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Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

I'm not sure how Joe Biden is a warmonger when he pulled out of Afghanistan and whose military interventions are mainly at the Bill Clinton level? In our life times we had the double invasions of Iraq/Afghanistan, and Trump bringing the US to the brink of conflict with Iran.

e:

quote:

I wouldn't be surprised if Trump starts running to the left of Biden on this issue since even Republicans are starting to find Israel going too far in notable amounts

Trump in 2016 ran on an ambiguous platform of being all things to everyone; but ultimately did things like letting Turkey try to genocide the kurds and nearly started WW3 with Iran, and of course reversed Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba (in which it is disappointing that Biden has had the political will or capital to unreverse afaik); and also it was Trump who gave arms to Ukraine when Obama had been hesitant to do for fear of "escalating" things. Trump can run on universal healthcare and trans rights but it doesn't make it remotely plausible that he will do so.

Raenir Salazar fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Feb 3, 2024

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Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

koolkal posted:

Well you have a point, Biden never brought us to the brink of conflict, he dove right into a conflict.

When? (With Iran, directly?)

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

mobby_6kl posted:

I think the perception's already been turning, thanks to us!



Someone needs to tell Shaun to eat poo poo. :getin:

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Byzantine posted:

Thank the gods the Dems are finally listening to what the rural voters have to say, they're so underrepresented in the American system. Surely the rural folk of South Carolina, Heart of the Confederacy, are not also pasty white dudes.

Around 20% of the population of the US is rural, it seems like they're an important demographic to reach out to, a lot of Democratic policies are seen to be traditionally focused on the cities and urban areas, regardless of how true it is or how you feel like it should be, shouldn't the government be trying to help everyone equally?

Maybe less rural voters would be so supportive of the GOP if they got more attention?


koolkal posted:

Wouldn't it make more sense to hold early primaries in diverse states that are also actually in play?

The problem here is this means no attention, or effort being paid to such places, which doesn't seem very fair to the people who live there. The fact is a lot of oppression occurs in the southern states and being like, "You're on your own" isn't reassuring at all to anyone there depending on the Federal government for whatever minimal protections remains.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Civilized Fishbot posted:

This is true, but I don't think your conclusion is correct. The electoral college isn't fair, in the sense that every voting-eligible American has an equal amount of decision power. Some voters are much, much more likely to cast a deciding vote than others. So it makes obvious tactical sense that the primary process should prioritize picking a candidate that they like, who energizes them.

It obviously conflicts with a rhetorical dedication to "recognizing every American equally" etc - in that case they should just do all the primaries on the same day - but when there's as much on the line as in a Presidential election, any well-organized political party should make reasonable compromises to gain and keep power.

The electoral college doesn't really have much to do with primary elections; the ordering of primary elections, and such, is about messaging as it is about guiding the primary process to try to get some optimal result that satisfies the needs of different interest groups. An ordering that goes "We don't care about you or your state or your issues" is one that I think further hinders the hard work democrats in those states do to try to win local elections and get people interested in doing the hard work of running for office and build a bench.

Its more then just about picking some theoretically optimal candidate, its also about trying to inject energy and participation within the state; and to encourage turnout and engagement from voters. Every effort matters, and probably previous primaries in Georgia probably helped push the state into a purple state over the years.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
Not every comic book for children is going to pass moral muster under every ideological framework.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
Not sure that Red Son is a great example when at least the movie version swings definitively hard at the idea of social engineering good solutions for society.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
I'm not 100% convinced its just a stutter at this point but I also don't think its hugely important; and probably shouldn't get as much focus as it does when Biden is still clearly pretty sharp generally.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

mawarannahr posted:

He was criticizing the electromagnetic aircraft launch system on board an aircraft carrier, as he has done so for years. The system is indeed unreliable, and maybe it really would short out and stop working if it got wet.

Isn't there no evidence for this?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

mawarannahr posted:

Which part?

