I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding about the point of a retaliatory military strike. The tit for tat bean counting with human lives isn’t even a large part of the calculus ultimately.

Not retaliating is seen as a sign of weakness which would serve to undermine NATO’s military stance of absolute first strike authority at anytime for any reason. Allowing Iran to attack US troops without a military response is relinquishing, in some small way, the US backed monopoly on violence. Right, wrong, or indifferent that is simply not something that will be allowed to happen.

This was fantastic information. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post, I sincerely appreciate it.

I actually came from a previous retail background as well, and built a small business from 1 location making $1.5 million annually to four locations making $20 million annually in 6.5 years. The owner made the decision to sell the business after surviving all of the stress during COVID, and that is what started me back on my education journey.

I developed basically every system in that business myself from the ground up, through blood sweat and tears. So for this next chapter of my life I am looking to take my career more in the tech mercenary direction for lack of a better term where I am out to focus on developing my own skills in order to live the life I want to live on my own terms as much as is reasonably possible.

So, your advice really resonates with me, and was an extremely valuable addition to my thought process.

Thank you for your response. I think my main concern with no acquiring a degree is being taken seriously as a candidate for jobs. I also want to make sure that I set myself up for success my acquiring the foundational knowledge that will allow me to be a quick efficient learner as I am presented with opportunities to learn new technologies. I will take this advice under advisement though, and make sure that I am being a good consumer in how I spend my money. I am definitely looking to maximize my return on investment, and cut out all the fluff from the education process where possible.

I really hate the destruction or attempted destruction of art in order to bring awareness to a social cause. I get in this case the painting is highly protected, but there have been plenty of other instances where this has happened to other art where that wasn’t the case.

Not only are you a self-entitled piece of shit for tying to destroy something that is on display for public enjoyment, but you are virtually guaranteeing that anybody who didn’t already agree with you won’t take you seriously because you are acting like such a piece of shit.

Seriously, there are a lot of legitimate reasons for civil disobedience and public protest. This is not the way to go about that, and if you think it is then fuck you in particular.

Edit: I didn’t think this was going to be such a divisive issue. After some further research I am retracting my earlier statement about other art being damaged in these protests because I don’t see much evidence for that after all. It seems like these protestors are often targeting art they know will get maximum media exposure without causing lasting damage.

HOWEVER, I still think this type of action is counterproductive when you are trying to, hopefully, win over people that either do not support or are not aware of your message. Collective action is an effective means to make change in society. I am, again, not disputing that. I just think that if the goal is to gain broad support for your cause you need to choose targets that are more representative of that cause; rather than art, which does get media exposure, but which ultimately serves to obfuscate or overshadow the true purpose behind your protest. Being savvy about your target audience goes further and deeper into the social zeitgeist than simply getting headlines for being angsty.

To be fair that person did actually invite me to critique them. I wouldn’t have invested that much energy into responding otherwise.

Nevertheless, I don’t envision getting in any disputes with you where you literally ask me to publicly dress you down. So I think you’re safe 😅

It’s kind of sad to see someone who has such a good grasp of the English language waste it on going on a wild diatribe

I appreciate that, thank you. You’re quite the wordsmith in your own right. With that being said, I still don’t like you.

I only wish that you become a better person and grow out of this eventually.

Ditto. It would seem there are two points on which we can agree.

I won’t belabor this conversation anymore. I said my piece, and you said yours. Therefore we are at an impasse. I don’t hate you, but I don’t respect you either. My guess is you probably feel the same. If we each consider the other to be a fool’s messenger then at least we have parted on common ground.

Sure, all of these comments are a fantastic example of the “other-ing” of Palestinians, while reinforcing and white-washing Zionist ideology.

• You reference the birthrate of Palestinians followed by the subtle inclusion of the pronoun “them” or “these people” to indicate exclusion, isolation, and a removal of identity.

• In that same comment you imply that it is unjust or unethical for Palestinians to fight for their own culture or statehood while tacitly ignoring the fact that the post-WWII Zionist movement regularly used terrorism which they justified via ethno-supremacist ideology and a perceived divine right in order to claim land that was already occupied. This is so laughably hypocritical that no good faith actor would make such a fallacious argument.

• You argue that it is reasonable for Israel to use whatever cruelties they deem necessary in order to maintain the sanctity and security of their ethno-supremacist state. This includes indefinite detention and support of a crypto-fascist strongman leader. The reasoning you provide is “well other countries do it to”. Yes, the most famous of which was Nazi Germany. It is not a mistake or merely a coincidence that Israel employs many of the same tactics that were used by Nazi Germany as there is a strong historical link between modern day Likud and Lehi who repeatedly sought to form an alliance with the Third Reich.

