that video, is where she says she turned to Islam because she had her heart broken. She decided her life was sorted. Thing. I can use that word sorted. And she wanted to turn over, and she wanted to have a morally positive new. After her life, that's real. You know, I totally relate to that. But also it is really sad to see that religion converts and appeals to and manipulates and controls people who are mentally and intellectually weak. They're not recruiting the brightest and the boldest. You know, they're very often recruiting those who, you know, have nowhere else to go and. And who lack the ability to scrutinize the scientific claims. The historical claims, even the ethical and moral claims of these religions that are very deeply flawed. I mean, you know, very simple, you you've but I mean, like the role of slavery within the Bible without even getting into the Quran. You know, obviously within the Quran we have things well. Again, we have slavery and sex slavery and jihad there. All kinds of issues, but even if you just stick with with very simple, simple issues like the status of slavery within the Old Testament, the new New Testament is what it is. So what do we have? Do we have a conclusion?

Melissa: I only know about her because you know, you showed me her YouTube channel and we watched the video about her converting to Islam. I was just going based off that video. It just seems like she like, as you say, she really wants to conform to these extremes. And it is kind of laughable when you're watching from a distance, but you know for her it's her life and you know I, you know, I feel bad for laughing now. That would be against this if if she were converting to give Catholicism, you know.

Eisel: It's a struggle, yeah. Yeah, I want to say with all these sympathy, when I was involved with Buddhism, I felt that my status as a Buddhist and the Buddhist religion would never change precisely because it wasn't based on faith. That's very different from Catholicism, very different from Judaism or Islam, right? It was like, well, here I am involved in this religion. And all I really need to believe is that these ancient texts. Are worth interpreting and worth discussing that this philosophy is worth talking about in the same sense that the complete works of William Shakespeare are worth talking about, or in the same sense that Aristotle, Socrates, Plato are worth talking about, and that is a strength Buddhism has over other religions to be a Buddhist, you do not have to believe in Indra. You do not have to have to believe there was any literal truth to a dialogue that's written between the Buddha and Andrew. You don't believe I think supernatural. You just have to believe that. But as I said in a video, you can still find on this YouTube. UM, the other element was believing in Buddhists as people in order to be a member of the religious community. I implicitly it's not an explicit article of faith. I think you do have to believe in a fact this is a community. I want to be a part of. This is a group of people I want to identify. Death. You know you have to to be a Muslim. Ultimately, you to identify publicly as a Muslim, you have to believe that Islam as an actually existing religion, is a group of people you want to link your name to, and it was exactly in that way that I ultimately hit the hard limit with Buddhism. I had to recognize who Buddhists were as people, having flown all around the world. Having met the best of the best, having been to the most elite Buddhist temples, having spent time in the most elite Buddhist universities, met Buddhist scholars et cetera, et cetera. I've literally gone to caves where monks meditated. You know, some very beautiful and striking settings. Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, camp. I didn't really spend anytime in Myanmar, but whatever I'd been around the Buddhist world, I'd met the best and the brightest of that religion, and at the end of that process, you know, I had to reflect on who those people were or what their religion was to them and how I fit into it. And I think for Kanadajin3, also, if there's something that's going to make her wake up to the fact that. Islam as a religion, she should extricate herself from. It's a religion that she should exclude herself from. It'll probably be the extent to which those people actually existing Muslims to which they exclude her. You know, when she recognizes the extent to which she is rejected and excluded for being who she really is. And low key, that's probably why she became disillusioned with japaneseness and being a Japanese nationalist, she must have finally put the pieces together. To quote to. Quote a current rap song by OMB PZ. You can love the streets. They won't love you back. It doesn't matter how much you wrap yourself. In the Japanese flag, those people are never going to embrace you. You know you're always going to be the funny, laughable outsider, and you can go to the nightclub and get a lot of flattering attention from Japanese guys who've never had the chance to flirt with the white girl before. You can be the freak again and again and again. But from her perspective, she's trying to conform like Zelig. You know it will never love you back. The Japanese are never going to give you back that recognition. You're giving them by definition, you know, in cleaving onto Japanese nationalism. And she tried to go through the immigration process. I remember she made a video that was like low key, heartbreaking about how she planned to have a child. And not teach the child English like she would have like 1/2 Japanese baby in Japan and raise it only speaking Japanese Japanese because she was such a pro Japanese nationalist, assimilationist. She wanted to lose herself. In that Japanese identity. But when they're looking at you, they ain't. They ain't lost you. They know exactly who you are, exactly what you are. You're you're always the odd one out. You're always the the **** of every joke when your back is turned. You know, as laughable as it may seem for us, for me as a white Canadian, to look at her as a white Canadian sibling into Japanese. It's much more laughable from the perspective of those people who really represent that Japanese identity, and she'll figure it out sooner or later. But as laughable as she is from my perspective as a nihilistic ex Buddhist white Canadian, as laughable as that may be from my. It is much more laughable from the perspective of the Muslim people who really live and really represent that religion. And so, you know, her status in that community. She will never quite fit. And if I can make a prediction for the future, I guess for that reason she's going to lose faith not in the tenets of the religion, but she's going to. Lose faith in the rulers community as a group of people that ultimately can never accept her and where she can never accept her own place.