You seem to be implying Trump was correct in his criticisms, but of the reports I can find at a glance seem to say that the system is generally working fine, it may not be meeting certain reliability standards but it doesn't seem to be infringing on the Navy's capability, so if this is your meaning I could be wrong I don't think the reality matches Trump's opinion here.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

HookedOnChthonics posted:

Lmao are you seriously promulgating a ‘shy Biden voter’ theory

That’s fascinating

E-

Biden isn’t “boring” lol he’s a full-throated psycho of a breed that is honestly mostly gone from American politics; his is a bloodlust that a soft prissy egoist like trump can only put on as a costume

Big T is definitely hungry for it and posted some huge numbers in a very short career, yes, but Biden is indisputably the candidate going into this election wearing the championship belt for most people immiserated and biggest damage dealt to any hope of a bright progressive future

His extremely outsize role in quashing school integration alone, my god

What are you talking about? Biden has been nigh definitionally "boring" (relative to Trump anyways, maybe his gaffes are interesting?) as President. Otherwise there wouldn't be the criticism that he doesn't go out there enough to defend his agenda? I don't think he's acted or said anything publicly compared to Trump's "mexicans are rapists" and so on. You seem to be referring to some of Biden's (alleged, I don't agree but that's besides the point) policies regarding the Israeli-Hamas conflict but I'm not sure how one can look at how Trump acts and speaks compared to how Biden acts and speaks (in public to be clear) and conclude Biden is the "psychotic" one?

I'm also not really sure it's even true that there's more of a "death count" under Biden, however one defines this. Isn't there like an infinity number of people dying due to capitalism? How does one even quantify this? Biden withdrew from Afghanistan while Trump doubled down the sanctions on Cuba and massively increased air strikes and drone strikes? I'm not sure any of the deaths in Gaza can't really be said to be Biden's fault (vs being Hamas's or Israel's fault) and of course Russia is causing many deaths in Ukraine which Biden is trying to prevent which I dunno shouldn't that count against it? And I have no idea how any of this is relevant to a "bright progressive future", the Hamas-Israel conflict seems to me to be entirely irrelevant to what a bright progressive future in the United States or the West in general looks like.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Senate Cum Dump posted:

Number of drone strikes is hardly the only or most important metric for judging a president's foreign policy. I would point instead towards Biden's saber-rattling toward China and Russia--quite a bit more than saber rattling you could argue, but ratcheting up tensions in general. Also, y'know, the genocide in Gaza. There's no guarantee that Trump would be all that much better but given his interest in making "deals" I think he might be more open to sending Jared Kushner to work with the Saudis and pressure Netanyahu into a ceasefire.

I'm not advocating anyone vote for Trump. There's a difference between not voting for Biden and actively voting for Trump. However, I think having a disinterested isolationist clown in charge might be better than a China hawk and rabid Zionist, at least for foreign policy.

You're aware Russia is currently invading a sovereign nation, and that the US is currently the only thing blocking China from considering a similar invasion of a sovereign nation? What makes Biden's foreign policy with regards to Russia and China sabre rattling? Maybe some sabres should be rattled a little harder actually?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Ither posted:

I wonder when the fight for legal prostitution will start in earnest. 2030? 2050?

There's a solid chunk of progressives and inter-sectional feminists who of course rightly advocate for this, and have been for a while. Especially in the context in which a lot of anti-prostitution laws are like anti-weed laws, a means of providing authority/police a legal pretext to control the bodily autonomy of women.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Nervous posted:

Just another great example of Bidenflation. Those used to be $2.99/min when I was younger.

Twitch streamers are free. :colbert:

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

quote:

Meanwhile, no men are hypersexualized in the categories of Games, Just Chatting, and ASMR

But Markiplier is right there?!?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
Biden is old and that's a fact, but it's also a fact that Trump is also old; but the media & pundit sphere seems invested due to the perverse incentives they operate under and the polarization of America in only covering with breathless and reckless abandon only Biden in order to perpetuate the narrative of a horse race. Despite Biden's poor polling its vastly more likely than not he still wins against Trump; but covering this honestly would further put their thumbs on that scale and not generate clicks or revenues or gain clout.

