This Land Is Mine

That's about right.

Dear Fellow WU'ers:

While it is true that Israel has been fought over countless times in history, this video makes the drastic error of morally equating the two sides of the current conflict:

One nation trying to protect its citizens (Muslim and Jewish alike) and unfortunately inflicts collateral damage on innocent civilians against a terrorist regime that specifically targets the Israeli civilian population.

Israel struggles constantly to balance its own security with efforts with human rights and freedom of the residents of Gaza is one thing. Criticizing that balance can be a valid stance for a civilized human being. Hamas does not believe in human rights of Israelis (or Jews of any nationality for that matter). Their stated mission is to wipe Israel off the map and their continued actions demonstrate a willingness to try. Claiming or implying that this conflict is anything other than one nation trying to defend itself against terrorists, demonstrates a complete disregard for the rights of ordinary citizens to live in relative peace.

I'm frankly disappointed that this was posted on Weird Universe, unless it was to mock the ludicrous implication of moral equivalence.

Daniel--that was a cogent and sensible comment. Many thanks for taking the time to contribute it.

My personal allegiances in the current Middle East tend to be with the Israelis. But here at WU, we acknowledge that every single human ever born or yet to come frequently exhibits irrationality, stupidity, self-centeredness and a host of other bad qualities, often and in large measures. So to that degree of common birthright of idiocy, we do assert a moral equivalence among all humans. Taking the long view which this video exhibits--millennia of bloodshed by various cultures, all of which felt they had justification for their actions--and mapping it onto the present is a useful thought experiment in long-view objectivity. We the living are invested in the current politics, on one side or another. But to someone 100 or 1000 years ago, the current battles in the Middle East are going to look just as arcane and pointless as Assyrian vs Chaldean (were they even contemporary antagonists? who knows!) looks now to us.

Damn! "100 or 1000 years ago" should read "100 or 1000 years from now..."

I took the allegory a little farther than what the author of our animation did and came up with the question: I there any square meter of usable land on the planet that hasn't seen conflict over its possession?

I said it before, I'll say it again.
They will know we are Christians by our love? 😖
Maybe the point has to do with every group that's depicted was certain that God was on their side!
:lol: :coolsmile:

Every religion has had its violent times. Also every religion has its zealots as well.

Dan listen to this and think about it.

Paul,

I see your point of view, but I have to imagine that during the time of the Assyrians and whoever they fought, there was likely one side that was more objectively wrong than the other...the truth is just obscured by history. Today, the truth about what is going on should be clearer to civilized and intellectually honest human beings.

KDP,

Good Question, maybe Antarctica?

Tyrusguy,

That may be part of the message the animation is conveying, but again, that doesn't change my issue with it. You can't morally equate those who target innocent civilians, and those who target terrorists.

Patty,

True.

Expat,

I listened to the song, but I probably didn't think about it enough. What should I be learning from that song?

@Daniel, It was never my intent to equate the sides, To be clear, I personally am on the side of the Jews. Even though they consider me Goyish! :lol: :coolsmile:

I'm on the side of the winners, so, historically, i'm always right!

Though the end makes it kinda clear, the winner in this case is death...

So, um... Yay death, I guess...

Dan, Patty (and Paul too, I guess):

The dead innocents (and their mourners) could care less about such rationalizations. 'Terrorist' is a merely a pejorative term that has now lost all meaning through frequent misuse (at this point it seems to generically denote 'someone who violently opposes the prevailing power structure'...unless that someone is a rightwing white person, in which case the media and government seems inexplicably reluctant to apply the label). The tactics in question have been used by just about every 'rebel' group in history (who lacked a strong standing army to defend their own interests). Bombs of any kind are unable to distinguish between combatants and civilians, whether dropped from an airplane or strapped to a fanatic (and assigning moral relevance to the medium of delivery is insanity). One could easily counter the statements about Hamas with the chants of "death to Arabs" and even "death to the Leftist peacenics" we've heard wafting up from the streets of Jerusalem of late. Murder is murder, hate is hate - and these childish cries of "they did it first" cycle back for millenia, as so poignantly illustrated by the video. "You can not fight darkness with darkness" to paraphrase the late, great MLK. "Violence only begets more violence."