Comments on: Terror Chic

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:44:40 +0000

More war crimes by Israel; I can wait for the next super power (eg China) as I really think they would do the right thing, perhaps not with their own people (just yet), but more in the worlds eye’s.

By: PMP

PMP — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:58:35 +0000

My point was going to be that if the t-shirts were a few bad apples, that’s regrettable but not that important.

Then I read the haaretz piece and it looked like this was a fairly widespread thing, which people higher up in the chain of command know about but do not stop. And that’s just contemptible, immoral.

It’s not as important as what actually happens militarily–fighting and shooting and suffering and dying–but it forseeably increases the likelihood of atrocities against individuals, which is intolerable.

By: PMP

PMP — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:19:18 +0000

I went back and read through the article and it looks like it IS a fairly widespread phenomenon, at least among snipers. It’s contemptible and the Israeli military ought to crack down HARD on it, mainly for moral but also prudential reasons.

I also agree with you that the atrocities are much, much more important than the t-shirts. But words mean things; they help create norms; and norms matter.

If you believe that Israel has a legitimate cause of action in attempting to halt rocket fire originating in Gaza, then you REALLY don’t want to condone the infliction of additional human suffering and death because it undermines the legitimacy of your mission.

By: Bob Kaercher

Bob Kaercher — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:02:14 +0000

“I’m glad to see you haven’t taken to caricaturing your adversaries arguments. That would be pathetic.”

And I’m not so glad to see that you haven’t taken to actually responding to the criticism of your criticism. But seeing as how you’re trolling for straw men, you probably can’t.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:16:25 +0000

Not a bit of it. It’s actually quite satisfying and enjoyable. To use an analogy you’d understand, it’s a lot like shooting a pregnant woman in the belly.

By: Roderick

Roderick — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:25:35 +0000

As for whether t-shirts celebrating atrocities are widespread or not, I have no idea. The actual atrocities themselves are of course, alas, fairly widespread, which was my point.

By: Roderick

Roderick — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:24:21 +0000

Grammatically no modifier is needed. If I’d said “People are making a racket next door,” would you suggest I’d insinuated that all six billion inhabitants of Earth were making a racket next door?

By: PMP

PMP — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:24:23 +0000

I’m glad to see you haven’t taken to caricaturing your adversaries arguments. That would be pathetic.

By: PMP

PMP — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:22:57 +0000

What in my post are you referring to?

Israeli soldiers are wearing t-shirts that celebrate rape, murder, and infanticide against Palestinians.

There’s no modifier in front of “Israeli.” Is it all of them? Has it become a de facto uniform? Is it a popular fad with most of the country’s conscripts? Or a minority? Or very, very few?

Insofar as this is indicative of a military culture that is shameless or even proud with regard to purposive killing of civilians, it would seem to matter whether this phenomena is widespread or not.

By: Roderick

Roderick — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:16:02 +0000

I’m sure you would not fallaciously fail to distinguish between criminals and animals within the IDF and the entire IDF itself.

What in my post are you referring to?