It seems entirely too possible that they would be happy to see a Trump win, as covering Trump is typically more "exciting" than Biden, who has been boringly competent and free of real substantiative scandal. Trump's scandals are real with real consequences while Biden's have basically all have been fabricated, but covering them with equal weight keeps the lights on.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Sir Kodiak posted:

Polling isn't predictive this far out, particularly with hypothetical candidates.

What it IS supporting is the idea that as the election season properly starts and gets closer Biden's numbers will improve, especially as sentiments about the economy swing back to the underlying economic trendline.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

selec posted:

Imagine being a left/liberal voter and getting a manifesto that clear and intentionally pointed at what you actually want, not mediated by a need to seem reasonable or willing to compromise. Just a pure vision of the country you want to live in, elucidated by the people you are being told your vote will empower. It's got to feel incredible to be pandered to that much, to be told what you care about actually really does matter, and to see a policy plan that at least goes beyond "We'll make healthcare savings available to tax credit qualifying households."

Now, I don't think they'll be able to accomplish maybe even 10 or 15% of what is in that plan, were Trump to win, for reasons we can get into, but you have to envy the willingness to completely throw away the mask, and give the base something to really hope for and work for. That's good politics, regardless of what you think of the policies themselves, which are horrible.

I honestly cannot imagine what a politician making an offer this tempting and blood-quickening to the Dem base would even look like, or who could credibly offer it to them; Bernie was successfully neutered, and the Squad doesn't have anybody with both the willingness and the clout to pull it off.

For one thing there's vastly more diversity in wants and desires among the left/liberal ideological wing of US politics; so its categorically impossible to have a manifesto as clear without effectively splitting/fracturing that support. It's not even a question of reasonableness, the liberal/left of America in not only details but in wider ranging policies generally want different things and the only thing that they can broadly agree on in a vacuum is "We're like society to be improved somewhat", on virtually any issue you can name there's easily a wide range of opinions among leftists and liberals. The difference in opinion between two different pixels along the spectrum of shades of grey among leftist-liberalism is as stark as black and white.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Levitate posted:

I think that was more of a "it wasn't 1400 civilians a bunch of them were IDF" comment, though I have not kept up to date on what the numbers have really panned out to be

If they weren't in uniform on active duty then they're still civilians even if this was true.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

shimmy shimmy posted:

Wait, what? Soldiers are still soldiers even if they're in civilian dress or on leave.

That doesn't make them legitimate targets. Especially when there's no practical means of differentiating them from other civilians.


Yawgmoft posted:

They attacked military bases.

Then that's a different set of circumstances from an attack on civilian areas that might happen to have off duty soldiers or reservists not in uniform.


Madkal posted:

How does this work in a country with mandatory service for anyone over the age of 18?

I mean it doesn't, that's still a war crime.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

shimmy shimmy posted:

The article linked by Yawgmoth has a pretty decent summary of the numbers, editorializing aside, and people were correct to challenge Leon on "1400 civilians".

The article only really claims the official civilian death toll so far including an unknown number of unidentified bodies; the article specifies at least 100, so it could be 1400, or it could be 900, or it could be 1100, I dunno this feels like the same sort of splitting of hairs that goes on with Tienanmen Square revisionists. Both are bad because of the indiscriminate use of force against innocents.

shimmy shimmy posted:

I'm not sure how you come to this conclusion. Active duty soldiers are legitimate military targets, they don't cease being legitimate military targets because they're not in uniform or not currently assigned a task. A military barracks is a legitimate military target even if the soldiers are asleep and in their pajamas inside.