Kanadajin3 Replies: Slavery & Racism in Islam!

Date: 22 November 2017

Source: <https://aryailia.github.io/a-bas-le-ciel/video/v-vbIu7RYbG78.html>

I mean when I make these videos obviously I was not trying to pick a fight with Kanadajin3 I was not addressing my comments to her and I think the audience I was trying to reach was by and large the audience that I did reach nevertheless here we go Kanadajin3 writes to me, should I imitate her voice can you can you do a candidate in San Vice oh oh we should have rehearsed this okay oh now I feel bad hey thanks for the video but some information isn't true at all Banas yen extreme Muslim whoa wow I am NOT any special and I am not sure why you think I am some special white girl at the mosque Oh as if the others are not white I mean in Islam we have no colors a Muslim is a Muslim and we are all brother and sister fascinating perspective Kenan Jensen please allow me to offer just one example from thousands that we could offer from the history of Islam as a faith that actually exists in the real world I quote Wikipedia Mauritania slavery in Mauritania was finally criminalized in August of 2007 so this is the tenth anniversary I'm recording this video in 2017 just ten years ago the 100% Muslim nation of Mauritania we checked the demographics the official government planes that 100 percent of Mauritania is Muslims so the total number of Chinese immigrants there apparently does not even you know add up to a fragment of a percentage point which is understandable uh and you know 2017 is also the year that Kanadajin3's favorite country Saudi Arabia finally gave women the right to drive a car so you know a lot of these countries have been making progress lately it was already abolished in 1980 not ancient history though it was still affecting the descendants of black Africans abducted into slavery who live now in Mauritania as Blackmore's or Horton and who partially still serve the white Moors or bidam the name literally means white skin people as their slaves the number of slaves in the country was not known exactly but it was estimated to be up to six hundred thousand men women and children or perhaps 20% of the population for centuries the so called Harriton lower-class mostly poor black Africans living in rural areas have been considered natural slaves by white Moors of Arab and Berber ancestry many descendants of the Arab and Berber tribes today still here - these supremacist ideology of their ancestors ie white supremacism as within the terms of this language and culture you are indeed talking about not just slavery but race slavery not just ray slavery but Islamic segregated race slavery this ideology has led to oppression discrimination and even enslavement of other groups in the region of Sudan and Western Sahara in certain villages in Mauritania there are mosques for lighters in Nobles and mosques for black slaves who are still buried in separate cemeteries so yes the history of race and racism and slavery within Islam is complex and worth studying and it may just be a reason for you to part ways with this religion Kennedy gin-san given what you say in the rest of this this email that you sent me nothing in the Quran is flawed yes there was slaves I am Not sure the point I mean do you not think that American army doesn't make slaves when they go to war again for some of you this might be a real learning moment if you go to Google or Wikipedia and put in a search right now for United States Army slavery you could have several hours of really interesting highly educational reading on this topic the history of the abolition of slavery and the role of the United States Army in that it's worth knowing about but I believe Kanadajin3 is of the belief that the American side of recent wars has been supporting slavery whereas Muslim majority countries like Mauritania and Saudi Arabia have been opposed to slavery and she is quite factually wrong on this point we don't even have to go as far as to look at the position of Isis on slavery but you'll find it's quite a contrast to the history of the United States and the United States Army I was working in Canada as manager for electric and gas company in Toronto you know she was speaking she said even worse there'd be even more crazy like English language terror as if you were speaking spontaneously but no not as a manager as manager let's keep it authentic here people I'm not gonna correct a ram or as I go okay I worked there for over three years also I also was not just a nobody in Canada well I was sister let me tell you something I know what you think you think you weren't a nobody care that I own up to it I sure was I didn't have a hundred thousand fans on YouTube when I lived in Canada and I still know now nobody treated my special in Japan I never felt that which is why I was able to fit in Japanese society so well because all my friends just treated me like Japanese and no difference so tell me Melissa you've been living in China for more than six months now would you say that here in China you as a white person with blue eyes and white steer and difficult to describe hair color would you say that you're treated the same as Chinese people with no difference no not in any way whatsoever not in any circumstance ever