Comments
Genocide.
CM
2024-05-17 22:14:34 +0000 UTCNo guys, “We, the people,“ are doing this.
t
2024-05-08 17:13:13 +0000 UTCI just listened to Jay and Ian riff about the Israel and Hamas war, seemingly without a clue about what is going on. This after Jay waxed poetically about being a critical thinker. Major Fail. Do some homework. The news has suggested Netanyahu is a crooked politician/person, but I have no details, so I won't defend him or speculate on his motives. However, I think that the way the IDF is prosecuting the war is atrocious. Ian, there is no front line, this is FIBUA; I'm not a soldier, but I cannot imagine a more difficult "terrain" to fight in. The reason the IDF is attacking hospitals and hospital complexes is because that is were Hamas is hiding, shooting from, firing rockets from, commanding troops from, etc. The reason so many women and children are being killed in air strikes and artillery fire is because Hamas is firing from, hiding in or taking shelter under the buildings where they are located; perhaps they are their family. I strongly suspect that the IDF is targeting Hamas fighters; unfortunately the IDF seems to be too indifferent to who else is in the way. I suspect that this is what Hamas leaders intended to happen with the attack on 7 Oct 2023: to enrage Israel so much that it would strike back indiscriminately. I suspect that all of this was to enrage other nations to join the attack on Israel and obliterate it..."from the river to the sea". I bet Hamas is probably a bit miffed that they were snubbed by neighboring Muslim nations. This is all largely based on one side's view of the war: what I read/see in the news. I suspect we'll never get an accurate, unbiased accounting, but please do try to be aware of what is reported before talking off the cuff.
Brad Cain
2024-05-03 18:06:21 +0000 UTCIsrael dropping as much ordinance in Gaza (141 sq mi) in the opening weeks of this latest round of mass killings as the US dropped in one year in Afghanistan (252,071sq miles) is not "root[ing] out and eliminat[ing] a terrorist organization," it's genocide. And dropping fliers telling Palestinians to leave when Israel blocks all routes out of the tiny, densely populated region (https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/01/no-exit-gaza), and then starts bombing where people flee to is like shooting fish in a barrel. Do you think that's a good thing? Palestinians have an equal right to exist as Israel does. This isn't a "bleeding heart" liberal or conservative issue, nor a left/right issue, nor even a political issue. This is a human issue.
Asymetra
2024-05-03 07:59:50 +0000 UTCGenocide is not what rational people define as a reasonable response. In the entire region, there are no good actors. Israel just happens to be the slightly more moral of the bad actors, but not by much. Regardless of what people think, Gaza is not about terrorism. Terrorism was just the spark, the excuse Netanyahu has been stoking to justify decimating innocent people. While I support Israel's right to exist, I now view Israel as a cancer. I am aware of the millennia-long eradication of Jews by christians and then muslims that culminated in the Holocaust. No matter how atrocious that was does not justify perpetrating another Holocaust upon anyone else. Victimhood is not a shield against criticism, nor justification to murder thousands upon thousands of innocent people. To anyone who thinks Israel killing children and babies is moral, you are inhuman. Israel has pushed the world up against the tolerance paradox. For tolerance to exist, it must be intolerant of intolerance. We must stop supporting Israel and let them suffer the consequences of their own actions.
Asymetra
2024-05-03 07:37:40 +0000 UTCDominic, We know what Hamas did and in no way are we diminishing their actions. Israel has a right to respond. It's the way they are responding that is not ok. Israel is not a terrorist organization and there is an expectation that they will try to keep the non-military casualties as low as possible. It's clear they are not doing this. Dropping pamphlets that tell people their homes will be destroyed is not enough. A million people are now displaced. Again, Israel has a right to respond but they now created a situation where they are losing their credibility due to their flagrant lack of concern for civilians.
The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe
2024-05-02 17:05:46 +0000 UTCAfter starting to listen to this livestream I have to admit that I'm very disappointed at the comments I'm hearing about the Israel/Hamas conflict. I wrote it that way because I think many people forget that this is about terrorism and a terrorist group it's not about palestine. Intentions matter and Hamas deliberately sought out soft unarmed targets of innocent civilians and raped and murdered them on Oct 7 while a cease fire was in effect and for the sole reason that they were jewish. That's genocide. It is not genocide to root out and eliminate a terrorist organization. Israel in response dropped massive amounts of fliers telling people to leave to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. There is a difference there. Hamas also continues to do everything in a way to bring about as much human casualties as possible by setting up bases in hospitals. They know Israel will eliminate those bases and in turn get a bunch gullible bleeding hearts around the world to side with hamas. If hamas and other jihadist organizations laid down there arms and stopped their centuries long genocide of jews then there would be peace. If Israel laid down their arms there wouldn't be any jews left in the middle east.
Dominic Bohn
2024-05-02 16:33:58 +0000 UTCI used to have more respect for Sam Harris, but I think he's wrong on many things. One thing I have noticed with the a lot of the "old guard" atheists, particularly those with PhDs (especially who are university professors), is their reaction to "cancel culture," DEI, and transpeople. I can understand standing against suppression of free speech, but many have gone the extra mile to stand against DEI and transpeople. Like, "I disagree with you on deplatforming and cancel culture, therefore I disagree with every position you take." While also claiming to be for DEI and transpeople, then resorting to science to erase the existence of transpeople and deriding DEI and every effort to bring awareness of DEI issues. In essence, practicing their own form of cancel culture. That's why I left the Center for Inquiry. I enjoyed CSICon 2018, meeting and dining with Richard Dawkins, meeting James Randi and Bill Nye. But Dawkins inability to comprehend the difference between biological sex and social gender constructs and his unrelenting attack upon transpeople has driven me away. I'd go to CSICon to meet the SGU, but I can't. There are better humanist and atheist organizations, and skeptic groups I contribute to. (I left the Skeptic Society as well because of Shermer's constant attacks upon transpeople.) It saddens me that what Carl Sagan and James Randi built has fallen to abusing science to attack people. It's no different than Darwin using evolution to justify women as inferior to men. The irony is the people that Dawkins, Shermer, Harris, Dave Ruben, and many others used to oppose are now the people that they pander too. Likes and money are more important that integrity, humanism, and skepticism. There are better people who do what they used to do. That's why I'm here.
Asymetra
2024-05-02 10:38:29 +0000 UTC