It isn't clear to me if the claim is "some hundreds of people were actually off duty IDF therefore aren't civilians" versus "some of the death toll includes soldiers deployed in response to the terrorist attacks or soldiers on bases"; but I already wrote that if the claim is the latter I'm not objecting to that.

But yes an off duty soldier, on leave, out of uniform, and without his gun, in a civilian setting, going about their day, having coffee at starbucks or whatever; isn't a combatant/legitimate military target. Because there's no practical means of identifying them from civilians. You can't just bomb a suburb and say that's a legitimate target because of the draft; or that there's some % chance some % of them have draft papers.

If you look at the laws and regulations about war, and see its things like "It's okay to bomb a munitions factory" its under the logic that by virtue of being a building, civilians can make an effort to avoid the area, and the opposing military is supposed to likewise make every effort to target only the building and nothing else; how is a civilian supposed to know to avoid another person who happens to be a off duty soldier in civilian clothes? How is a military supposed to avoid unnecessary collateral damage if its a single person?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

McCloud posted:

Also a significant chunk of those casualties' were caused by the IDF firing on their own in blind indiscriminate panic

Source?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Morrow posted:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/3-israeli-hostages-tried-only-killed-military-rcna130912

For the record I'm very much pro Biden and don't want to be linked to Genocide Joe camp here, but the IDF has absolutely terrible fire discipline and this is a great example of it.

But this doesn't sustain the assertion of a "chunk" of those over 1100 casualties being from friendly fire though, a chunk probably being somewhere between 20% to 45%; not like single digits. Friendly fire incidents happen in all armed conflicts, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happens, but the part that seems extraordinary is the idea that a large portion of those casualties is from friendly fire.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

B B posted:

They've also captured the Supreme Court and their only opposition is a Democratic Party that will bow down to whatever the law preists say, while refusing to pack it because doing so would "politicize" the institution. If there's a time for the Christofascist freaks to shoot their shot, it's now.

I'm not sure that this is true, do you have any evidence for this or what they should do differently?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Nissin Cup Nudist posted:

just eliminate districts entirely and divvy out reps based on popular vote

You don't need to eliminate districts, single transferable vote maintains local districts while still being proportional.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Trazz posted:

https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1760135496338911294
The GOP is reduced to begging for money on Twitter
Love to see it

While the GOP do objectively seem to be in financial dire straits, isn't this par for the course for both parties?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Florida's legislature passed a law that is going to immediately trigger a legal case they will probably lose, but will be interesting to see.

They are attempting to ban all forms of social media for people 16 and under that feature auto-scrolls, feeds, or "addictive features" designed to cause excessive or addictive use.

They believe they will get around any potential first amendment issues because it only applies to minors and only targets specific harmful features rather than speech itself.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n..._source=twitter

Honestly the sooner we can properly age gate the internet the better.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Angry_Ed posted:

the operative word here is "properly" and so far nobody's actually trying to do that. Neither is this bill.

Sure, I doubt Florida under the GOP is going to do so sure. But its one of those things where sometimes seeing bad attempts can seem like small progress to the frustrated.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
Ceasefire Joe has a pretty good ring to it.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

koolkal posted:

People have constantly argued with me that Biden actually cares deeply about the plight of the Palestinian people despite all the evidence I constantly see pointing out the opposite.

Where did I or Kalit state "Biden cares deeply about the plight of the Palistinian people"? I don't even think this would be a true statement regarding the plight of the Ukrainian people or heck even the American people who he's done a lot of help for. This seems like quite the misinterpretation of my and Kalit's point?

Additionally my post was me making a point about how if Biden were to successfully negotiate a ceasefire, he should get the (presumably well deserved in that eventuality) credit for it.

Raenir Salazar fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Mar 1, 2024

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
In general given the massive size of the universe, the number of planets, the sheer amount of time that the universe has been around and in a state "friendly" to carbon based life; it seems improbable for us to be the sole occurrence of intelligent life/technological civilization (i.e the Apes or Angels hypothesis). If we are, then either we're the first, or already dead, and haven't yet run into whatever it is that acts as a "filter" that prevents intelligent civilizations from spreading* across the stars.

