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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   27717 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 13, 2024

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If a weaker person punches you as hard as they can and you deck them as hard as you can in return and break their jaw, then you didn't escalate, you just retaliated proportionally.

If you are a bodybuilder, and a woman/child punches you as hard as they can, breaking her jaw would be declasse, to say the least.

Sure, declasse perhaps. But that is because we give special dispensations to kids and historically to women, though these have been eroding. But legally, if you were struck first by a woman then she assaulted you.

But none of these apply to nations anyway. The UK didn't have to allow Argentina to invade just because their GDP was less. We don't really have the concept of child countries where they are not accountable.

But legally, if you were struck first by a woman then she assaulted you.

Legally, sure (well, maybe -- I think that guy who stabbed the kids attacking him in the river went down for murder) -- but everyone will think you are an asshole and be on the lookout for anything else they can pin on you. Which is kind of what's going on with the (less-extreme) anti-Israel sentiment ATM.

But none of these apply to nations anyway.

Again, legally correct -- international law (as Dean points out over and over again) is not really a thing.

But countries that behave in such a way as to turn international sentiment in the direction of "they are kind of assholes all the time, hey" will (may) eventually suffer consequences from that.

But countries that behave in such a way as to turn international sentiment in the direction of "they are kind of assholes all the time, hey" will (may) eventually suffer consequences from that.

That's a different metric though, than claiming it is an escalation. If you want to say you have to weigh your response (and how you spin your response) for real politik reasons, that is absolutely true. But whether it is factually an escalation is different.

"Feelings don't care about your facts" is probably more accurate in politics (which this is) than the obverse.

I agree! And indeed I say that over and over here. But we can still challenge in individual debate where we think someone is factually wrong. If I were still working in politics and tasked with maintaining international support for Israel, I certainly would not go with this argument of course. But I do think that the OP is just wrong that the number of deaths is de facto evidence of escalation.

Instead I would show images over and over of Israeli deaths and dead children. Interviews with everyday Palestinians demanding the death of all Israelis and the like. Feelings, feelings, feelings are where you hit almost everywhere.

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