#moral equivalency

[qaraxuanzenith]

on moral equivalency

I've seen a lot of comments, most recently from one of the most well-intentioned people, listing hamas and hezbollah and the Israeli military all in one sentence as parts of the problem, and here is why that is not remotely okay or acceptable:

hamas and hezbollah are terrorist organizations that actively invaded civilians homes to torture, assault, murder, and abduct; who beheaded babies and paraded mutilated bodies through the streets and actively celebrate these atrocities.

the israeli military is the military of a sovereign country acting in what is a war situation, to counteract the threat of atrocities and war crimes being actively perpetrated by terrorist organizations, in order to restore safety to the citizenry.

and whether one is a pacifist who disagrees with the existence of militaries in general, or whether one disagrees with specific choices taken by the israeli military in particular, it is devastatingly misleading and unacceptable to phrase a sentence that makes it seem like accountability here is evenly divided between the israeli military, and the terrorists actively perpetrating AND CELEBRATING atrocities and war crimes against civilians.

and, with respect*, no matter anyone's perspective on the israeli government's attitude and actions toward palestinians, by no stretch of the imagination can those attitude and actions be described as war crimes, let alone gleeful celebration of war crimes.

there is a difference between "this is negative and i don't like it" and "these people are actively celebrating the mutilation of bodies, the torture of disabled, elderly, and children, the murder of hundreds including slaughtering an entire cohort of teens enjoying a concert as a holiday."

i respect not liking war and not liking militaries in general

but it's naive to be like "i don't like war and therefore the military that is responding in self-defense to the slaughter of hundreds of citizens and the wounding and abduction of hundreds more is also in the wrong."

there is doubtless nuance to every situation, but in this SPECIFIC case, statements that equate the two sides are misleading, insulting, and frankly dangerous inasmuch as they seem to offer some measure of justification to the actual war crimes being perpetrated and glorified on one side

all the things i alluded to are things that hamas has actually done, AND PUBLICIZED, in the past 72 hours.

right now, hundreds of people have literally been murdered in their homes by hamas, and hundreds of people have been literally dragged from their homes by hamas, assaulted, paraded through the streets, and abducted

including a good friend of my uncle, who is still missing.

i hope she returns home safely. i hope she is able to return to doing peace activist work.

but the israeli military ATTEMPTING TO ENSURE HER SAFE RETURN HOME is not part of the problem in this specific scenario.

in fact, when the IDF does operations to take out hamas targets, they actually notify the area through several methods in advance, and ask all civilians to go somewhere else where they will be safe.

whereas hamas has been known to store weapons in the basements of schools and to shoot rockets from hospitals, and to prevent civilians from leaving

*with respect to the very well-intentioned if naive person whose comment initially sparked me saying that; no respect at all to people who definitely know better and are still trying to frame this in moral equivalency terms on purpose

[kforourke]

Charlie Foxtrot

The last few news cycles have been packed, so it's understandable if you missed the Biden administration's recent decision to send cluster munitions—also known as cluster bombs—to Ukraine.

I'm not alone in disagreeing with this decision; The New York Times editorial board noted that cluster munitions are not "a weapon that a nation with the power and influence of the United States should be spreading."

What, then, are these things? And why are some people (myself included!) so opposed to the use of cluster munitions?

Briefly, cluster munitions are "any of a number of weapons systems which ... deliver clusters of smaller explosive submunitions onto a target," according to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. They have a "propensity to leave behind large numbers of unexploded remnants which exact an even greater indiscriminate toll amongst civilians."

The weapons we're sending to Ukraine contain 88 "bomblets" in each round, and each "bomblet has a lethal range of about 10 square meters, so a single canister can cover an area up to 30,000 square meters (about 7.5 acres), depending upon the height it releases the bomblets."

This is obviously bound to cause harm after the war is over. How much harm is the question—tracking mine and cluster-munition injuries is difficult, and the data are poor.

The Global Burden of Disease doesn't include separate causes for mine or munition-related injuries/deaths (they're lumped under "conflict and terrorism"), and the ICD-10 doesn't even include a code relating specifically to cluster munitions; Y36.81, "explosion of mine placed during war operations but exploding after cessation of hostilities," comes closest.

Nonetheless, even if the data are poorly classified and/or underreported, land mines, cluster munitions, and other "explosive remnants of war" (ERW) clearly constitute an ongoing threat.

Stats: during the Vietnam War, the US military dropped more than 250 million cluster munitions, of which 9 to 27 million unexploded submunitions remain. And according to the Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor, "since global tracking began in 1999 the Monitor has recorded more than 122,000" casualties due to land mines and/or ERW.