As even with rudimentary technology, a civilization sending exactly or at most 1 colony ship to a nearby star system, even if just once every 100 years would on galactic and geological timescales be enough for the entire galaxy to be fully colonized within a few million years; hence why the Apes or Angels or Great Filter thought experiments being popular.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

Nenonen posted:

The problem with interstellar travel is that all civilizations that have learned space travel have also learned nuclear weapons, and thus will not live long enough to colonise other systems.

That could be one such "Great Filter" yeah.

In reality it could just as easily be the step from dead matter to vibrant pond scum is actually insanely hard; or the time span in which the universe is friendly is actually much shorter than we think.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
I don't think any amount of messaging can work. People get their opinions formed based on information bubbles and outrage bait from your social media of choice; John Oliver and Jon Stewart and Colbert among some of the major liberal voices have debunked so many right wing lies and millions still march happily to pull the lever for R policies and willfully disbelieve any information or facts to the contrary. Whether its leftist youtubers, influences, the government via debates and official statements; the only people left to be convinced are the most painfully misinformation and willfully ignorant people on the face of the planet that have ever existed in all of human history; trying to blame the democrats is like blaming the coast guard for not yelling warnings hard enough when a hurricane rolls in despite all the warnings and official statements through the usual channels they already use that you still choose to ignore.

There is literally no winning, only mitigation; and hoping the people who came to their pre-existing conclusions did so on the right side of the historical fence.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice
Biden's doing the right thing it seems or at least within the limits of the US political reality; Joe the Humanitarian, or Humanitarian Aid Joe don't quite roll off the tongue, any ideas?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

rscott posted:

I'm sure all the Palestinians who die from American bombs will be saying to themselves, "at least I died with a full stomach, thanks Joe"

This seems very reductive, would you prefer there's no aid coming through? Politics involves compromise; and this is clearly in an multistage multipart effort to arrange for a long lasting ceasation of hostilities and continued and prompt administration of aid. You're not really thinking big picture or long term here.


B B posted:

The 100+ secret shipments of bombs to Israel that have been used by Israel to carry out the genocide seem like strong evidence that Genocide Joe supports the genocide to which he is funneling weapons.

Or maybe he supports Israel's ostensible right to self-defence against terrorist attacks but the disproportionate response puts the US in a difficult situation of trying to mitigate the harm being done? There's a hypothetical universe where Israel only uses those weapons in a proportional way against military targets and engages in a responsible police action to target only hamas politicians and military.

B B posted:

How'd this nickname suggestion work out?

Idk, this seems like a step in the right direction? I'm not sure your point.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

koolkal posted:

Also, much like the ceasefire that was totally coming this past Monday according to pudding-brained ice cream-handed Genocide Joe, we'll see how this idea works out

Ceasefire Joe certainly didn't work out

Did anyone try using it? Maybe there could be more positive reinforcement?


Olga Gurlukovich posted:

Judge there's a hypothetical universe where that gun I gave my crazy friend screaming about revenge was used in self defense instead of a mass shooting

Countries obviously aren't individuals within the social contract but are amoral self-interested actors within a anarchic framework of realpolitik? This is obviously apples and oranges.


B B posted:

The weapons that Biden has provided to Israel have been used in massacres of Gazan civilians:

Its unfortunate, deeply so, but I'm not sure what this has to do with what I said or my point?

rscott posted:

IDK dude, it seems pretty reductive to boil the situation down to where the only choices are that Palestinians die hungry or full. Perhaps there's another way forward?

But that's literally the point you made? Perhaps you should've made your argument clearer?

