- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
- nottheonion@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
- nottheonion@lemmy.world
This article is about Germany rapidly increasing defence spending, and also the fact that they’re considering conscription. I also found this interesting:
A recent YouGov poll showed that 79% of Germans still see Vladimir Putin as “very” or “quite” dangerous to European peace and security. Now 74% said the same for Donald Trump.
Thoughts?
No, I want people to use their brains again. And leave that bullshit reality behind were everything is about narratives over actual facts and arguments and every conflict is a fucking teamsport with the goal to scream your side’s narrative the loudest.
I would love to criticise Israel’s genocidal settler policies and their even worse actions in Gaza right now, but without fucking antisemites loudly agreeing how Israel needs to be destroyed while some neonazis (of all possible “allies” of Israel) insult me as a supporter of muslim extremist terrorists.
I would love to criticise Hamas attacks on Israel without being lextured by some mentally unstable leftists about how there was no attack but only an act of self-defense (preferably on stage with well-ducumented antisemites), or criticise the morons cheering and distributing candy on the streets in Germany when those attacks happened without some room-temperature IQ nazi agreeing because that scum should be deported anyway.
I would love to discuss Germany’s actual support of Israel and the implications objectively. I would love to talk about dual-use stuff like com equipment or spare parts for motors and how they should not be delivered at all while missiles to shoot down drones are a completely different thing… but I won’t do so with people screaming about anti-air frigattes (for a country actually actively attacked by neighbours) being support for a Palestinian genocide; neither will I discuss this with people that pretend that this pseudo-fascist club of fanatics in Israel’s government is sane…
In short: I would love to in fact not focus on any one aspect, because there are a lot of factors in a complex situation. And most certainly there is no black and white. But at the moment both sides are mostly insane, and even the ones seeming somewhat sane happily stand beside extremist morons if those happen to sing the correct “team song” at that moment. And so I will keep disrupting both side’s narratives -that exactly lead nowhere ever- with details that don’t fit the story, because we need to leave those stories (and the tribal sentiments) behind.
You say you want nuance, yet your language is anything but. Criticising genocide and state violence isn’t tribalism. It’s recognising power asymmetry. When you deny that asymmetry, you support the oppressor by default.
Dual-use tech and military platforms do enable broader operations, including blockade and control. Acknowledging that isn’t a team sport. It’s responsibility. Claiming you are effectively censored because of other extremists is performative centrism.
And with this I achieved my ultimate bingo being called a genocidal israeli nazi, a jew hating terrorist supporter and a performative centrist in the last 48 hours… all in reaction to arguing the exact same points each time. 🎉
Not per se. But if criticising a genocide is seen as invalid if it doesn’t also include that the respective other side is blameless and faultless, then it is indeed about the tribalism. If the fact that Palestinians for decades refused a two state-solution just like Israel in combination with slogans like “from the river to the sea” -thus also seeing a genocide as the only satisfying solution- does take away from or in any way diminishes Israel’s genocide, you might care more about “your team” than about people dying.
Which is exactly the reasons why I already stated that “they should not be delivered” in my comment above. But the thing here is that we won’t have that rational discussion about them when people still loudly scream at anti-air frigattes as support for a genocide. Ffs… even the aforementioned helmets ould fit that category better.
At this point, it’s clear this isn’t a good-faith exchange. I’m done engaging, but I stand by everything I’ve said and I trust that readers can distinguish substance from noise.