Here, from the same organization, is a map showing current (2018) cluster munition "contamination" around the world. Red and dark red = bad.

To put the harm cluster munitions cause in more human terms, here's a picture of farmers from Vietnam who were injured by leftover bomblets.

Of course, not everyone agrees that the US shouldn't send Ukraine cluster munitions.

Turkiye began sending Ukraine cluster munitions earlier this year, and Russia has been using them against Ukraine for some time, as the Washington Post's Max Boot points out:

Boot's use of the term moral equivalence—even if he's denying that there is one in this case—brings to mind Noam Chomsky's characteristically forceful take on the phrase:

"Moral equivalence is a term of propaganda that was invented to try to prevent us from looking at what the acts for which we are responsible ... I reject that reasoning."

Perhaps a simpler way to look at this whole clusterfuck is: two wrongs don't make a right. Take it away, Barrett Strong.

...

Header image via Wikimedia Commons.

Cluster bomb victims' hands also via Wikimedia Commons.

Etymology bonus: the term "clusterfuck," in the sense of "bungled or confused undertaking" or "fuckup," arose as military slang during the Vietnam War.

When referring to a clusterfuck over the radio, or in the presence of parties they'd rather not curse in front of, members of the military would instead refer to something as a "Charlie Foxtrot," hence the title of this piece.

[charmwasjess]

Whatever you do, don’t think about how happy Sifo-Dyas must have been that last time with Dooku on Serenno. He’d been fired as a Seeker, lost his seat on the Jedi Council, had the worst rounds of visions of his life, and finally, finally, someone is listening to him, someone believes him, someone gets it.

He’s back with his best friend who promised to help him save the galaxy, like the two of them were made to do together. Like they always knew they were going to do.

[skelecentral]

Wasn’t gonna post this because it’s only semi-UT related, but. I really wanted to lmaooo— here’s my faeu self insert (post-turned-fae!)

Faeu is by @/antlered-prince

[probablyaparadox]

Shanks’ crew is really out here taking out every punk aesthetic pirate they see what did the punks ever do to you dress better than you???

[greensaplinggrace]

the darkling says “fine, make me your villain” because he is. what’s not clicking

[yakitori-queen]

all the advice on moral ocd ive been trying to find online is like "well you cant ever know for sure if youre a good or bad person you just gotta learn to live with the uncertainty" like yea thats the point brother. you nailed the exact thing i dont know how to do

[khanumshahrzad]

<3

[astranauticus]

inspired by this tweet that fuckin sent me for some reason

[darkfoxkirin]

Dracula Miguel and villager Miles!

Miles' mother is gravely ill and the only way for Miles to get the money she needs for her medical bills is to agree to become the vampire lord's thrall and resident blood bag.

[tarisilmarwen]

Right, so if you’re gonna equivocate Ezra siccing the purrgils on the Seventh Fleet (a very valid military target) with anything Thrawn did in service to the Empire, you don’t get to have an opinion on anything.

[concert-bflat]

my goofy ass brain really waited 5 years to give me a death note phase i'm floored

[neonbrutalism]

Jefferson really saw some guy in his 20s going through it and struggling with adulting but also acting like an older brother/mentor to Miles and said "I guess I have two kids now"

Jefferson thought those two idiot kids should have guessed he'd be waiting for them, and yet when Miles and Miguel swung on to the roof of their apartment, they seemed surprised to see him. As if he wasn't a cop with access to the police scanner. As if he didn't have a TV and could watch the BREAKING NEWS, SHOTS FIRED AT SCENE OF ATTEMPTED ASSAULT IN CENTRAL PARK, SPIDER-MEN SEEN IN VICINITY. As if he couldn't connect two dots between the radio chatter of somebody saying they "shot the big guy but he just kept going".

"So," Jefferson, crossing him arms over his chest, "You had an interesting night."

"Did ... we?" said Miles.

Miguel just shrugged.

Jefferson's done that move before, back when he and Aaron had been up to some bullshit and were trying desperately to avoid consequences.

"So - nobody shot either you?"

"Okay, what were we - " Miles started. Miguel cut him off.

"Everything is fine, Mr. Morales. Miles isn't hurt, the woman in the park is safe, the two headed rat-man is back in his mother's custody."

"And nobody shot you four times?"

The dark lenses on Miguel's mask narrowed a little.

"My suit can't be penetrated by bullets of this time period."

