I guess not strictly news - but with all of the vitriol I have seen in discussions on the Israel situation, that have boiled down to arguments over wording, I feel that this take from the BBC is worthy of some discussion.

Mods, feel free to remove if this is not newsy enough.

  • Nighed@sffa.communityOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    73
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    The well known phrase is “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”. I Imagine from their point of view, Israel is the ‘terrorist’ group, routinely bombing apartment buildings etc and that their actions are a proportionate counter (recent events nonwithstanding!)

    Both sides of the current conflict have/are committing atrocities, but the reporting of those atrocities should be as factual and unbiased as possible.

    • wewbull@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      The best way I’ve heard it described is that they both view the other group of people as existential evil. Far beyond enemies, something which is evil just for existing. Not just the militaries, but the nation, race, state, religion, whatever classification. With that viewpoint, any action you take can be justified. Just as nobody would think twice about killing a million mosquito larvae in a country that has thousands die from malaria, killing a few thousand of the other side is morally neutral at worst.

      This is going to continue to be horrific for a while.

      • audiomodder@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        44
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        So do you call the Israeli army terrorists? Because they’ve done all of those things to an even greater extent than Hamas has.

      • Pratai@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        36
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        You know, they BOTH do that shit, right? It’s important that you know this.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          12
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          The military prosecuted and convicted the leader who ordered the killings, so implying the US military condones these actions is really stupid

          Regardless of the wrist-slap the criminal President gave him, he was convicted. There is no legal recourse after a Presidential commutation.

          • thoro@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            My Lai was not an isolated incident.

            Only one involved was convicted as stated, but then completely let off so who cares? The higher ups that enabled it were completely let off. Others who were involved in the cover up completely let off. The whistleblowers, etc were shunned and ostracized by the military for decades.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              10
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              so who cares

              Being that is invalidates the point you were making, you should care.

              But then, your only interest in contrarianism, so no one really gives a fuck about your opinion either, you sick fucking terrorist apologist.

          • angrymouse@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            18
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            But complaining about whataboutism while you ignore the problem everytime somoeone powerfull or ally does sucks the same. A war of suckers.

            • Pratai@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              5
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              But redirecting attention away from the topic being discussed just so you can whine about someone else doing the same makes it appear as if you’re justifying it so long as someone else does it.

              Stop doing this. It’s juvenile and muddies the water. You want to discuss how shitty America is, do it in its own post where that can be discussed in full. Here, it doesn’t belong.

              • angrymouse@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                4
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                I’m not trying to do that, I’m trying to understand how to international interests interact with the war, if you really want to understand international conflicts you should do this all the time.

                Saying “Hammas bad” is much more juvenile, and is equivalent of saying “fart” for the discussion

          • gregorum@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            16
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            And while you have every right to your opinion, your opinion isn’t a newsworthy or relevant fact.