A life truth

 If you have a friend who has a daughter, you may never have any sort of association with that daughter ever, as that would be betraying your friend!

Urdu language

 

Urdu music

 

You call this funny?

 

Erotic poetry

 

Love songs

 

Romantic music

 

God is dead

 

God is dead

  The madman. - Haven't you heard of that madman who in the bright morning lit a lantern and ran around the marketplace crying incessantly, 'I'm looking for God! I'm looking for God!' Since many of those who did not believe in God were standing around together just then, he caused great laughter. Has he been lost, then? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone to sea? Emigrated? - Thus they shouted and laughed, one interrupting the other. The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. 'Where is God?' he cried; 'I'll tell you! We have killed him - you and I! We are all his murderers. But how did we do this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Where is it moving to now? Where are we moving to? Away from all suns? Are we not continually falling? And backwards, sidewards, forwards, in all directions? Is there still an up and a down? Aren't we straying as though through an infinite nothing? Isn't empty space breathing at us? Hasn't it got colder? Isn't night and more night coming again and again? Don't lanterns have to be lit in the morning? Do we still hear nothing of the noise of the grave-diggers who are burying God? Do we still smell nothing of the divine decomposi­tion? - Gods, too, decompose! God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him! How can we console ourselves, the murderers of all murderers! The holiest and the mightiest thing the world has ever possessed has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood from us? With what water could we clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what holy games will we have to invent for ourselves? Is the magnitude of this deed not too great for us? Do we not ourselves have to become gods merely to appear worthy of it?

• Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science

What force moves the nations? From war and peace

 What force moves the nations?

Biographical historians and historians of separate nations understand this force as a power inherent in heroes and rulers. In their narration events occur solely by the will of a Napoleon, and Alexander, or in general of the persons they describe. The answers given by this kind of historian to the question of what force causes events to happen are satisfactory only as long as there is but one historian to each event. As soon as historians of different nationalities and tendencies begin to describe the same event, the replies they give immediately lose all meaning, for this force is understood by them all not only differently but often in quite contradictory ways. One historian says that an event was produced by Napoleon’s power, another that it was produced by Alexander’s, a third that it was due to the power of some other person. Besides this, historians of that kind contradict each other even in their statement as to the force on which the authority of some particular person was based. Thiers, a Bonapartist, says that Napoleon’s power was based on his virtue and genius. Lanfrey, a Republican, says it was based on his trickery and deception of the people. So the historians of this class, by mutually destroying one another’s positions, destroy the understanding of the force which produces events, and furnish no reply to history’s essential question.

Writers of universal history who deal with all the nations seem to recognize how erroneous is the specialist historians’ view of the force which produces events. They do not recognize it as a power inherent in heroes and rulers, but as the resultant of a multiplicity of variously directed forces. In describing a war or the subjugation of a people, a general historian looks for the cause of the event not in the power of one man, but in the interaction of many persons connected with the event.

The Big Lie: Who is Really Committing Genocide?

 

The Big Lie: Who is Really Committing Genocide?

The “big lie” is an expression Adolf Hitler coined to describe his technique of telling a lie so colossal that no one would ever suspect it was false. He first described this concept in his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf, which outlined his plans for ruling Germany. He surmised most people would never think of fabricating massive untruths so they would not believe others had. In other words, Hitler understood that people would see the world through the lens of basic honesty and would assume that same trait in others. Use of Propaganda Hitler used propaganda to convey the big lie and garner the support of the masses. Successful propaganda spoke to people’s emotions more than their intellect, was limited to a few points, and harped on slogans. He said repeating simple slogans was necessary for the masses to retain them. Hitler’s words ring with a chilling truth. Despite his plan’s evil intent, he knew how to get it past the people. When he became the head of state in Germany, Hitler implemented his strategy precisely. He fabricated the “big lie” of the evil Jew causing Germany’s troubles, and he used propaganda to instill it in people’s minds, preparing the way for the extermination of the Jewish people. Timeless Strategy Hitler’s strategy is still working today. Mein Kampf was translated into Arabic back in the 1930s and has been one of the all-time best sellers throughout the Muslim world since. Mein Kempf means “my struggle” within the Nazi context, while jihad, a major tenant of Islam, also means “struggle.” Not coincidentally, Muslim leaders, such as Iran’s supreme leader, have adopted Hitler’s strategy. They are also propagating the “big lie” of the evil Jews (particularly Israelis), using emotionally charged slogans and antisemitic cartoons to gain people’s support and prepare the way for the final destruction of Israel. This strategy is not limited to Iran but is at epic proportions throughout the rest of the Muslim world, where conspiracy theories run rampant, and people believe all types of lies about Israel and the Jewish people. Genocide—a Modern-Day “Big Lie” One “big lie” circulating today related to Israel’s current war with Hamas is that Israel is committing genocide. Let’s first define genocide to determine who is committing genocide against whom.  The legal definition of genocide was codified in the 1948 Convention of the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, the first international treaty of the post-WWII United Nations, created in the shadow of the Holocaust. It prohibits acts committed with an “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group” by killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm, “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”  The term “genocide” is being used today for its emotional and political power, evoking an ultimate unsurpassable crime—and those propagating it know full well how it resonates with the Jewish people. They are deliberately using it to equate what happened to the Jews in the Holocaust with Israel’s military actions of self-defense after the October 7 atrocities. It pokes at a deep wound all Jews have, delegitimizes Israel’s military campaign, and ultimately denies Israel’s right to exist.  Yet Hamas’ founding covenant documents a long-term plan and intent for the destruction of the Jewish people in a way comparable to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Who Is Really Attempting Genocide? Israel is defending its right to exist and following international humanitarian war law while doing so. Israel is not attempting to destroy the Palestinian people. Hamas, however, wants to wipe Israel off the map and has made it clear it won’t stop until that happens, saying October 7—when terrorists killed and mutilated more than 1,400 innocent people—will happen again and again. Hamas, not Israel, violated the 1948 Genocide Convention on October 7 and has continually been clear on its intent: to destroy Israel. Hamas’ end goal is genocidal. Christians must not remain silent but arm themselves with the facts and speak up against this evil campaign. We must also call for a robust effort at the government level to bring international compliance with standards of education and press that are free from antisemitism.    —by Susan Michael, ICEJ USA Director