am i treated the same as Chinese person in China and neither is she so you think it's easy I make it look easier now you try this you know it's not easy okay I'm not sure why you talk by English I mean you don't need to go to university univer University yeah to understand that one can lose language ability this is such a coals to Newcastle situation I actually can't list all the languages I've studied which doesn't mean I speak them fluently today but yeah I have learned a fair few languages in my day candid and San and yet I've managed to retain my I've managed to attain my ability to communicate in English how do you think a man who was illiterate 1400 years ago would know that was not from the earth that it was sent down from heaven we only discovered this science in the last 50 years yeah I think everyone the audience already knows you're about one Google search in 15 seconds away from exploding this claim it's of course not the case that any great scientific great breakthrough was made in the last 50 years about the origin and nature of iron which is a pretty common metal on planet Earth this is also even a misrepresentation of the passage in the Quran it is alluding to what was said there and what it meant um yes however this is an example what she meant when she said in her video that she feels that the Quran contains great truths of science I'm a little lost why you laugh at my explanation do you think a five-year-old child will come up with a more sophisticated way to describe her love for a country I told the truth I liked the shape so look you know I can relate in one sense but you know how would you feel Kanadajin3 if you know you knew someone who converted to communism because they liked the shape of Russia or they like the shape of East Germany these are ideologies that have a huge body count attached to them these are ideologies that have killed millions of people and are transforming people's lives right now for the worst and I would say the same about the Catholic Church I mean almost all of my criticisms of Islam applied directly to the Catholic Church as well and you know Italy is a real nice shape on the map it's kind of shaped like a boot you know it's got all the nylons but no that really wouldn't hold any water if you like to shave Italy in a map that's not a reason to convert to the Catholic Church it's not a reason to convert to Italian fascism it's not a reason to convert to moderate left-wing Italian democracy or anything else that really really nothing whatsoever for that and no the reason why I wanted to teach kids only Japanese is because we only spoke Japanese now I actually only speak English so my child will only speak English I think unless home life changes smiley face smiley face a good day it's sad I mean you know obviously I stand by everything I said in the former video I don't feel I've got to make Candida chants and into a joke I think she already has a joke and with somebody else in the Internet I'd be able to say something like well one day you're gonna look back at this and laugh I don't think she ever will I think if anything it's it's sad and scary to think of what a what a brittle fragile person this is and that this could end in her suicide this could end in her self-destruction in a dozen different ways but you know one of the most tragic things about religion is that it preys on people who feel they need something to believe in and that's a terrible dark aspect of human nature and you know if you need to believe that you're a member of a religion that's opposed to slavery well the US Army is in favor of it at great explains you're obviously already pretty far out of touch with reality and sure it could end with her becoming becoming of a real extremist it could end with her becoming you know running away to become a bride of Isis or anything else - it takes a lot of strength to live a life without belief you know sometimes I talk to people and they just they ask me about what kind of strength takes to live a life without drinking alcohol which to me come so naturally I don't even think of that as a challenge you know what I mean but people have been leaning on it if people I'm reaching out for something there I mean it's sad but at least if you're if you're reaching out for alcohol as a crutch at least you're reaching out for something that's really there it really causes brain damage you know I mean it really you could rip alcohol really delivers exactly what it promises but faith is always a mirage faith is always a disappointment it's always a lie it's always Hollow and I guess I never thought I'd say it but I guess you're better off as an honest alcoholic then as a then as a true believer in any faith especially Islam badness yen I have read the Quran I assume you haven't babe you don't listen to a lot but yeah I did as part of you know my education is the Didact I did think it was important for me historically and politically and ever the way to sit down and and read the Quran in English and I did it so I know what I'm missing I know what I'm missing out on in this religion I've read most of the Bible there probably a couple bits and pieces the Bible I hadn't read you know when you get into the list of names of who begat who feel II can skip that.

