I'm not a big fan of the "We're at war so it's okay" thing.
But then I don't see war as morally neutral. Things can get rather complicated and messy on the ground, but I'm skeptical of the claim that on the grand scale wars never have good guys or bad guys, that it's impossible to determine who's the aggressor and who's the defender.
And I'm sorry, but Israel-as-defender is a narrative that has lost all meaning for me and that I now unequivocally reject. It makes no historical sense whatsoever and trying to make it make sense does violence to every single moral principle of Western liberal democracy we Americans like to pretend we hold dear.
Even if we pretend history started 20-30 years ago it still doesn't make sense. The dominant Israeli narrative of the "war" involves looking at thrown rocks and baseball bats and "missiles" that are glorified firecrackers and have casualty rates in the *single digits* every time every time a new barrage comes and imagining it to be the entire Nazi army with banners waving at the gates.
I just can't stomach it anymore. It almost literally makes me sick.
Unrelated to the main topic, but I'm having a tough time controlling my emotions in this response
But then I don't see war as morally neutral. Things can get rather complicated and messy on the ground, but I'm skeptical of the claim that on the grand scale wars never have good guys or bad guys, that it's impossible to determine who's the aggressor and who's the defender.
And I'm sorry, but Israel-as-defender is a narrative that has lost all meaning for me and that I now unequivocally reject. It makes no historical sense whatsoever and trying to make it make sense does violence to every single moral principle of Western liberal democracy we Americans like to pretend we hold dear.
Even if we pretend history started 20-30 years ago it still doesn't make sense. The dominant Israeli narrative of the "war" involves looking at thrown rocks and baseball bats and "missiles" that are glorified firecrackers and have casualty rates in the *single digits* every time every time a new barrage comes and imagining it to be the entire Nazi army with banners waving at the gates.
I just can't stomach it anymore. It almost literally makes me sick.