naraburns nihil supernum
1yr ago
(text post)
29892 thread views
Israel-Gaza Megathread #1
This is a megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
No electricity, water, or fuel for Gaza until hostages freed - Israel
Israel's Energy Minister Israel Katz says the siege of Gaza will not end until Israeli hostages are released.
In a social media post, Israel Katz said no "electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter" until the "abductees" are free.
I think this is a smart move. Even if the hostages being released remains very unlikely, it puts more of the moral burden for the siege on the Gazans, who do (broadly) support Hamas.
At this point the optics don't matter. I genuinely believe that Israel could detonate some tactical nuclear weapons in Gaza, killing everybody there, including the prisoners, and would suffer almost no negative consequences for it.
Israel, and by extension the Jewish diaspora, has an absolute grasp on western media and government. During the American house speaker recall debate, one of the congresswomen gave a speech explaining that we should keep McCarthy as speaker because he has done the most to bring other congressmen to Israel. Major American policy debates center around support for Israel, a small foreign country.[1]
The Palestinian terror attacks were a type of brutality I don't think anybody in the modern western world has ever seen before. They were uniquely horrific, and I think this will be remembered as a turning point in modern history the same way that 9/11 was.
Israel is out for blood, and nobody in the west with any real power is going to stop them.
And by the way: good for them. I, a Catholic American, am jealous (although jealous is the wrong word since that sortof implies an animosity, which I have none of) of the power that the Jewish people have. Much of my criticism of The Church centers around not behaving more like The Jews. Why no Catholic equivalent to "Birthright Israel"? Why not make Catholics learn latin anymore? These are good things that people should do.
(Although I don't think they should be nuking Palestine.)
And by the way: good for them. I, a Catholic American, am jealous (although jealous is the wrong word since that sortof implies an animosity, which I have none of) of the power that the Jewish people have.
For this, you would need to invent some "secular Catholic" identity and community, where someone who never went to Church, who does not obey and does not care about any of Catholic religious laws, someone who does not know transubstantiation from transmission, someone whose only connection to Catholicism is that some of his ancestors were sprinkled with water by priest hundreds years ago, would still identify as proud Catholic.
No. This is borderline not being Catholic yourself especially how others are expressing it in the comments.
Catholicism is NOT an ethnicity. It’s not nationalism. It should never be an ethnicity or a nation. It’s about following Christ of which includes following the Church as the representative of Christ on earth.
I want nothing to do with people who want a culture Catholic ethnicity.
As brutal as the Spanish were there is a reason why Mayans and Aztecs today are mostly all Catholic. They were still viewed as brothers capable of embracing Christ.
No. This is borderline not being Catholic yourself especially how others are expressing it in the comments.
An absurd statement. I want my literal sisters, my literal mother and father, and some of my friends, who have fallen off of the faith, to remember that they are still baptized, confirmed catholics and should return to Church with me every Sunday when I invite them to mass with me.
I'm not describing diluting the faith. I'm advocating for a more traditional interpretation of it where people assign more importance and value to it.
A more traditional interpretation of the faith would be the apostles and the saints. You don’t really get to have preferences for friends and family though it’s very human. The mission is to care for all the same and bring all into the faith. It’s one reason why Priest don’t have family’s so they don’t have biases versus caring for the whole community. Now not all are called to be Priest and Saints and you probably do have some special caring for family.
But using Jews specifically as an example Catholicism is not an ethnic community. We aren’t a chosen people. It gets a little dangerous to look at how Jews a religion by birth and apply their way of doing things to a universal church. Jews are in someways a blood cult. Catholics are not.
You've completely lost me here. I think Catholics should learn latin and should consider their faith a central part of their life and their family's life.
Anything else you're reading here you're misunderstanding.
And I’m saying that’s not the message of Catholicism or Christianity. Other than consider faith a central part of their life. That’s emphasizing tradition and well not the core messages of Christianity.