Debating Islam with KanadaJin3 (“Is Not Debate”)

Date: 23 November 2017

Source: <https://archive.org/details/a-small-archive-of-a-bas-le-ciel-videos/kanadajin1.mp4>

This is part 3 of our ongoing debate with Canada’s own convert to Islam AND Japanese Nationalism (although not in that order).

Eisel: You guys may not know this, but Kanadajin3 actually owns 51% of about this Yellow Broadcasting corporation. We started as a non profit and then we privatized and she bought that most of the stock. So 51% of the videos on this channel from now are going to be replying to comments from Kanadajin3 shout out to. Or who knows how different this video would have been just a few short months ago? I was applying to move to Japan, not China. If I had moved to Japan and Japanese become my language of scholarship, those you with long memories, I don't know if I still the the videos up I had videos about learning and practicing Japanese. I should reupload them if I deleted them. They're hilarious in a subtle way those videos. Hey, look, Kanadajin3 wrote in again.

“Thank you for your video,” She says. “Let's start with your point on racism. I'm not sure why you mentioned this, because racism exists around world.”

You know, this gets back to my recent video on let's stop saying hashtag first world problems. You know what I mean? We in our my earlier video, I pointed out the terrible history of racism and slavery and racist slavery that exists in Mauritania. Which is just one example from the Muslim world, which is indeed a a fascinating, diverse series of chapters of history and the history of the Muslim Empire in. Russia, you know, Muslim occupied Russia, the history of Muslim rule in India and what's now Pakistan and so on, there are many, many different fascinating examples of racial inequality and under Muslim hegemony to to draw from. However, to respond to this by saying that this example of racism doesn't matter because. Racism exists elsewhere is really, tragically, deeply flawed and wrong. Now there was a time when I was a boy. I'm old enough to remember when people really, really made excuses for communism. And there's a great slang term I remember. It's come up on vegan YouTube. Just go. There's a great slang term for people who made excuses for communism, which was tankies tank, which is from TANK, tank and the origin of that term was. These are the type of people who would keep on making excuses for communists even when they rolled tanks. Even when there were tanks rolling down the streets of Prague and the Czech Republic, even when tanks were crushing public protesters or whatever, even when they were when there were tanks involved, they would keep on making making excuses for communism. Well, you know, one of the features of communism is. Starvation, mass starvation, man made. Mass starvation. I have several very informative videos about that on this channel. Really getting into the details that we're not talking about a natural disaster. We're not talking about something like an earthquake resulting in starvation. This is really politically inflicted starvation and also communist course were involved in genocide in the strictest sense of the term. All worth talking about. You cannot excuse this or respond to it or distract from it by saying, well, starvation. Exist around the world? No, this is the particular issue. The particular example of starvation we're talking about, and it's really worth understanding. And if you have a deep appreciation, that's one example of politically inflicted starvation, man-made starvation. I think it will help you understand other examples, you know, I mean, it's going to give you a more profound connection. To other types of starvation, other kinds of kinds of. Context. If you're looking at genocide, mass murder, persecution of ethnic groups, persecution of people for their political beliefs, whatever the issue is within communism, even studying within Communism, I think will give you a more profound connection to an understanding of it. When you're looking at in Islam or you're looking at in Africa, you're looking around the world. So yes. Racism exists around the world, as Canadian Sant says. Does that mean that our example of slavery, racist slavery, black versus white slavery, white supremacist slavery in Mauritania is irrelevant? No, it's very much relevant. It's really something for you to face up to contingent. This is something that's directly salient to the questions you're asking and your questions. They're partly questioning me, and they are partly you questioning your own religion. So take a good long look at the history of racism and slavery in Mauritania. It's hard to say that anywhere on Earth racism is worse than Texas, but let me tell you something. Mauritania is one of the places where racism is genuinely, exponentially, incomparably worse than Texas. What the the situation we described and read about more Tania, you know. Historically and currently, I think we can genuinely say is worse than the racism in Southern Ontario with our own First Nations people, our own native Canadians, which is the situation I care about a great deal. Yes. Racism exists around world and in any one place that doesn't provide us with an excuse for any other place. I continue my quotation from Kanadajin3 You tell me that in Islam there is racist issues, but you are not mentioning anything from the Koran. If Muslim people or Muslim countries are racist, that does not make Islam religion and makes the people racist. So again Kanadajin3, I assume you're very familiar with the history of. Of communism, this was the excuse communists made. Again and again. They would say. Well, it's true. They've killed millions of people. But it doesn't say that they ought to. In call Marxist Communist manifesto or, you know, as if somehow if you just read one part of what Joseph Stalin wrote, because really there are people still. Excuse me for the the writings of Joseph Stalin's writings of Lenin and someone that somehow this isn't an intrinsic or essential aspect of communism. This is merely an extra. Azik element of of communism that came up now, of course, that's that's not true of Communism and it's not true of Islam either. It is not enough to read the Quran. You have to read the Quran and the Hadith. The Hadith are the basis for Sharia law and of many other things. The Hadith are the the sayings of the Prophet. Whatever want to say about it in the Quran and the Hadith. And in the real political history that happened during the lifetime of the Prophet, we do have the political foundations of Islam that continue through to this day. The political foundations that ISIS themselves will describe to you. They're carrying on in a continuous tradition, the political foundations that, again, that the government of Iran and the government of. Of Saudi Arabia they will very eloquently describe to you how their modern nation states operate on the same principles, the same laws on the same sayings fundamentally that are recorded in the Quran and the Hadith. Yes, and the the status of war and slavery and all these things they are indeed set down in the Koran, the Hadith. And of course, in Sharia law, there's no doubt about that. So I mean obviously there's there's self deception on her part there. But even if it were true, even if there were some kind of big fundamental difference from what you see in the. Program and the reality of actually existing Islam, precisely what we must deal with all of us, no matter whether you're an atheist or a true believer or whether you're left wing or right wing precise. What