Astonishing article. The best yet. I’m horrified by Hamas’s brutality. I’m also horrified by the response of those calling for revenge and more killings in the name of self defence. I keep seeing ‘an eye for an eye’ but that’s not going to happen is it? It’s 10, 20, 30, whatever amount of Palestinian eyes before some people will be satisfied. Where’s the moral ground then?
These terrible events is, to me, 9/11 all again. America wrecked havoc on Afghanistan and Iraq in its pursuit of self defence and vengeance. What was the final outcome? Ruined countries, Afghanistan twice over, hundreds of thousands dead and for what? Nothing. When did Americans decide they had extracted their revenge? When they realised they had lost both war’s they started? In typical American style they retreated behind pathetic war movies, American Sniper, as an example, to wallow in self pity for their own actions. I’m waffling now!
Anyway fast forward 22 years and nothing has been learned. A rush to war. Indignant columnists, politicians, beating the war drums. Shouting down anyone who wants to pause and stop the madness. The general public going along with it. Right up until the point where the whole futility of war is exposed and you’re left making shitty films.
Outstanding piece Mic, and sensitively framed (there can be a temptation to abandon sensitivity when others are hijacking it - you did not fall for that). I did not know the history of whataboutery, that was illuminating.
Abell is a rum cove, isn’t he. Last director of the Press Complaints Commission, where he had to grovel to the living dead of the right wing rags such as demented Dacre and creepy Kavanagh, and naturally went on to three years as managing editor of the Sun. Yes, the same Sun that gloried in the murderous folly of the Iraq war...
Brilliant Mic - so many worthless words all over the place in the past week - dancing a pointless jig to claim a position that does not exist.
There’s an intellectual and moral cowardice at play in those who seek to “ohwell” when there is actually some hard thinking and very hard work to be done to keep one’s mind supple enough to clearly see the picture.
Horror begets horror but to act horrifically and be waved through on your way shouldn’t even be the preserve of the guiltless, even in a rational world.
The comparisons to the violence in Northern Ireland and the seeming intractability of the conflict are the nearest thing I can think of to offer any hope for a world in which people on both sides of this unending strife can look to as a guiding light.
Hope must be in play. Hamas lit the fuse on the bomb and Israel have both the bomb, the fuse and the decision to make. The status quo suits the belligerents on both sides - the demand for peace will have to bellow from the people who still wish it for each other.
My own personal definition of “terrorism” is, simply, “war crimes committed by a non-state actor”, where war crimes are in turn defined by various international conventions.
(The main blind spot of this definition are war crimes committed by a state against its own people, since those are less comprehensively proscribed under international law than war crimes committed abroad.)
Astonishing article. The best yet. I’m horrified by Hamas’s brutality. I’m also horrified by the response of those calling for revenge and more killings in the name of self defence. I keep seeing ‘an eye for an eye’ but that’s not going to happen is it? It’s 10, 20, 30, whatever amount of Palestinian eyes before some people will be satisfied. Where’s the moral ground then?
These terrible events is, to me, 9/11 all again. America wrecked havoc on Afghanistan and Iraq in its pursuit of self defence and vengeance. What was the final outcome? Ruined countries, Afghanistan twice over, hundreds of thousands dead and for what? Nothing. When did Americans decide they had extracted their revenge? When they realised they had lost both war’s they started? In typical American style they retreated behind pathetic war movies, American Sniper, as an example, to wallow in self pity for their own actions. I’m waffling now!
Anyway fast forward 22 years and nothing has been learned. A rush to war. Indignant columnists, politicians, beating the war drums. Shouting down anyone who wants to pause and stop the madness. The general public going along with it. Right up until the point where the whole futility of war is exposed and you’re left making shitty films.
Excellent. I was wondering how you would respond, and you didn’t disappoint. Thank you.
A beautifully humane response to an horrific and ongoing tragedy- I'd expect nothing less
Outstanding piece Mic, and sensitively framed (there can be a temptation to abandon sensitivity when others are hijacking it - you did not fall for that). I did not know the history of whataboutery, that was illuminating.
Thank you. I tried to think hard about it.
Excellent.
Abell is a rum cove, isn’t he. Last director of the Press Complaints Commission, where he had to grovel to the living dead of the right wing rags such as demented Dacre and creepy Kavanagh, and naturally went on to three years as managing editor of the Sun. Yes, the same Sun that gloried in the murderous folly of the Iraq war...
This is outstanding, Mic. I’ve tweeted it but, as I’m shadow banned, I’m not sure it will go far. Thanks very much.
Brilliant Mic - so many worthless words all over the place in the past week - dancing a pointless jig to claim a position that does not exist.
There’s an intellectual and moral cowardice at play in those who seek to “ohwell” when there is actually some hard thinking and very hard work to be done to keep one’s mind supple enough to clearly see the picture.
Horror begets horror but to act horrifically and be waved through on your way shouldn’t even be the preserve of the guiltless, even in a rational world.
The comparisons to the violence in Northern Ireland and the seeming intractability of the conflict are the nearest thing I can think of to offer any hope for a world in which people on both sides of this unending strife can look to as a guiding light.
Hope must be in play. Hamas lit the fuse on the bomb and Israel have both the bomb, the fuse and the decision to make. The status quo suits the belligerents on both sides - the demand for peace will have to bellow from the people who still wish it for each other.
Superb, Mic
Really good, thank you Mic.
Really good, thank you Mic.
Very good piece. Well done.
Thank you, Mick. A thoughtful - and thought provoking - piece.
My own personal definition of “terrorism” is, simply, “war crimes committed by a non-state actor”, where war crimes are in turn defined by various international conventions.
(The main blind spot of this definition are war crimes committed by a state against its own people, since those are less comprehensively proscribed under international law than war crimes committed abroad.)
Under this definition, actions by settler militias in the West Bank would be terrorist attacks.
“Madam, how like you this play?”
“The lady protests too much, methinks.”
Translation: every accusation by the Israeli government and its defenders (and, let’s be fair, also by Hamas and its own defenders) is an admission.