An emphasis on Latin especially. While that’s can be a fun tradition and a part it’s also exclusionary and Catholicism is a universal church for all which implies most would need their mother tongue. It’s the message that matters not the language.
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
No electricity, water, or fuel for Gaza until hostages freed - Israel
[From the BBC news live tracker]
I think this is a smart move. Even if the hostages being released remains very unlikely, it puts more of the moral burden for the siege on the Gazans, who do (broadly) support Hamas.
At this point the optics don't matter. I genuinely believe that Israel could detonate some tactical nuclear weapons in Gaza, killing everybody there, including the prisoners, and would suffer almost no negative consequences for it.
Israel, and by extension the Jewish diaspora, has an absolute grasp on western media and government. During the American house speaker recall debate, one of the congresswomen gave a speech explaining that we should keep McCarthy as speaker because he has done the most to bring other congressmen to Israel. Major American policy debates center around support for Israel, a small foreign country.[1]
The Palestinian terror attacks were a type of brutality I don't think anybody in the modern western world has ever seen before. They were uniquely horrific, and I think this will be remembered as a turning point in modern history the same way that 9/11 was.
Israel is out for blood, and nobody in the west with any real power is going to stop them.
And by the way: good for them. I, a Catholic American, am jealous (although jealous is the wrong word since that sortof implies an animosity, which I have none of) of the power that the Jewish people have. Much of my criticism of The Church centers around not behaving more like The Jews. Why no Catholic equivalent to "Birthright Israel"? Why not make Catholics learn latin anymore? These are good things that people should do.
(Although I don't think they should be nuking Palestine.)
For this, you would need to invent some "secular Catholic" identity and community, where someone who never went to Church, who does not obey and does not care about any of Catholic religious laws, someone who does not know transubstantiation from transmission, someone whose only connection to Catholicism is that some of his ancestors were sprinkled with water by priest hundreds years ago, would still identify as proud Catholic.
Yes exactly. I think that would be a good thing because it would be easier for lapsed adult Catholics to return to The Church.
No. This is borderline not being Catholic yourself especially how others are expressing it in the comments.
Catholicism is NOT an ethnicity. It’s not nationalism. It should never be an ethnicity or a nation. It’s about following Christ of which includes following the Church as the representative of Christ on earth.
I want nothing to do with people who want a culture Catholic ethnicity.
As brutal as the Spanish were there is a reason why Mayans and Aztecs today are mostly all Catholic. They were still viewed as brothers capable of embracing Christ.
An absurd statement. I want my literal sisters, my literal mother and father, and some of my friends, who have fallen off of the faith, to remember that they are still baptized, confirmed catholics and should return to Church with me every Sunday when I invite them to mass with me.
I'm not describing diluting the faith. I'm advocating for a more traditional interpretation of it where people assign more importance and value to it.
A more traditional interpretation of the faith would be the apostles and the saints. You don’t really get to have preferences for friends and family though it’s very human. The mission is to care for all the same and bring all into the faith. It’s one reason why Priest don’t have family’s so they don’t have biases versus caring for the whole community. Now not all are called to be Priest and Saints and you probably do have some special caring for family.
But using Jews specifically as an example Catholicism is not an ethnic community. We aren’t a chosen people. It gets a little dangerous to look at how Jews a religion by birth and apply their way of doing things to a universal church. Jews are in someways a blood cult. Catholics are not.
You've completely lost me here. I think Catholics should learn latin and should consider their faith a central part of their life and their family's life.
Anything else you're reading here you're misunderstanding.
And I’m saying that’s not the message of Catholicism or Christianity. Other than consider faith a central part of their life. That’s emphasizing tradition and well not the core messages of Christianity.
An emphasis on Latin especially. While that’s can be a fun tradition and a part it’s also exclusionary and Catholicism is a universal church for all which implies most would need their mother tongue. It’s the message that matters not the language.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link