Quote from: M8A-ORD on January 04, 2016, 12:56:04 AMQuote from: Kupoop on January 04, 2016, 12:28:25 AMand he's absolutely right about unfounded generalizations on display here.Where? Do people opposed to the Iraq War not usually argue that Hussein "preserved stability", despite the only stability existing in Iraq was for himself and his crime syndicate of a family? Do people who are anti-Israel not usually excuse the actions of Hamas as what is essentially a response ot colonialism? Do people who tend to be progressive not usually blame the current state of many African countries despite the overwhelming evidence that domestic institutions combined with geography and not foreign intervention are primarily to blame?Who is "people"?
Quote from: Kupoop on January 04, 2016, 12:28:25 AMand he's absolutely right about unfounded generalizations on display here.Where? Do people opposed to the Iraq War not usually argue that Hussein "preserved stability", despite the only stability existing in Iraq was for himself and his crime syndicate of a family? Do people who are anti-Israel not usually excuse the actions of Hamas as what is essentially a response ot colonialism? Do people who tend to be progressive not usually blame the current state of many African countries despite the overwhelming evidence that domestic institutions combined with geography and not foreign intervention are primarily to blame?
and he's absolutely right about unfounded generalizations on display here.
But I've no use for this anecdotal crap where we presume that our personal experiences on the Internet with "people" represent the whole of Western civilization.
I won't hear that it's most people, because it just isn't.
That's not the title. It can be read both ways; I read it broadly as "Why are atrocities committed by the West considered more reprehensible by the people who hold such an opinion". Not most people, which is why I went to great lengths to spell out the kind of political positions which led to the phenomenon listed in the OP. It would be fucking stupid to claim most conservatives/right-wingers think the West is more reprehensible; we all know the U.S. has enough chest-thumping patriots to make this not the case.
Yeah, I realize he never actually used the word "most." That's simply what I took the title to mean at first. The OP still hasn't induced himself to respond to anything thus far, though, so I mean, I think it's still a bit unclear.Within the context I read it in, my posts still stand. As for why people think the way they do about western atrocities, I can't say I'm terribly interested.
Quote from: Kupoop on January 04, 2016, 07:58:09 AMQuote from: M8A-ORD on January 04, 2016, 12:56:04 AMQuote from: Kupoop on January 04, 2016, 12:28:25 AMand he's absolutely right about unfounded generalizations on display here.Where? Do people opposed to the Iraq War not usually argue that Hussein "preserved stability", despite the only stability existing in Iraq was for himself and his crime syndicate of a family? Do people who are anti-Israel not usually excuse the actions of Hamas as what is essentially a response ot colonialism? Do people who tend to be progressive not usually blame the current state of many African countries despite the overwhelming evidence that domestic institutions combined with geography and not foreign intervention are primarily to blame?Who is "people"?It's exactly what I said; the groups of people who tend to hold those views and thus make those (or similar) arguments. I'm not marching around shouting "People say this!", I'm saying "People with these views tend to make these arguments". . . Which they fucking do. So, let's take a look: - How Saddam Hussein Made the Middle East Stable. - Iraq and Libya were supposedly better off under tyrants. - Israeli colonialism.- More Israeli colonialism.- NYT on, you guessed it, Israeli colonialism.You know that these kinds of arguments are exactly what is usually being said by people with the views I describe. You yourself, in our debate on Iraq, brought up the "stability" Saddam Hussein brought. It shouldn't be controversial for me to say "people with these views tend to say these things" because every part of the spectrum has different talking points, including my own. I'm just able to admit it.
Except this is a ridiculously stupid way of looking at geopolitical affairs. [...]And no, it's not just a case of Westerners talking about the West, not wholly. This cannot explain the utter discrepancy we see in how people judge the [stuff]
Why are atrocities committed by the West considered more reprehensible?
