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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   41966 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 8, 2025

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because I'm not sure what the correct response should be to the government murdering 86 people, including 54 women and children, without much remorse.

Ideally, you strike out directly at the responsible parties, if you're enacting violence.

My main critique (by no means ONLY) of these sorts of smallish scale rebellion is they're simply not targeted at the people who were actually responsible for the acts you're trying to punish. Sometimes you can't actually hit them, which is often true in asymetric wars. But I genuinely do not think it an excuse for going after unrelated members of their organization, or civilians who are at best tangentially connected.

That's gangland tactics, of course.

That's also why, JUST AS AN EXAMPLE, Israel's repeated successful destruction of the entire leadership structure of their biggest enemies is impressive to me. If every war could be fought such that really only the heads of the respective states/organizations were killed it'd be a vast improvement across the board. Its about the only 'moral' way to prosecute such a conflict.

Ideally, you strike out directly at the responsible parties, if you're enacting violence.

Fun fact: after reading Unintended Consequences McVeigh actually said that he might have gone with sniper attacks rather than the bombing, had he read the book first.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_Consequences_(novel)#Timothy_McVeigh_controversy

I would like to subscribe to receive more "McVeigh Facts".

If every war could be fought such that really only the heads of the respective states/organizations were killed it'd be a vast improvement across the board.

Have you seen any pictures out of Gaza recently, or seen any of the stories about what's happening? I don't think you're making the point you think you're making if you've actually seen what the strip looks like now.

That doesn't contradict my point.

Indeed, I would make the same grievance about the Ukraine situation.

My sympathy for Hamas in particular is in short supply since they targeted bystanders/civilians to kick off festivities.

There's ample room for EVERYONE involved to be horrible.

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