- Joined
- May 30, 2017
- Messages
- 11,117
- Reaction score
- 9,008
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Centrist
The Defense of the State of Israel and the Defense of Western Neo-colonialism/Hegemony are one. Western Civilization is not imperiled at all at home or abroad. it still dominates the globe. European dominion in Western Civilization is slipping but the values and societal ethics, such as they are, remain intact. When posters post these broad statements without any supporting citations, then they frankly look ill-informed. I'd bet that they don't even really know what Western values are. If they do I would further bet that they leave out many of the less flattering values which formed western cultures in the Modern Age.
Capitalism, mercantilism, colonialism, Imperialism, ruthless exploitation, slavery, (wage-slavery today), political domination. unfettered competition and rivalries, militarism, hegemony, authoritarianism, top-down and managed democracy, individualism, collectivism, religious intolerance, mass manipulation of populations from Guttenberg to K-Street, communism. fascism, racism and racial superiority (white man's burden), eugenics, and of course state-driven genocide are all less flattering facets of Western Civilization but are real and were pivotal in the rise of Western Civilization. The more palatable values like the Rule of Law, a modicum of personal freedom (if you can afford it), property rights, valuing art and architecture, the scientific method plus inductive reasoning, commonwealth, social contracts, division of Church and state, secularism, humanism, legal rights plus responsibilities and the principles of peace, order and good governance all arguably had far less powerful roles in shaping Western Civilization than the less palatable ones listed further above.
This begs the question, is Western Civilization, in its present degenerate form, worth saving? I am not so sure. Western Civilization may be a good springboard to make a value and ethical system which is worth saving but as it operates now it is predatory, divisive and its application is based on expedience rather than principle today.
The State of Israel under the leadership of PM Netanyahu is not worth saving and regime change here is urgently needed to rein in that rogue regime. Serial war crimes, crimes against humanity and what might soon rise to the level of genocide disqualify that state from existence. The people of Israel and a country called Israel do have a right to exist however. The State is not the People or the country but its governing apparatus. Palestinians have a right to a state and country too somewhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, so a two-state solution or an inclusive, non-ethnoreligious, single state solution are needed.
What Palestinian militants led by Hamas did on Oct. 7th, 2023 were atrocities and crimes against humanity. However what the State of Israel was doing to Gaza before and after Oct. 7th was far worse in terms of lives lost lives destroyed and damage to property and human lives changed forever. Do not buy into the myth that Oct. 7th was the start of this conflict. It was not. nor will the State of Israel's criminal responses in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and at sea be the end of this conflict. Context is everything in understanding this conflict, even if such context makes good and persuasive arguments harder to make.
Be well and be safe.
Evilroddy.
Capitalism, mercantilism, colonialism, Imperialism, ruthless exploitation, slavery, (wage-slavery today), political domination. unfettered competition and rivalries, militarism, hegemony, authoritarianism, top-down and managed democracy, individualism, collectivism, religious intolerance, mass manipulation of populations from Guttenberg to K-Street, communism. fascism, racism and racial superiority (white man's burden), eugenics, and of course state-driven genocide are all less flattering facets of Western Civilization but are real and were pivotal in the rise of Western Civilization. The more palatable values like the Rule of Law, a modicum of personal freedom (if you can afford it), property rights, valuing art and architecture, the scientific method plus inductive reasoning, commonwealth, social contracts, division of Church and state, secularism, humanism, legal rights plus responsibilities and the principles of peace, order and good governance all arguably had far less powerful roles in shaping Western Civilization than the less palatable ones listed further above.
This begs the question, is Western Civilization, in its present degenerate form, worth saving? I am not so sure. Western Civilization may be a good springboard to make a value and ethical system which is worth saving but as it operates now it is predatory, divisive and its application is based on expedience rather than principle today.
The State of Israel under the leadership of PM Netanyahu is not worth saving and regime change here is urgently needed to rein in that rogue regime. Serial war crimes, crimes against humanity and what might soon rise to the level of genocide disqualify that state from existence. The people of Israel and a country called Israel do have a right to exist however. The State is not the People or the country but its governing apparatus. Palestinians have a right to a state and country too somewhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, so a two-state solution or an inclusive, non-ethnoreligious, single state solution are needed.
What Palestinian militants led by Hamas did on Oct. 7th, 2023 were atrocities and crimes against humanity. However what the State of Israel was doing to Gaza before and after Oct. 7th was far worse in terms of lives lost lives destroyed and damage to property and human lives changed forever. Do not buy into the myth that Oct. 7th was the start of this conflict. It was not. nor will the State of Israel's criminal responses in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon and at sea be the end of this conflict. Context is everything in understanding this conflict, even if such context makes good and persuasive arguments harder to make.
Be well and be safe.
Evilroddy.