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

B B posted:

You made some bizarre post about how there's a "hypothetical universe where Israel only uses those weapons in a proportional way against military targets and engages in a responsible police action to target only hamas politicians and military." That universe doesn't exist. In the universe we live in, Israel is using the weapons that Biden is providing to butcher thousands of civilians in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the region of Palestinians. Y'know genocide, which Biden is supporting--hence the "Genocide Joe" moniker.

My point here is that this is reductive, because you're asserting that the only explanation for this is that "Joe Biden supports genocide" which I don't think is true, and that there are alternative explanations that require nuance.

I don't think its very bizarre to point out the fact that very obviously there are circumstances in which Israel using armed force to defend itself would be just, and that the Biden Administration is consequently forced to pretend that this is one of those situations.


rscott posted:

Nah dude that's the point you made when you said that Biden should be lauded as a humanitarian because he's putting a fig leaf the United States' support for Israel's genocidal campaign. You're arguing backwards from a point where every decision the Biden Administration makes w/r/t Gaza is the correct one and attempting to find some rhetoric that supports your position.

This seems not well supported by the evidence (that the Biden is doing this as a 'fig leaf'), I think the most reasonable explanation is that the Biden Administration is doing this because they want to try to reduce the harm being done within the constraints they're under; and that this just isn't the way you'd prefer.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

rscott posted:

The Biden Administration is forced to pretend like systematically destroying every single civil and religious institution in the Gaza strip is legitimate self defense? By who?

By decades of "manufactured consent/consensus" that makes it political suicide to be tougher on Israel? Like you know that a politician in the US can't just be for "good things" and against "bad things" right, because it doesn't work that way? Much in the same way "I want to reform the police" gets attacked as "Against Cops!"? Or how being for "healthcare reform" becomes "death panels"? Nothing anyone in political office or running for offices does doesn't end up in a vacuum, its all mediated by different self-interested and ideological mediators who have an interest in crafting/diverting/nudging the narrative to suit their own ends.

Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

FistEnergy posted:

Nothing has actually happened, or been maintained for a significant time, or resulted in improving conditions or a decrease in the loss of life in Gaza. So for now, it's still Genocide Joe.

Talk is cheap. Remember what Biden said a few days before Super Tuesday? He said between bites of ice cream that a ceasefire was almost done and he thought it would get done by the end of the weekend. Result: Memory Holed. Operation Get to Super Tuesday: Complete.

So wait, to be clear, are you against Biden attempting to engage in messaging to advocate for better things?


rscott posted:

Again this feels like post hoc justification for what Biden's administration has done over the last 5 months and not any kind of compelling argument that Biden is unable to take steps to end Israel's targeting of Palestinian civilians and society. You're treating it like a force of nature, an act of God that Biden has to work around instead of a problem that he has actively worked to enable.

Biden could have quietly stopped approving arms shipments to the IDF circa mid October when it was very clear to everyone involved that Israel was not aiming for Hamas but for cleansing the Gaza Strip of any significant Palestinian presence. That's like the absolute minimum he could have done. He could have announced that he was enforcing the Leahy rule on arms shipments to Israel and suspending deliveries until Israel demonstrated compliance with the law. This would have been a middle of the road option that would have likely mollified significant portions of his base that are critical of his actions so far. He could have even stated that as a non signatory of NPT, Israel is not eligible for lethal aid and suspended deliveries that way, certainly a nuclear option for sure and one that would have come with some blowback but would have also built some serious credibility with the left wing of his party.

But instead he's chosen to play up every sensational claim made by Israeli officials regarding the atrocities committed on 10/7. He's continued to approve hundreds of arms shipments to the IDF so they can mow down civilians and make Gaza uninhabitable. He's chosen to direct his UN ambassador to veto every resolution calling for a ceasefire and to suspend aid to the UNRWA based on evidence his own intelligence agencies called low confidence. Pretending like Biden is just a smol bean cast adrift on the tides of public opinion and media coverage honestly feels infantilizing of Biden. He has an entire messaging apparatus set up to amplify what he says. Given Biden's 40 year track record of Zionism, why should we believe that this isn't proceeding exactly how he hoped except with having to deal with the blowback from his base?

