this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2025
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"As revolutionaries, we don't have the right to say that we're tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We also know that when the people understand, they cannot but follow us. In any case, we, the people, have no enemies when it comes to peoples. Our only enemies are the imperialist regimes and organizations." Thomas Sankara, 1985


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TL;DR:

My 19 yo little brother who had a rough childhood (which I unfortunately contributed to) is convinced that Israel's actions and impunity is because "modern jews run the Western world". I've tried countering this with a materialist explanation of Israel's role in US imperialism to no avail. I suspect my treatment of him in the past may be an obstacle here, and that the key to changing his mind might require an emotional rather than logical approach. Please advise.

Pre-October 7th:

We live in the West and grew up in a conservative Muslim family, both male, I'm 24 and he's 19. We have been pro-palestine since birth. Some channels he watches are Gattsu, Geopold, GDF and Badempanada, doesn't like Hasan much. He's not really into socialist politics/history like me but I think he sympathizes, although he has edgy humor which is sometimes borderline centrist/center-right.

He's a lot better now but as a kid he was really difficult, and my dad and I handled this extremely poorly. I was never physical (unlike sometimes my dad), but I said some putrid shit to him throughout my teens. Regretful shit that makes me stay up at night and breakdown from guilt if I think about too much.

5-6 years ago I mellowed out and thought "man, what the fuck am I doing" and asked him if he wanted to be normal brothers again, to which he enthusiastically agreed. Since then we've had a decent relationship and talk about shows, politics, history, movies, uni stuff, etc. We seldom talk about our feelings, and we never processed that traumatic 10 year period when I was a shitty older brother. Despite going through all this he turned out relatively fine, mostly well-adjusted all things considered.

Post October 7th

At some point in the past 2 years of genocide, he started believing in ZOG (zionist occupied government), which quickly morphed into "jews run the world". According to him, "90% of Israeli and US Jews are pedophile rapist murderers"

  1. He thinks that in modern times, Jews control western nations including US through the media, banks, legal institutions etc.
  2. He knows that Zionists != Jews, but says it doesn't matter to him at this point
  3. Despite my best efforts to explain Israel's role in US imperialism, he still thinks "the middle east wouldnt be as bad" if not for Israel
  4. I've tried explaining that its a symbiosis for US and Israel, and that Israel can't do anything without green light from US, but he thinks Israel can do whatever they want because they're blackmailing US politicians with Epstein
  5. He sends me reels of Israeli rabbis saying crazy shit with Havah Nagilah playing in the background
  6. sent me an Amin al-Husseini x Hitler edit (he joked saying how husseini saw the future and wanted to save his people, and that maybe Hitler was right)
  7. His "evidence" includes verses from the talmud condoning pedophilia and other insane things that many religions also say
  8. He thinks Nick Fuentes is funny, and likes that he is "one of the only far-right people who doesn't utterly despise Muslims/Arabs"

Potential solutions

Basically I've tried explaining with logic why he's wrong but he won't budge. I suspect part of it is because I was shitty to him during his formative years so maybe that's causing some friction. I think the solution will hinge on an emotional approach rather than logical, but I'm not sure what to do.

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[–] loaExMachina@hexbear.net 3 points 3 days ago

See where he gets these theories from and remind him these people have an agenda. Sometimes, getting out of conspiracy theories just done by applying the same scepticism towards the source of the theories as you to towards the media.

What makes more sense in the end of the day, that all the Jews are in on a big millennia old conspiracy, including the poor ones who gain nothing from it, or that those with money and power do all they can to keep expanding it?

It may also be worth mentioning that the places where Jews seem to have a disproportionate place in power usually have historical reasons, concern a minorities of Jews, don't only concern Jews and are blown out of proportions by antisemitic propaganda. I'm thinking of the world of banking and Hollywood. Listing a bunch of famous Jewish names from these places is a common argument for conspiracy theorists, but usury just used to be banned for Christians in some places, which gave some of the few Jewish families who took part in it a headstart. The Genoans and Swiss, who had done away with this rule also had a headstart in banking, and et no one tells conspiracy theorists about them!

[–] DiamatLens@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Unfortunately you can't change most peoples minds with facts and logic when they are emotionally involved. Using a bunch of facts is sometimes OK when the person doesn't have a particular stance, but once they believe what they believe it does take nurturing to change.

It sounds like he knows where you stand on the subject, and it sounds like he is struggling to find male role models in his life. If it were me, I would spend time with him and show him I care about him. Also be your best self, show him that the things you believe create a strong, loving, independent person. And the other people he seems to be looking to for guidance only lead to a hateful, sad life. Not that this is something within most peoples means, but therapy was a huge factor in my own political journey. You should also let him know straight up you feel a great deal of regret about how you treated him in the past, be as honest as possible.

You're right, I do believe the answer to this is an emotional response. And unfortunately you won't get an amazing answer to that on the internet.

[–] UnmarketableTomato@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've posted this question to a bunch of other places online, and this is a common answer. This is actually how I opened up to socialism, by watching Hasan and seeing his lifestyle. I will definitely be apologizing for my past behaviour and looking into therapy (might be difficult since i'm in grad school and he's in college).

[–] DiamatLens@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 3 days ago
[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 6 points 4 days ago

Emphasize the role of kkkristian zionism, an actual real life apocalypse cult

[–] Magicicad@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 5 days ago

Maybe have him meet some antizionist Jews? If he’s not that rabid that is.

[–] Samsuma@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm pretty much in a similar situation with a few changes to details here and there, would definitely love to learn how to help my sibling too. Sadly I learned that you can't just throw facts at them in the hopes that it would neutralize their reactionary fervor..

Is he a reader by any chance?

Sorry to hear that, it really sucks. If you want to see how people responded you can click on my username, I posted this question to a bunch of different communities here. I also posted to reddit, my username is u/dirbe_gbk.

And yea he reads, but I'm not sure he would be interested in reading my recommendations without trusting me emotionally, which I have to build up first.

[–] Red_October@hexbear.net 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Explain that the one thing right-wing conspiracy theories lack is class analysis.

“How is this one ethnic/political/sexuality group actually controlling everything because rich people clearly aren’t the only problem.”

Probably the most common right-wing tactic is to divide the lower classes against each other. Usually with sexism, nationalism, or ideology.

[–] UnmarketableTomato@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I've tried to explain that it's capitalism, not jews but he doesnt buy it. He's just running purely on emotion and (justifiable) anger at what is being done to Palestinians, so he'll twist himself into knots to pin the blame on "da jooz" because its a much easier (and dumber) explanation than trying to understand the global structure of capitalism and imperialism.

[–] Red_October@hexbear.net 3 points 3 days ago

If you haven’t tried this yet; you could explain to him that modern day Israel is completely antithetical to judaism all the way back to the creation of Israel. Zionists were considered right-wing psychos by the majority of other jews before western propaganda conflated the two. Which is why the jews who were already living peacefully in Palestine before the nakba are now kept inside their own ghetto within Israel. They are all extremely pro-Palestine.

The jews as a whole believed in waiting for the return of a prophet to lead them peacefully back to the holy land.

The CIA has done this before when they created the NOI, ISIS, etc. Remember how every Islamic group in the world all said, “ISIS isn’t Islamic. They have nothing to do with us.”

The reason why the elites of western Europe and north America want to completely take over the middle east is so they can still try to maintain control over global trade. Because anyone can see capitalism contains the roots of its own destruction from 150 years away.

They’re conflating Israel with judaism to scapegoat the jews again.

If he doesn’t believe you about that, explain what NATO is and who started it.