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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

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But it's not only that, and you are putting forth a strawman. I'm sure the men who drove a truck bomb into Beirut and killed two hundred Americans knew exactly what 'Death to America' meant: killing Americans.

No, they didn't just kill two hundred random Americans, they very specifically killed two hundred Marines who were associated with the Israeli invaders of their country. Then when Reagan responded by withdrawing from Lebanon they ceased further attacks rather than pressing the advantage to start targeting defenseless tourists

Kind of proves the point of the fellow you're replying to: "Death to America" is shorthand for "Death to the American government", which is shorthand for "Death to the American Empire", which is shorthand for "Death to the American Empire in countries with Shia populations that are occupied against their will". If it just meant "kill Americans!" then they'd go for tourists rather than Marines and they'd do it all the time rather than almost exclusively against armed troops in Shia countries.

I cannot help but notice that is the logic of Saddam Hussein, who also justified 9/11 by the civilians who were 'associated' with Israel by the dint of democracy. The marines of Beirut were there to evacuate and protect the PLO. 58 Frenchmen died, as well. They were there to protect the PLO, are they all associated with Israel, too? That military presence was by the invitation of the legitimate government of Lebanon.

I'd go into how indiscriminate a truck bomb is as a weapon, but if you're going to apologize for Hezbollah then it's not really a conversation I want to have.

I cannot help but notice that you aren't very good at logic if you think blowing up a bunch of Marines on foreign soil is in any way comparable to blowing up American civilians in an NYC skyscraper.

If Reagan thought Hezbollah just wanted to indiscriminately kill Americans then why did he withdraw from Lebanon and how did said withdrawal succeed in ending Hezbollah attacks on Americans? It's almost like your argument makes no sense whatsoever except in some sort of counterjihadi fever dream