Jefferson glared. It didn't seem to do much to Miguel - dammit, he should have brought a chair to stand on so he could do the dad-glare, it didn't work on somebody so tall.

"Miles, go downstairs and get changed before your mother catches you," Jefferson said. Miles nodded without saying anything and scrambled over the edge of the building to his bedroom, eager to get away from this confrontation.

"... I have a police scanner. I know you got shot."

Miguel's stiff postured relaxed with Miles gone - Jefferson got that, there was a certain pressure of trying to remain an Adult-Mode-Adult around a kid, "And Miles didn't."

"And you did!"

"I'm not hurt."

"You could have been!"

"Look - even if I'm ... Miles will be fine on his own too. He's good at this."

Jefferson grabbed his head with his hands and groaned, "That isn't what I'm talking about! I don't want you to get shot because I don't want you to get shot, kid! I'm worried about both of you!"

"...Why?" said Miguel.

"Because you - you - you're 27! BARELY 27, I know, because that orange lady mentioned you were born in September and it's November - and you have nothing in your kitchen but old yogurt and coffee! You have cat t-shirts and apparently pass out on your floor often enough that it's described as good-for-convalescing!"

Jefferson started a little when he realized Miguel had taken a step back, his posture oddly guarded and defensive, the dark lenses on the mask wide. ... He should calm down - he'd seen people react like this enough to know the yelling was probably triggering something in the kid's brain that was processing badly.

"Kid - Miguel," Jefferson conceded, "Do you ... uh, do you want me to get you a coffee or something? A granola bar? Rio made some Arroz con Pollo, I could put some in a tupperware -"

"That's ... not necessary, Mr. Morales," said Miguel, the fight-or-flight leaving his posture.

"I feel like you probably don't have any food -"

"I'm fine, Mr. Morales, I can -"

"I would really feel better if you'd please take some goddamn chicken."

"... Okay. Thank you," Miguel said, his voice suggesting he was at like a peak stress level. Jefferson could relate.

"Okay, just - wait here - uh, Layla? Orange lady? Don't let him open a portal while I'm, uh."

"Okay, Jefferson," LYLA said from Miguel's watch. Miguel glared down at it and Jefferson hustled downstairs. He gave silent thanks that Rio was working an overnight shift so he wouldn't need to explain why he was packing food up at 11pm.

"You can bring the container back, uh, next time you're here," Jefferson said, handing the container over.

"Sure. Thank you, Mr. Morales."

Miguel turned stiffly and opened a portal back to his home dimension.

"You can call me Je -" Jefferson called as the portal snapped shut.

Stupid goddamn kid.

[ratnix]

Something that I think is really funny is that the word Anaklysmos (Riptide) doesn't even exist, it's just a combination of a suffix that means above and the verb κλύζω which means to ripple😭 [Help, even my Greek keyboard doesn't even recognize the word]

I read these books when I was 12 and as a native Greek speaker that also studied ancient Greek for 6 years, I fully thought this was an actual word because it sounds Greek but it's not 😭 Mf Rick Riordan gaslit me in my own language. Apparently he asked an ancient Greek professor and told him that this was the closest word he could use but like, my question is why😭? There are so many already existing words that are related to the sea and even if they don't directly translate to 'Riptide', just pick a Greek word and paraphrase it when translating it to English like it's not hard 😭

[komashkathesilly]

the twins :з

[thedreadvampy]

'it's genocidal to call for an end of Israel where do you want us to go' stay where you are or don't, who gives a shit. you just can't be the only group represented in political authority. you just don't have the right to perform genocide or land capture. you just can't be the boot stamping on everyone else's necks. 🤷‍♀️

the state is not the people. if you don't want to leave Palestine live in Palestine. but Israel does not have a right to exist and you do not have a right to stand above others by the circumstances of your birth. you do not have a right to continue to profit from an ongoing genocide. you do not have a right to supremacy. you do not have a right to gain your comfort at the direct cost of thousands of lives next door. you do not have a right to be colonial overlords. you do not have a right to an ethnostate or a theocracy. you do not have the right to continue to sell on and pass on and profit from land and resources legally gatekept from everyone outside your specific group. you do not have a right to use immigration law to prevent people from returning to their homes while continuing to artificially cultivate a Jewish majority. you do not have a right to displace people to get what you want. you do not have a right to ownership. you have a right to live in safety but you don't have a right to pay in other people's lives for that. and you don't have a right to rule. and Israel does not have a right to exist.

Jews were in Palestine before 1914 and Jews will be in Palestine after Palestine is freed. but as equal citizens not as colonial overlords.