The conflict
Here is a short and well written article that could serve as an introduction to what is going on in the Middle East.
And as a point of argument, let me just say that the South African media is sickeningly bias towards the conflict, siding without fail against Israel and always choosing pseudo-pundits from the gallery of 'Arab voices' for its daily sound byte. Make no mistake, behind this conflict is not the state of Israel, but the totalitarian regimes of Syria and Iran, who are greedy, blind and corrupt, without any saving graces.
In South Africa, my life is worth shit in the eyes of the government. They truly could not care less whether I live or die. The Israelis are different. They believe that the life of every member of society is worth the entire society. Society as family, as community. Can you imagine living in such a society? Tears, where did they come from?
There have been Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria since the Six Day War in 1967. They have not given these people citizenship. They have kept their own kind in camps for 40 years. Why? Because these camps provide sons and daughters that can be used as terrorists against Israel, because as long as these camps exist there will be Palestinians searching for a home. The Arab states don’t want peace, because war keeps attention away from their own decrepit regimes. Just like Bush has been playing the patriot card again and again as stories of corruption and deceit have surfaced in the press, so these leaders cry Zionist every time somebody starts talking about the terribility of their regimes.
Their own people. Think of the way Israel treats its people, then think of the way the surrounding Arab states treat theirs, and then and only then can you talk to me about who is the aggressor.
15 comments:
As someone who floats along in blissful ignorance, experiencing minor and selfish panic when I glance at the news, I surprised myself by opening the link and reading the article.
My brain hurt afterwards. I think that means I learnt something...
but I'll keep an open mind.
good for you rebecca
you win a gold star
B: Smug comeback, but appreciated the sentiment.
Funny that you plead apathy, but you have to protect the little guys.
R:
No one should be patted on the back for admitting to ignorance. If you are aware of your ineptitude, ignorance and naivete, you should attempt to repair it as soon as possible. It is best not to proudly proclaim it, because you are asking for a beating.
"No one should be patted on the back for admitting to ignorance."
Anonymous
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
Socrates
Anonymous:
I didn't feel as though I were being praised for my ignorance - maybe patronised but certainly not praised - and I wasn't declaring it proudly either. I was being self - deprecating, an English trait that Anthropologists (Nb Kate Fox) will tell you is nigh on impossible to shrug off. Surely if I were truly ignorant, I wouldn't know I were ignorant.
However I was showing a willingness to learn about something I find difficult to understand and I don't think that I, or anyone, should be belittled for that. If I were a weaker character I could be put off forever!
b:
I passed your message on to Tinus. He looked thoughtful before walking away.
Tinus always looks thoughtful before walking away.
:)
b: You aren't responsible for me but thanks anyway.
Hein: I believe you are correct.
All: I can't tell you whether Tinus still looked thoughtful after he had walked away because he had his back to me. I can tell you that he needs his hair cut.
Don't ask me - I'm ignorant.
I'm glad you learned something.
I'm glad that you're not a weak character, because weaklings don't do well on this blog e.g.'Twee-duisend-and-ses' but I don't take any of what I said back.
Self-deprecating or not, fix it.
Fuck Kate Fox.
I will do my level best to 'pull myself together'. Thanks for all the advice everyone. It has been an emotional experience.
B: You are a fucking gender-biased hypocrite.
I support my hypothesis with the following:
Your comment in:
Case 1
I have already mentioned the following:
‘’As my 12-jarige seuntjie eendag so 'n gedig na my aangesleep bring sal ek vir hom se dis oulik maar jy kan beter.’’
Case 2
‘’Following on from DCM’s post regarding the 25 most popular nouns, I thought it would be interesting to see how relatively popular those nouns are on Google.’’
Case 3
And then, one day, it comes up in conversation and a friend doesn’t know anything about it, and you take great pleasure in scolding the shit out of him.
(yes, you would repeat this same mistake)
It is easy to see right through your comments. You probably patronize everybody around you all the time and then write saintly philosophical views that make you irresistible to your female fan d…cunning skill of hypnotism.
If you look at the significance of my statement in your life you will probably find a correlation of 1.
This is my gift to the voiceless.
Anonymous, a practical approach 2 war is always impressive
On a impartial level of course
Hopping ignorantly you’re not a self inflicted faceless cunt
Anon
If you knew anything about life
at all then you would know that hurting someone else does not make one feel better about oneself.
You chose the wrong target. You were looking for it and you will never live to see the end of it.
Now you can go back to your sad, dreary life and get help.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get a life...and to start with, stop spending an inordinate amount of time on the internet.
It is destroying your life.
Get counselling.
Anon,
you're a jerk... A complete asshole
... a complete kneebiter'
Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged
(wikipedia)
Here in New Zealand, it is fair to describe the media as having only a slight Palestine/Lebanon bias. But I would suggest that that bias is ever so slight, and due solely to the fact that so many innocents are currently dying as a result of Israel's actions. (That is, more innocents are dying as a result of Israel's actions than innocent Israeli's are dying as a result of rocket attacks and suicide bombings. Both outcomes are equally abhorent.)
What is very noticeable is Israel's continued strategy of decsribing (rightly or wrongly) its opponents as "terrorists". I hate that term. War is terror, period.
I don't think that anyone ought to be hounded for their ignorance of the ongoing conflict between Israel and her neighbours. After all, that conflict is entirely incomprehensible to reasonable human beings. I suggest that if you understand it, there is something wrong with you. (You might know the history, but do you really understand what it takes for a person to strap on a TNT jacket with the intention of killing innocent humans? Do you really understand what it must take to order the bombing of a civilian facility?)
Paul.
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