we have to do is plunge into the historical reality of what Islam really is, not what. Abstract principles say it ought to be. And you know, this is true if you're a Muslim watching this video, maybe not Canadian Sam, but other Muslims all grow up being taught that communism is evil because communism in many of these places was the alternative to Islam. There was a time when Afghanistan was a communist country. And, you know, it's really worth asking. It's possible Afghanistan's history has been so grim and so terrible. Would Afghanistan have been better? Off of it have remained a communist country. Many people think it would have been, but in case they had a period of communism where communism really was the alternative to Islam, so many, many Muslims are very quick to preach to you that communism is a terrible thing cause this is it's a danger from their perspective. It's a threat, but if you believe that communism is bad, likewise you're not judging communism as an abstract principle. You're not judging it in terms of what it could be or should be, or ought to be. You're judging it in terms of what it actually is, what it actually was, what it actually did, and what the consequences were. I continue. You tell me that this issue and racism might make me stop on religion, but that's weird because racism is an issue in the world. So does that mean I should just stop living? No, no. I think I can. I think I can speak to this if I tell you that starvation is a problem in the world. Does that mean that you should just stop living? It's a problem. You can do something about Kanadajin3. It's a problem. You can do something about starting today and you can decide if you want to be part of the problem or if you want to. Part of the solution. And as you know, one of the reasons why I'm vegan, I see a great injustice and their cruelty to animals that people do every day. Factory farming, the production of meat. It's it's a great injustice in terms of the needless suffering inflicted on animals. It's a great injustice. In terms of damage done to the world's ecology and so on, and it's something I can make a positive difference about in my life every day starting today, and there are many other good and important causes that I've tried to make a difference in and in many cases I've failed and that's OK, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I've tried. And you Canadian. And are being an escapist here. You are saying that the only way you can respond to racism being a problem is for you to retreat even further. And I'm telling you not to retreat. I'm telling you to face up to it. Look at the reality of it and. Move forward, actually try to solve problems. Try to be on the right side of history. It's like a lot of people would say, but try to be working towards a positive solution to make it positive impact. OK, so I continue this quotation here. I'm simply making a point that all over human history slaves are active part of society. No, no, Canadian San, that's not true. Right now in Texas, there are no slaves. Texas may be a bad place in all kinds of ways. I don't know. How's the vegan food down in Texas? Actually, they do have vegan. They have annual vegan festival in Texas. They have. They also have a vegan college there, cuisine, college. So actually, I know, I know some good things about Texas, but look, a lot of people might complain. Life is hard in Texas. No, there are no slaves in Texas and you know a lot of left wingers, you know, just pile on how much they hate neoliberalism and so on, or how much they might hate a conservative state like Texas. There was a a civil war that killed an unimaginably large number of people fought in the United. States and because of that civil war, there is no slavery today in Texas there was a there was a decision made in principle and decided through organized violence, and the outcome is that Texas is in that sense free. A lot of things about the American ideology of freedom may be ********, but that is not one of them. There's a very meaningful, very important sense in which we can look to a place like Texas and say this is an example of a place. That is, that is against slavery. Thailand is a very different history of how slavery was abolished there. Sri Lanka has a very different history and so on. So let's face up to this and let's not let's not retreat into these. This kind of excuse making mentality. I continue the quote. So I'm actually correcting her grammar here as I go, good or bad. Period is not debate period for or against is not debate period. I'm simply stating that it exists and existed in all walks of life. You know, this is not true. Kenneth Jensen. You know, there's a difference for you yourself between working for a company that is involved in the slave trade and working for a company that refuses to be involved in slave trade. I used to talk to people in the garment industry. You know, I did research on factory conditions for laborers in the garment industry in Southeast Asia. These are real issues that really exist today. I remember speaking only one person face to face, and she was talking about how she didn't want anything to do with the garment industry. And I think it was Bangladesh. I'm sorry I'm forgetting the details now, but she was really talking about the differences. Between where you're dealing with Gray areas that are starting to resemble slavery, or, you know, this kind of thing and capital, labor conditions and human right, these are these are debates, she says. Good or bad is not debate. These are debates that really exist. These are things that really matter. And no it it's just not true that it exists and exist in all walks of life. Each of us walks in this life and makes those hard decisions. Whether or not you're going to compromise, for example with with something in the garment industry that's involved with slave labor, what have you and whether it's in humanitarian work, political work, or straight up economics like the production of T-shirts, people all have different experience. The fact that I am treated. Team doesn't mean everyone is, but again, you were talking about me having special treatment. So I mean, I understand what she's saying here. But, you know, Mera, if I make all you Mira candidate and Sam, what I'm suggesting to you is that in fact you are treated fundamentally differently from Japanese people and that you are being insensate. To it. You're being. You're lacking the sensitive. Activity to pick up on just how profoundly different your treatment is. So we are. We are suggesting that you have an attitude that leads you to steamroll over these differences. To blithely ignore the ways in which, in fact, you are different, you are being treated differently. I am confused. Why are you really going over the facts with the Koran quickly there? All right, I think there's nothing else here to to reply to. She closes her message to me by saying brittle question. Mark, suicide question. Mark. I'm confused why you think that. In my religion is forbidden and I'd rather not go to hell. OK. Well, I mean, you know, fair enough, Mira. I mean, I wasn't joking with any of this stuff. When I said I was concerned that your life would end in suicide, I certainly meant it. And I think it's because you believe in things that are impossible to believe and that for many people it's a it's a terrible and heart rending situation to have to wake up one morning and recognize that your life is built on a lie. And that's exactly what you're doing right now. You're building a new life for yourself on the basis of a new lie.

