דער קערפער פֿון השםMar 10

To get home from my coffee spot I go up a 125ft public staircase. The posts along it have stickers and graffiti etc. This one is new. Wasn't there Sunday.

I'm anti-war and anti-state. The thing about much of the anti-Israel critique that strikes me as odd is what looks like an underlying assumption that Israel is the greatest evil in the world, which has some troubling implications. Where's the criticism of Amazon's relationship with the US military and policing?

We're arguably in the top 5 worst major nations on earth for human rights and mass murder of all time. US and Russia dominate in this area in the post-war period, followed closely by China. Israel, also very violent, is a lower tier. I'd stack them with Myanmar, Turkey, maybe Iran.

The focus on active military violence isn't inappropriate, but special isolation of Israel smacks of an older, more troubling western view of Jews rather than an accurate geopolitical assessment of Israel the country.

But what do I know anyway? 🤔

Show threadStabbiMar 12
@dukepaaron it gives the same vibe as the scapegoating of Hitler and the Nazis for the crimes of colonialism. They're horrible people, but they weren't Leopold in the Congo, or the British in India. I think people are attempting to launder the sins of neoliberalism onto israel and Trump in the same way.
That's kinda the problem with the great man theory of life.
Show threadדער קערפער פֿון השםMar 12

@Stabbi I think you are exactly right. Add in the traditional anglo/European scapegoat to the mix and there we have it.

Also, it's really funny to me when Americans perceive their government acting independently of them but everyone else in the world is complicit. Says something about us.

Show threadStabbiMar 12
@dukepaaron Perhaps it has something to do with alienation. Interacting with the US government is deliberately made as difficult as possible and the people with power only socialize with others in power. So that means that the only real way we can interact is through violence, but there are two key problems. We have no clear target, and statistically speaking very few people are comfortable harming others.
Show threadדער קערפער פֿון השםMar 12
@Stabbi I don't question the individual to govt disconnect. I question the lack of reciprocity with citizens of other countries. Americans absolve ourselves of culpability and assume culpability for everyone else on earth with some right/left exceptions.
Show threadStabbi
@dukepaaron I see what you mean. Though I have been seeing less of this mindset over time, especially when Tiktok and rednote came around. I think this is the sort of thing that happens when you are connected across the globe, but don't actually have personal connections to someone or somewhere.
Then again, this seems to also be a problem in Europe so perhaps it's part of the abusive tradition.
Mar 13 at 1:19pmWeb