Yes, Biden could in theory have done these things, just as how I think it was *Reagan* of all people who pressured Israel into knocking it off with the civilian casualties in Lebanon (? If I remember correctly?).

But the point is we're no longer in a period of history where that can happen, the US political leadership is no longer able to act independently and with conviction on issues that lack overwhelming popular support or bipartisan consensus. We no longer can have really a "Only Nixon can go to China" moment; the closest we've had was Biden pulling out from Afghanistan which the blob, and Americans as a whole have been punishing him for ever since.

The point I've made at least twice now, which you haven't really responded to, that you haven't acknowledged is that there is a political reality that a Democrat in office in as precarious a position as Biden, whose main concern is reelection, is not in a position where they can buck the neoliberal postwar consensus regarding Israel even in circumstances where Israel is overwhelmingly in the wrong except for the most milk-toast disapproval and clicking of teeth.

Your last sentence illustrates this perfectly, for most people, Israel existing is fine, all countries have a right to exist, a right to defend themselves; and most people generally think jewish people having a jewish state is also fine; reasonable people will of course "Well genocide of course is wrong, and Israel shouldn't be occupying the West Bank or using such overwhelming punitive force in Gaza" but there's a threshold where some force would've been fine for most people; calling Biden a zionist is just going to result in confusion for a lot of people who don't have the same definition or hierarchy of concerns as you do; because for most Americans that's just going to result in a "Huh, why's that a problem?".

Something Awful is not representative of your average voter, and not even your average democrat, and not your average liberal or progressive. And what you believe in your bones to be an obvious example of right and wrong, black and white, is just some arbitrary pixel along a gray/greyscale gradient.

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Raenir Salazar
Nov 5, 2010

College Slice

FistEnergy posted:

No RS, but advocating for good things is not the same thing as good things being completed, sustained, and proven effective. Certain people are already acting like Biden has conjured this into reality and are immediately being way too credulous. The reaction to Biden's statement should be "could be helpful, we'll see."

Yes they aren't the same, but acting like when the President says something is just meaningless "words" like you're talking about a random Joe down the street, but it isn't a random Joe, its no Joe Schmoe, its Joe Biden. Saying things is incredibly important, its a part of his job because he can't just do things, doing things can backfire, especially if there isn't sufficient support for it, its important to rhetorically lay the ground work, and if this was an official announcement via official channels, it sounds like its a lot more likely than not and not at all the same as saying a ceasefire was basically agreed to, because he can order the military to build the port; that's a thing he can do, obviously there's a lot of steps and work to be done first, a lot of consensus and bridge building and fact finding, but acting like its just a given like its not going to happen or not going to do any good is like the inverse of counting chickens before they hatch, its like claiming there's no such a thing as a chicken?

The problem isn't that the reaction has been "This could be a great positive step in the right direction!" but that even just going by your own previous post on the topic:


FistEnergy posted:

Nothing has actually happened, or been maintained for a significant time, or resulted in improving conditions or a decrease in the loss of life in Gaza. So for now, it's still Genocide Joe.

Talk is cheap. Remember what Biden said a few days before Super Tuesday? He said between bites of ice cream that a ceasefire was almost done and he thought it would get done by the end of the weekend. Result: Memory Holed. Operation Get to Super Tuesday: Complete.

Are acting like there's nothing positive about this news at all which seems overblown in how underblown its being.

e to add and clarify, like if your response had just been "Could be good news we'll see" there'd be nothing objectionable, and nothing that really needs discussing, because at least there'd be like some kind of baseline level of agreement that this suggests "hey something good might be happening", but your initial response was really extremely far away from there, hence the pushback on it and other posts like it.

Raenir Salazar fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Mar 8, 2024

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