Historical Nihilism vs. Islamic Idealism

Date: 23 November 2017

Source: <https://archive.org/details/a-small-archive-of-a-bas-le-ciel-videos/Kanadajin3+-+Historical+Nihilism+vs.+Islamic+Idealism+-+4th.mp4>

The article alluded to (with “the link below the video”) is: _1920: The Other Russo-Japanese War. The Massacre at Nikolaevsk-on-Amur (尼港事件)._ https://medium.com/@eiselmazard/1920-the-other-russo-japanese-war-70deb2972c42

Eisel: Hey guys, this series of videos began with a very light hearted tone, a lot of joking around and a lot of laughter on camera. I think in Part 2 you got to see my my girlfriend Melissa really breaking down laughing quite often and with this video the 4th and the series apparently from now on 51% of all the videos on my channel. Will be direct replies to Kenneth Jensen in this video. I don't think there's going to be a single laugh or a single punch line, so it's become more and more serious. And I think the two sides of the debate have indeed disambiguated what is there about. If you are an Internet atheist watching this video, I want to start by pointing out to you that my position is in a subtle and profound way different from anything you've seen on YouTube before. Because I'm not an atheist, I'm a nihilist. My problem with Islam, my problem with the Catholic Church. My problem with Communism is not with particular beliefs, but with believing itself. I'm not merely a critic of the principles espoused by any one of these ideologies. I'm a critic of ideology. I'm a critic of a view of the world that precedes from principle, from matters of principle. So in the most recent reply of receiving Candida ginseng, she's. Just doubling down on her position, as already stated in this debate, she writes to me saying quote, thank you for the video, but she fails to see why it is relevant to talk about racism in a certain country. The actions of individuals, she argues, do not reflect the religion, do not reflect the principle. Of the thing. Now the position she's adopting here is in no way unique to Islam. The contrast between what I have to say and what she has to say as a proponent of Islam is 100% identical to the position I'm in as a nihilist when I'm debating Communists, and it's been a huge factor in my life, both because it's sort of research I've done and and simply where I've lived. I've lived in post communist countries like Cambodia and I’ve lived in countries that are still communists today, like Laos. It's very easy for the defendant of any one of these ideologies, Islam. Communism, Catholicism, or even American imperialism, the American Empire, or even Israel. It might make some Muslim some Muslims watching this video might be very uncomfortable with recognizing that the type of rationale they're engaging in here works just as well in providing excuses for. The modern nation state of Israel, as it does in making excuses for. The religion of Islam, but the difficult principle thing to get at here when you're dealing with believers face to face is to get them to recognize that the mode of reasoning they're engaged in. Is insincere, although they feel piously that it's the most sincere thing they can say or feel, or events. That in fact it is an excuse making mentality. It's not even a sincere mode of reasoning. Kanadajin3 is inviting me to believe that the principle of The thing is more important than the particular people who espouse the pro. And that is the diametric opposite of what I believe. I do not think it's possible to look at massacres that were carried out under the orders of Lenin. Lenin was one of the dictators in Russia following after the Russian Revolution Commons revolution in Russia. I do not think it is possible to look at those massacres. And dismissed them in the same way the Canadians and dismisses massacres in the history of Islam in the same way that Canadians and dismisses the history of slavery and Islam in the same way that she dismisses the historical reality and current present day reality of racism. Islam, she dismisses all these things by referring to the purity of the principle. The matter of principle now what we soon learn in practice. Is that this principle is something anyone can invent for themselves, and that even when they're claiming it's something they've discovered, written in an ancient text, that it's something immutable, that they have no role in editing. In fact, they are picking and choosing. They are making an an editorial selection. From that, that ancient text, so, so extreme that they might as well be making up a new religion out of thin air. Of course, this happens with Islam, believe me, it also happens with Buddhism. Believe me, it also happens with Catholicism. What is the principle that a Catholic feels Catholicism represents that can be separated from the historical reality of what the Catholic Church did to Native Americans, to indigenous peoples, North America, or hate South America? Look at what's now Brazil, Chile, et cetera. The historical reality of what Catholicism actually is, what it did and its outcomes, is much, much more important than the principle of the. Thing. And the problem is again the principle of The thing is so malleable. It's so easily reinvented in the minds of believers. We could claim that there is some Immaculate principle for the CAP. A church that is in no way besmirched in no way stained by the mere historical reality of what the Catholic Church did in South America or in North America for that matter, that genocide, mere genocide, mere massacres, mere crimes against humanity, humanity, mere slavery, mere racism. In no way touches the principle of the thing, not of what the Catholic Church is, but of what it ought to be. The problem I have here is with the very mode of thinking that proceeds from as its first premise. A delusion? Not about what the world is, but what about what the world ought to be a mode of thinking that takes principles as something more real than reality itself. Historical reality is precisely what we must proceed from. We can't, as with the laws of geometry, start on a chalkboard to draw out, sketch out how a bridge is supposed to work, how a bridge is supposed to support the weight of a train as it goes across. Chasm on the card. Simply Simply put, politics does not precede geometrically from a set of principles on a chalkboard. Instead, we're in a situation where we're looking at it. We're looking at a bridge that collapsed and a whole bunch of people who died when the train went over that bridge and. And then on the other side of the world, in a totally different political context, totally different cultural context. People tried to build the same bridge using the same blueprint, and