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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 28, 2024

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transparent pro-Israel astroturfing

Do you really think any sort of organized group is interested in astroturfing themotte? No organization is paying people to type up comments to be read by ~200 people max.

I would think 'terrorism' a discredited label, counterproductive in most cases, especially in the context of distant desert squabbles.

It's not. Terrorism is pretty consistently using violence targetted specifically at civilians in order to enact political change. Hamas sometimes acts like a legitimate military force, but they also do things like cafe bombings and parading kidnapped naked women through the streets. And notably the leadership doesn't disavow those actions and put any fighters who commit acts like that on trial.