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PaperclipPerfector  11d ago (text post)   28322 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

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  • i don't really care much for the "US has done bad things argument". "All is fair in love and war" (well, within reason), so supporting some shady guys doesn't really faze me. However, this is why I don't understand the moral outrage about Iran and it's proxies.
  • You did a bit more then "send some guns" in Afghanistan, these guys were joined to you at the hip.
  • I'll need more than your sayso to believe the "effectively the same as an additional military arm of the state" bit. Exaggerating the enemies' transgressions and downplaying your own is basic human nature, and something that every human collective has done since the dawn of time. The US military, intelligence, and foreign policy apparatus is also no different from that of other states, in that it lies all the time to promote it's goels. All in all you might sell me on the difference of scale (show me the numbers, though), but I don't know if I can buy the difference in kind, unless it's argued by a neutral observer (and I don't know if one even exists right now).

I......I... the US and Iran are not the same.

The US has just like every other country and organization in the history of the world done bad shit at times. In the US when this has been discovered it has usually resulted in scandal, firings, and at times jail. Generally speaking the really bad stuff has been an accident or orthogonal to the goal.

Iran's explicit foreign policy is terrorism. They fund and support the rape and murder of civilians for personal gain, they support the destabilized situation in one of the world' biggest misery factories (Gaza). They do this to such an extent that it seems that stopping their terrorists was an existential threat, and is how we got the current awful situation.

Support of these things is....bad. It has eroded international norms, changed our relationship with unacceptable tactics like using hospitals as military bases.

Somehow they've run a highly successful pro-terrorism PR campaign that has dramatically damaged the Western coalition.

These things....are not the same.

The US has just like every other country and organization in the history of the world done bad shit at times. In the US when this has been discovered it has usually resulted in scandal, firings, and at times jail.

First of all, who went to prison for sponsoring the FSA or Afghan kiddie-diddlers? Secondly, which part of "I don't care" don't you understand? I think various states, including the US , have done a lot worse things than sponsoring terrorism, so I don't fret over you doing it, and I won't over Iran doing it either.

Generally speaking the really bad stuff has been an accident or orthogonal to the goal.

Literally everybody says that.

Iran's explicit foreign policy is terrorism.

Do you happen to have a link the an official Iranian policy statement that explicitly promotes terrorism?

They do this to such an extent that it seems that stopping their terrorists was an existential threat, and is how we got the current awful situation.

To who does it seem this way? Iran didn't start bombing people until you attacked them, so I don't see how it would be existential to them. It's definitely not existential to the US, and even calling it this for Israel seems like a massive stretch.

Support of these things is....bad. It has eroded international norms, changed our relationship with unacceptable tactics like using hospitals as military bases.

Again, I see no reason to attribute it directly to Iran. The US or Israel do not answer for the crimes of every proxy they sponsor.

Somehow they've run a highly successful pro-terrorism PR campaign that has dramatically damaged the Western coalition.

Do you want to know what the PR campaign was? It was your little "global war on terror", that promised to bring peace and stability to the region if only you topple Saddam Hussein, and only brought death, misery, and more terrorism, immediately lined up Iran as the next "final boss" who's fall is supposed to bring peace, and is already prepping to set up the next one after that. All Iran had to do was sit back, and let you do you work.

First of all, who went to prison for sponsoring the FSA or Afghan kiddie-diddlers?

If you were to run for office on the platform of putting Ben Rhodes, John Podesta, and Hilary Clinton in prison for life I'd vote for you, but until you do, I think the lady doth protest too much.

In my defense, it's literally impossible for me to do so. I don't live in America, and even if I moved there and got citizenship, I would not be eligable to run.

That said, he's the one that made the argument that these type of people go to prison, I think it's reasonable to ask if this is indeed the case, no?

For someone who resides outside the US, that is understandable, but coming from someone residing in the US your comment above could easily be interpreted as advocating a system of "Rules for Thee but not for Me".

These types of people have not been going to prison for a while and there in lies the rub.

I'm not sure if I understand you right, but it sounds that you think I'd have something against jailing Rhodes, Podesta, or Clinton, which is far from the case.

"Rules for Thee but not for Me", and "These types of people have not been going to prison for a while and there in lies the rub" are exactly the points I was trying to raise.

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