it collapsed. And lots of people died and somewhere else on the other side of the world, people use the same blueprint, the same principles, and the bridge collapsed. And we're standing there, looking at the rubble. Trying to figure out trying to put together rationally an explanation for what went. Wrong. What am I? Talking about here, if you're a Muslim watching this video, please reflect on whether or not these excuses you make for the principle of the thing, whether or not you would extend these principles to. The history of communism within Afghanistan, Afghanistan today is a Muslim country in a semi colonial relationship with the United States of America. Before that it was a Muslim country under the rule of independent Muslim extremists. You guys probably know that part of the story. There was a time. There was a time when Afghanistan was a communist country. Would you make these same excuses for Communism being good in principle, being good in its intentions despite the disaster? That happened under Communist rule in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, with no particular connection to Afghanistan, you can look at the reality of a communist society in North Korea. You can look at the reality of a Communist study society in Laos, in Vietnam, in Cuba, in South America, to some extent. We have completely independent cultural examples. Indeed, even just the contrast between Russia and China, their respective experiments with Communism. It's astounding how much they have in common. It's astounding the extent to which different people in different cultures at different times took this same blueprint. Tried to build a bridge and it collapsed and among the features of that collapse were. Race. Genocide, persecution of ethnic minorities and yes, of course, mass starvation topics. I'm not going to get into in this video. During the life of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, I will give you a link below this video to it. And as I wrote about it, you can read about unbelievable. I really mean that unbelievable massacres and persecutions of Jews within Russia under Russian Communism. I think the very first group to face ethnic cleansing to face genocidal repression in Russia right after the communist revolution, where the Cossacks. That's no joke. It's a really terrible chapter of history and repression of ethnic groups, extermination of ethnic groups. This was a feature. Of communism, again and again, in diverse places around the world. Actually, I've I've heard Muslims complain that Muslims themselves were persecuted by communism within Cambodia. Another interesting chapter in this in this history of the treatment of Muslims by communists in some cases. Would you accept what Kanadajin3 says here in defending Islam, in defending communism, in defending Catholicism, or indeed, in defending the modern nation state of Israel or the American Empire abroad? What Kanadajin3 says is that the actions of individuals. In no way impune the principle of the thing. They in no way touch. The reality of what their religion is, and from my perspective, that is the fiction of what the religion ought to be. Can you not recognize that there is a principle the United States was pursuing when it bombed Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos? Can you not recognize that there are people who can make a principled defense? Of the United States military and its actions, whether in the devastation of Laos, the devastation of Cambodia, or examples that this audience may be more family. With the conquest of Afghanistan, the disaster of the interaction of Iraq, if people say yes, yes, yes. But what America represents can never be known from a particular historical figure like George W Bush or Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. No, no, no, no, no. They can defend this by claiming there's a principle here, and there's a principle that they insist they alone can define by working from some sacred text. Whether that text is the Constitution of the United States of America or the Communist manifesto. That there is some sense in which they will claim the beliefs and conduct of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Lenin, the dictator of Russia, that the conduct of Joseph Stalin, dictator of Russia. That their conduct or misconduct, the outcomes of their decisions, are something that you need to understand as completely separate from the principle of what communism is itself. The principle is nothing. What you're being asked to do in this mode of thought is to disregard everything and focus your attention exclusively on nothing. What can we learn? From the historical reality of actually existing communism, everything it's profound. It's baffling, it's unbelievable. I'll give this link to this article I wrote about a chapter of history. I'm sure none of you ever heard before. It's a fascinating chapter of history in East Asia where Russian communists did carry out. Anti-Semitic massacres. They did care anti Japanese massacres and they carried out anti Cossack massacres. There was ethnic cleansing going on, there was starvation, there was chaos and unbelievable violence under come. By studying that example, the unfolding of these historical particulars, we can learn so much that's valuable. And by disregarding those details to instead focus on the principle of what communism ought to be, we learn nothing. And indeed. From my perspective, the religious mentality is one of the same. Whether the example is the Catholic Church in South America, the Russian Empire or the Russian Revolution, communism or what have. You. Or if we're looking at. Islam and the rarely discussed question of the history of Islam and slavery and racism in Mauritania. Now some of you will claim that there's something really significant, but working from the the primary source text here, sometimes there is. I mean is it significant if you want to understand the American bombing of Vietnam? Is it important to read the American Constitution? Well, yes, sure. You can understand a lot of. Things about American politics. Conversely, if someone said to you, no, no, the American empire is not racist. Just look at the US Constitution. There's nothing in there about bombing Vietnam. There's nothing in there about Vietnamese people and lotion people being not equal to Americans. That is ridiculous when you're trying to invoke the sacred purity of this source. Next, to disregard the reality, the very complex reality of racism in a context like the United States trying to conquer Vietnam, trying to conquer Cambodia, trying to conquer Laos is racism. Was racism a factor in American foreign policy towards Vietnam? Cambodia. Yes, it