Oddbean

I think the collusive elite clique is the typical unit of political and social power in the modern West, just as the clan is dominant in Somalia or Afghanistan. Most cliques have at least some basis in mutual blackmail, though a shared ethnic identity is important to many. I would suggest no more than a plurality identify as Jewish.

Supposing there is an elite, and probably there is one, it's logic after all, of course there will be some Jews, like there will be some Arabs, Chinese, Russians, Brazilians etc etc But I don't think there is Jewish lobby by itself, I know there is something different, the Freemasonry, and there are some others like 322... these groups are probably what we called the Elite, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are doing evil things, it's probably far more complex than that, resuming the Freemasonry want to control everything seems too much, probably some want control and some are in Freemasonry because there is a deep philosophic and mystical culture in it, an knowledge that can elevate and transcend the human mind which can at the end help the entire world who knows ?

I've read some very interesting papers on why collusive cliques based around concealing a shared crime or proclivity tend to out-compete others. Game theory suggests these have much greater internal cohesion and trust in one another, due to the kompromat they implicitly hold over one another. Cliques without mutual blackmail have weaker ties. There may well be something in it - it certainly correctly predicted the decline of "Lavender Mafia" cliques within the Catholic Church with increasing community tolerance for homosexuality. And Waffen-SS units with a shared history of sickening crimes often fought harder and longer than Wehrmacht units without this. But otherwise it is difficult to find evidence of something secret by definition. I do believe Netanyahu's public statements about there no longer being war crimes is an effort to create the world's largest and least-elite mutual-blackmail clique. It shows a certain desperation.

Supposing the Israeli PM is a bad guy, which I don't know and don't hope, that doesn't mean all Israel is evil, it seems obvious but we should specify these, because of that, innocent Jewish will be attacked, but of course it's the same for anyone, blaming someone should really be done carefully, especially today, if we don't want innocent people to be attacked because of words dropped too quickly on Internet.

Systems, incentive structures, and institutions can foster evil by design, whatever the original morals of the members they recruit. The televised behaviour of the contemporary IDF is probably the strongest proof of this we are likely to see.