• This same link between Lehi’s support for National Socialist ideology and Lehi’s influence on modern day Likud also provides historical context surrounding the justification for and continued expansion of settlements for Israeli Lebensraum.

• Curiously you do not see the hypocrisy with supporting any and all Israeli “security measures” when that was precisely the justification that the Third Reich gave for preserving the pure Aryan heritage of their own ethno-supremacist state after the crippling sanctions that were imposed upon the Weimar Republic after WWI.

• You paint Hamas as common thieves for having the audacity to sell HEBREW ARTIFACTS as though they have no right to even touch such holy relics from a superior culture. I’m taking some liberty here because while you did not say that directly, I am comfortable asserting that you certainly implied it along the way.

• You also fail to mention that Israel has repeatedly destroyed cultural heritage sites, and continuously attempts to rewrite history by dead-naming anything that does not fit with the perception of an exclusively Jewish historicity in the region.

Beyond all this though, I find you to be ethically bankrupt, bigoted, hypocritical, and proud of supporting the same kind of behavior that you would find abhorrent if it were being done to you. Anybody who supports the mass killing of civilians over religious, ethnic, or socioeconomic differences I consider to be sociopathic and evil. It doesn’t matter what the historical context is, that behavior is unacceptable. I don’t give a fuck what Abrahamic religion they subscribe to, or which god they think gave them the go ahead. It is wrong, it will always be wrong, and continuing with more wrongs only leads to even more evil. So for those reasons I find your positions to be morally repugnant, and worthy of scorn.

^ and this person openly supports the continuation of the in-group vs. out-group apartheid ideology that is being used to justify the mass murder and forced relocation of civillians in the name of Israeli Lebensraum.

Probably shouldn’t be throwing stones from your glass house there sweetheart 😘

Abiding by a set of ethics dictates doing your part even when the power of that individual action may be small. Collective actions on ethical principals is what changes the world, but doing so requires persistence in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Everybody can do something by boycotting companies who are supporting the Israeli occupation. Any economic impact, no matter how small, adds up over time. Whatever you can do to negatively impact Israel’s economic viability is worth your time.

https://bdsmovement.net/

Wait until you read about the Samson Option…

restoring the ethnic makeup of geographic areas to the way they were in a history book

Jesus fucking christ, how do you think you have the moral high-ground when in the process of exhibiting your smug, superiority complex you are criticizing the Palestinians for trying to do the exact fucking thing that the Israeli’s already did. Don’t answer that because I know whatever you are going to say is going to be precisely the kind of sick, demented justification that has allowed this conflict to continue for as long as it has in the first place.

I think about this and reference it all the time in real life. Nobody else I know IRL is a serious Trekkie though, so they have no idea what the context is unfortunately. It is still so damn impressive to me how many things they got right in that episode from an overall societal context: homelessness, ghettoization, gentrification, class warfare, global corporatization, etc. It really is one of the better social commentaries in all of Star Trek in my humble opinion.

^ This is the correct answer.

The single most insufferable person I have ever had the displeasure of hearing communicate verbally in my three decades of life on this planet.

I’m not sure if you’re interested in the atheist debate sphere at all, if you are then you should give him a listen. He’s a Catholic apologist and presuppositionalist who debates on Discord.

Be warned though, he is fucking awful. If you listen to him debate for more than 30 minutes in one sitting you’re liable to suffer psychological trauma. He’s that bad, not kidding.

The moment I realized I never wanted to moderate a Discord server was the first time I heard a Darth Dawkins debate on YouTube.

Hey man, don’t bring Lauren Boebert’s family into this!!!

You made a whataboutism argument that flagrantly flies in the face of the core point, which is that Israel’s government & military are currently controlled by a radical right wing, crypto-fascist, ethno-supremacist, and hyper-religious political party that has members who have OPENLY AND PUBLICLY SUPPORTED ETHNIC CLEANSING. Why you feel the need to counter that point with, but, but, but, IT’S NOT AS BAD AS MOSUL is truly just frustratingly stupid. I don’t support the mass killing of civilians in their own homeland anywhere in the world. Why is that so fucking hard to understand?

the sentiments on this site are no longer representative of truth

You are not the arbiter of truth.

or popular opinion as dissent is being filtered out.

The popularity of an idea has absolutely no bearing on its merits or validity.