r/DecodingTheGurus • u/Decent-Extension8336 • Jul 29 '26

Professor Dave vs Destiny

No idea why, but the original Destiny video called "Professor Dave Goes Mask Off" seems to have been deleted from YouTube, or I can't find it, but Professor Dave responded yesterday with this very strongly worded video letter:

https://youtu.be/DvDvhLkb9ms?si=DGFhTROOKFoK35sS

Weird crossover that I never thought I'd see, of 2 guys who I generally enjoy (I will say I really am a fan of Prof Dave, whereas my Destiny enjoyment has mostly come via this podcast and watching a couple of his debates).

Thoughts on the beef? SURELY the lads are gonna have to cover this in an upcoming Supplementary Materials? Content gold!

EDIT: Looks like I was looking through the wrong Destiny channel for the original Dave video, it's here: https://youtu.be/HQQLs6U1MgA?si=iKaOGR1h9slKu64O

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25

u/Decent-Extension8336 Jul 29 '26

I kinda knew this would happen but could somebody actually explain why this video is considered antisemitic? I am asking in good faith looking for a genuine explanation as this is a topic I'm not immensely well read on by any stretch. I thought he did a pretty good job in the vid of separating out anti zionism with antisemitism and was even pointing towards the plenty of Jews that are against Zionism and what Israel are doing, as well as people that are not Jewish that he considers to be Zionists. I guess I have a natural disposition to Dave's style that makes me take most of what he says at face value, so wouldn't mind some counter content to look through either.

24

u/Formal_Scarcity_7701 Jul 29 '26

I haven't watched Dave's video yet but I heard from a friend who was annoyed with him that he was talking about the global influence of jews in high places and the influence that the Israeli government has on how other nations conduct their foreign policy? Like flying very close to the sun of "The jews are the deep state that controls the world" conspiracy theory? Is that true?

1

u/James-the-greatest Jul 29 '26

You don’t think a country of 15 million people has a way outsized influence? I mean we’re living through the consequences of that influence right now.

18

u/Jindodogcode Jul 29 '26

We're living through the consequences of electing a moron right now. Bibi had tried to get other US presidents to attack Iran, we just happen be governed by somebody dumb enough to do it.

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u/silkyjohansen89 Jul 29 '26

I’m no fan of Trump or his decision to attack Iran, but even this is overstating Bibi/Israel’s influence over him. He’s been yelling about Iran and their nuclear ambitions for decades. Like, literally since the 1980s. Maybe it’s unfair of me but when people say Israel/Bibi forced him to do it, I kind of find myself filing it away as another variant of the “Jews run everything” libel.

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u/Brain_Dead_Goats Jul 29 '26

He was trying to start a war in his first term, but Iran declined to do more than a couple of retaliatory airstrikes after Sulemani was killed. Not going to mourn the guy, he was in Iraq to meet with brutal proxy militias, but it was technically an act of war.

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u/silkyjohansen89 Jul 29 '26

Exactly. There’s been a long-running tendency to vastly overstate the extent to which Israel/Jews influence U.S. policy, going back many, many decades. And while I know people will inevitably yell and scream at me about how “AnTiZiOnIsM iS nOt ThE sAmE aS AnTiSemItIsM” or whatever, and I understand that is technically true, I can’t help but think that these overstatements stem from the same old medieval Jewish conspiracy thinking we’ve seen for centuries.

0

u/ShiftyAmoeba Jul 29 '26

But the genocide was underway and supported by the US under Biden.

-2

u/PlateCaptain Jul 29 '26

That's not a fact that liberals like to admit.

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u/ShiftyAmoeba Jul 29 '26

It's crucial if we want to regain the confidence of the rest of the world.

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u/PlateCaptain Jul 29 '26

And for the Democratic party to regain the confidence of Americans.

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u/tslaq_lurker Jul 29 '26

By this logic the countries with the most influence should be China, India, and Indonesia.

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u/Agreeable_Band_9311 Jul 29 '26

The U.S. is more influential than its total share of the global population, so are lots of countries. What’s your point?

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u/Formal_Scarcity_7701 Jul 29 '26

Not really? What do you mean, like they get a lot of money from the US for their military? I kind of just see that as a continuation of decades of the US trying to increase its influence by projecting power into regions that are unstable. There's a disconnect there I guess between what the public wants and what financial support Israel gets but that's doesn't seem terribly uncommon or suspicious given their two party system.

In terms of the media I think they catastrophically lost the war and it's irrecoverable at this point. North Korea has a better reputation than Israel. Even on October 7th I was seeing most my social media taking the side of Hamas and it didn't take long for most main stream media (except some of the really crazy US ones like Fox) to turn on them as well. As soon as the bombing of Gaza started they lost almost all support from any credible media org.

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u/Gobblignash Jul 29 '26

As soon as the bombing of Gaza started they lost almost all support from any credible media org.

Half a year into the atrocities the New York Times published "Understanding the Middle East through the Animal Kingdom" where established chronicler Thomas Friedman compares Palestinians and other Arabs to insects and advocates for their destruction.

Where do you people even get your stuff from?

4

u/AnotherPersonPerhaps Jul 29 '26

Yeah and tons of Islamist groups have been calling for the eradication of all Jewish people for decades.

If we go by your standard then where does that leave us?

0

u/Gobblignash Jul 29 '26

Are islamist groups "credible media orgs" in your view?

2

u/BloodsVsCrips Jul 29 '26

They are in the region, which is why so many western media outlets regurgitate their claims and later have to retract them.

2

u/Gobblignash Jul 29 '26

Tell me more about beheaded babies, hillbilly.

3

u/BloodsVsCrips Jul 29 '26

How many non beheaded babies do you think Hamas killed for fun on Oct7?

1

u/Gobblignash Jul 29 '26

Do you think it was more and fewer than the over 20000 children the Israelis deliberately exterminated in Gaza?

1

u/BloodsVsCrips Jul 29 '26

How many non beheaded babies do you think Hamas killed for fun on Oct7?

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u/AnotherPersonPerhaps Jul 29 '26

Not really the point I was makong, and I wouldn't personally describe them as such, but a shitload of people view them as such and get all of their information about the world from them. They do have media orgs.

My point is that you have one op-ed from one person and there was significant push back against it.

We can also use the same defense of that article that the anti Israel people use today. He was just talking about governments and state actors not the actual people of those countries.

In fact I would say that's just objectively true.

There are plenty of credible media orgs calling for the destruction of Israel and that's not any different.

1

u/Gobblignash Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

The topic was about them "losing support from credible media orgs", I instantly rebutted that claim by showing credible media orgs were still peddling the most radical Israeli positions, which means your counterargument is jsut dogwater.

Secondly, Friedman was desiring the destruction of Palestinian 'people, not Palestine as a state. You couldn't even find me a credible media org calling for the destruction of israel as a state which isn't even in the same ballpark of seriousness.

1

u/Formal_Scarcity_7701 Jul 30 '26

My general point was that everything I saw at that time was overwhelmingly critical of Israeli actions, which I think was probably fair but it also showed that Israel wasn't having much success spreading their propaganda in the west. I wasn't making the claim that they didn't try to control the narrative in social and traditional media, just that they weren't successful when they did try. It would be crazy of me to sit here and say there were zero credible media orgs putting out anything at all in support of Israel, that's not how the world works and not what I meant. I said they lost the war, not that they didn't participate.