naraburns nihil supernum
1yr ago
(text post)
29416 thread views
Israel-Gaza Megathread #1
This is a megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
I would hope they would update their priors on Palestine and Hamas even just a little bit or at the very least look at the situation and have better PR for a few days and pretend to have a minimum of sympathy even if they didn't change their opinion. At lot of the people they killed and captured weren't even Israelis or Jews.
I think you are, unfortunately, very naive about the human condition.
People who strongly update their priors, beliefs, and are open to admitting that they are wrong tend to not make it very far socially, in elite circles, local or international politics.
I unfortunately understand too well that's how people are when it comes to admitting they are wrong. However, I have an extremely low opinion of DSA type people and I really don't think most have sincerely held beliefs or principles so I thought they'd just react to this and at least pretend to care about Israel civilians for a few days before they go onto their new fashionable belief. And for the ones that do have that sincere belief, I thought they'd at least pretend to care and have good PR for a few days until Israel blows up a hospital with civilians in it and they can walk back their "support" and go back to hating Israel publicly. Neither of these turned out to be true though and these reactions did surprise me. That so many leftists would come out and say that Israelis civilians deserve to die and had this coming is extremely shocking to me. I will straight up admit I am not a fan of these kinds of people, but I actually expected more sympathy out of them. Maybe I am naive.
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Why are you shocked? Support for Israel is Team Red-coded in America.
American political theater is so polarized Blue team in America could ritualistically eat babies and people still wouldn't vote for Team Red.
I would hope they would update their priors on Palestine and Hamas even just a little bit or at the very least look at the situation and have better PR for a few days and pretend to have a minimum of sympathy even if they didn't change their opinion. At lot of the people they killed and captured weren't even Israelis or Jews.
I think you are, unfortunately, very naive about the human condition.
People who strongly update their priors, beliefs, and are open to admitting that they are wrong tend to not make it very far socially, in elite circles, local or international politics.
I unfortunately understand too well that's how people are when it comes to admitting they are wrong. However, I have an extremely low opinion of DSA type people and I really don't think most have sincerely held beliefs or principles so I thought they'd just react to this and at least pretend to care about Israel civilians for a few days before they go onto their new fashionable belief. And for the ones that do have that sincere belief, I thought they'd at least pretend to care and have good PR for a few days until Israel blows up a hospital with civilians in it and they can walk back their "support" and go back to hating Israel publicly. Neither of these turned out to be true though and these reactions did surprise me. That so many leftists would come out and say that Israelis civilians deserve to die and had this coming is extremely shocking to me. I will straight up admit I am not a fan of these kinds of people, but I actually expected more sympathy out of them. Maybe I am naive.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
But enough about Marina Abramović.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link