#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

[dailykos]

[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.

[jasrandal]

11-14-2016 A Moral Equivalent

11-14-2016 A Moral Equivalent

A “moral equivalency” argument is when a person justifies their evil deed because they can point to someone else’s evil deed. It’s the old childish, “he hit me first.”  A few white people in the 1800’s owned slaves, so African-Americans justify burning, looting, beating up, or murdering white people today. “Evil for evil” makes the world “evil.” Jesus told His disciples, after betrayal, “they…

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[editormba]

Obama Declares December As National Muslim Appreciation Month; terrorists rejoice

Obama Declares December As National Muslim Appreciation Month; terrorists rejoice

President Barack Obama held a press conference today to announce his decision which will make the month of December ‘National Muslim Appreciation Month,’ Jews News reports.

“The Muslim community deserves our full acceptance and respect,” Obama told reporters. “We have disrespected these innocent and peaceful people in so many ways. We have killed millions of Muslims overseas since the September…

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[hargaden-blog]

The abbot snapped off the set. 'Where's the truth?' he asked quietly. 'What's to be believed? Or does it matter at all? When mass murder's been answered with mass murder, rape with rape, hate with hate, there's no longer much meaning in asking whose ax is bloodier. Evil, on evil piled on evil. Was there any justification in our 'police action' in space? How can we know? Certainly there was no justification for what they did - or was there? We only know what that thing says, and that thin is a captive. The Asian radio has to say what will least displease its government; our has to say what will least displease our fine patriotic opinionated rabble, which is what, coincidentally, the government wants it to say anyhow, so where's the difference? Dear God, there must be half a million dead, if they hit Texarkana with the real thing. I feel like saying words I've never even heard. Toad's dung. Hag pus. Gangrene of the soul. Immortal brain-rot. Do you understand me, Brother? And Christ breathed the same carrion air with us; how meek the Majesty of our Almighty God! What an Infinite Sense of Humour - for Him to become one of us! King of the Universe, nailed on a cross as a Yiddish Schlemiel by the likes of us.

Walter M. Miller Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz, p. 296-297