This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Which internationally-recognized aid organizations have concluded that starvation in Gaza was a myth? Israelis believe Americans are this gullible, that they can just call something a myth and that makes it so, and they can call something true and that makes it so. There’s a reason America’s approval of Israel has been plummeting. Let me guess, the Norwegian Refugee Council is Hamas?
Here’s a helpful list to get you started: 1) American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), (2) A.M. Qattan Foundation, (3) A New Policy, (4) ACT Alliance, (5) Action Against Hunger (ACF), (6) Action for Humanity, (7) ActionAid International, (8) American Baptist Churches Palestine Justice Network, (9) Amnesty International, (10) Asamblea de Cooperación por la Paz, (11) Associazione Cooperazione e Solidarietà (ACS), (12) Bystanders No More, (13) Campain, (14) CARE, (15) Caritas Germany, (16) Caritas Internationalis, (17) Caritas Jerusalem, (18) Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), (19) Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), (20) CESVI Fondazione, (21) Children Not Numbers, (22) Christian Aid, (23) Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), (24) CIDSE- International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations, (25) Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (CISS), (26) Council for Arab‐British Understanding (CAABU), (27) DanChurchAid (DCA), (28) Danish Refugee Council (DRC), (29) Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, (30) Doctors against Genocide, (31) Episcopal Peace Fellowship, (32) EuroMed Rights, (33) Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), (34) Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V., (35) Gender Action for Peace and Security, (36) Glia, (37) Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), (38) Global Witness, (39) Health Workers 4 Palestine, (40) HelpAge International, (41) Human Concern International, (42) Humanity & Inclusion (HI), (43) Humanity First UK, (44) Indiana Center for Middle East Peace, (45) Insecurity Insight, (46) International Media Support, (47) International NGO Safety Organisation, (48) Islamic Relief, (49) Jahalin Solidarity, (50) Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC), (51) Justice for All, (52) Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP), (53) Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, (54) MedGlobal, (55) Medico International, (56) Medico International Switzerland (medico international schweiz), (57) Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), (58) Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), (59) Medicine for the People - Belgium (MPLP/GVHV), (60) Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), (61) Médecins du Monde France, (62) Médecins du Monde Spain, (63) Médecins du Monde Switzerland, (64) Mercy Corps, (65) Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), (66) Movement for Peace (MPDL), (67) Muslim Aid, (68) National Justice and Peace Network in England and Wales, (69) Nonviolence International, (70) Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC), (71) Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), (72) Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), (73) Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), (74) Oxfam International, (75) Pax Christi England and Wales, (76) Pax Christi International, (77) Pax Christi Merseyside, (78) Pax Christi USA, (79) Pal Law Commission, (80) Palestinian American Medical Association, (81) Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), (82) Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), (83) Peace Direct, (84) Peace Winds, (85) Pediatricians for Palestine, (86) People in Need, (87) Plan International, (88) Première Urgence Internationale (PUI), (89) Progettomondo, (90) Project HOPE, (91) Quaker Palestine Israel Network, (92) Rebuilding Alliance, (93) Refugees International, (94) Saferworld, (95) Sabeel‐Kairos UK, (96) Save the Children (SCI), (97) Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, (98) Solidarités International, (99) Støtteforeningen Det Danske Hus i Palæstina, (100) Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER), (101) Terre des Hommes Italia, (102) Terre des Hommes Lausanne, (103) Terre des Hommes Nederland, (104) The Borgen Project, (105) The Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM), (106) The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P), (107) The International Development and Relief Foundation, (108) The Institute for the Understanding of Anti‐Palestinian Racism, (109) Un Ponte Per (UPP), (110) United Against Inhumanity (UAI), (111) War Child Alliance, (112) War Child UK, (113) War on Want, (114) Weltfriedensdienst e.V., (115) Welthungerhilfe (WHH).
Are they all anti-Semitic, or what?
I'm sure there is starvation in Gaza. Israel's claim is that Hamas seizes aid shipments which prevents them from reaching normal Gazans. Whether or not this claim is true, I can't say, and I can't really find any sources that haven't already picked one side or the other to prove or debunk it.
The US / UN did not find evidence of that. There we also easy ways to circumvent that were it happening, like thousands of aerial aid box drop locations or excluding certain men from receiving aid based on the facial recognition software already in use in Gaza. Hamas stealing aid isn’t even something that could be feasibly done in secret as 2% of the population stealing all the aid from starving people would be obviously discernible from drones.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link