was a factor. Is it the only factor? Did they start those wars? Just because they're racist? No, of course. Is racism a factor in understanding the reality of Mauritania today? Is racism an important factor? Is racism an important factor in understanding Islam as it actually exists in Mauritania today? Is racism an important factor in understanding the role of Islam in slavery in Mauritania? Yes. Now it's not a complete explanation. You're not just going to say, well, people are racist. Therefore, that's the whole story. Of course. Of course, it's an important factor. Is it possible? For people to focus on the mere facts of history. So much so that they exclude or ignore important questions of principle. Maybe that is possible. Maybe it's possible for someone to focus on the reality of the United States using torture in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to focus on the use of torture. So much the practical reality, the historical reality of the United States didn't torture people that they ignore questions of principle, that they ignore the fact that the United States Constitution. It says that America is against torture. I've I've never known anyone who had that problem. I've never known anyone who was so invested in the mere facts of what actually happens in history and planet Earth that they ignore those question principle. The contrast, pardon me. On the contrary, I think those people tend to be deeply involved in drawing our attention to the contrast between those statements of principle. The United States claimed it would never use chemical weapons. It would never use biological weapons, and they did. They claim they would never engage in this kind of torture and they did, etcetera, etcetera. It's those people who really care about that. On the contrary, the problem I see again and again. Is people who want to lead us down the rabbit hole the rabbit hole of the true believer of the ultimate conformist, the Kanadajin3 has has gone down here, who want us to believe in the principle of the thing primarily exclusively. They want us to believe so much in the principle of the thing that we're willing to disregard. 1000 years of history. That we're willing to disregard the world as it actually is just for the sake of our pious hope, our pious belief in the world as it ought to. Be. And that plays out the same way whether your belief is in what communism is, what it ought to be. Or the American Empire is not to be, or Islam or Judaism as it exists in the modern state of Israel today. The difference between myself and other race the atheists on the Internet or the difference in myself and these true believers is much more extreme than you might at first believe. I describe myself not merely as a nihilist, but an historical nihilist. Many people will tell you to study history just to learn the lessons of history. And ultimately, that's not my point here at all. I think that people who sincerely study any of these episodes in history, any of these ideologies, any of these collapsed bridges, if you like to use my former image. The point is not that they just examine one collapsed bridge and come to the conclusion this was a disaster. I think that with time with real depth of understanding, with profound introspection and examination, examination of the human condition and the reality of each of these disasters, that ideology leads to. I think that the study of history itself is profoundly incompatible with belief. I think that a true appreciation for what history is and for how human beings who have the best of intentions, human beings who tell you sincerely that in the colonization of Canada they were going to set up schools for the forced assimilation of the indigenous people, the enforced simulation of First Nations. Indigenous people, Native Americans, American Indians, we want to say the creed, the Ojibwe, the Mohawk, the Denae. There are people who will tell you still to this day so sincerely that what they were doing in principle was bringing civilization and literacy to people who had none of their own, people who were not civilized and. Who were illiterate? And on the level of justice, examining the principle of the thing, it isn't that easy to believe in. Isn't it easy to support such a positive pious principle that is presented to you as a way of helping people? And isn't it so much harder to examine the disconnect between those positive human intentions and the unbelievably horrible human outcomes? Isn't it so much harder to learn from the reality of what history really is? But when we do that one disaster or another? Residential schools in Canada forced assimilation of indigenous people, whether in Canada or in the Soviet Union. Under communism, there are parallel situations with them forcibly. Similarly, the native people. It's amazing the extent to which, in a Christian and a secular context, human beings can reinvent many of the same evils. When we learn from history what we learn, I think. Finally, you know, maybe not even in your first ten years of learning from history, but finally, inexorably, inevitably, what we learn is that there is nothing to be believed. That all beliefs are false, that all beliefs are dangerous. That we can't look amongst the rubble of one of these collapsed bridges to find the good and pure principles of geometry that were once written on a blackboard. That what we can do and what we must do is learn from historical reality. Historical reality is all we have. But in that rubble. The tremendously hopeful and the tremendously positive thing is human mutation. Is the potential for positive change that knowing what we know now, if we don't disregard the reality of what went wrong in Mauritania, the reality of what went wrong in Ontario, Canada, where Kanadajin3 comes from, the various disasters, genocide and worse that we can learn from the history of the Catholic Church. History of Islam from the history of communism. That it would be so easy. For us to do better next time. That for me is the sense in which nihilism is endlessly optimistic compared to any particular belief. Believers end up trying to cling to one principle or another. They end up trying to defend that principle. The imaginary period of that principle against the unbelievable historical reality of what happens when that principle is put into practice again and again and again. Nihilists. Instead, get to look around at the rubble and say hey. I'm just doing it trying to do something positive here. What can I do that will make a positive difference? And the answer. The answer is something not nothing or as belief makes you beholden to an abstraction that is in truth, worse than nothing at all.