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| Soundwave said: The issue is casting America constantly as the great evil by Islamic leaders creates a convienant scapegoat to blind the public in Middle Eastern countries to their own shitty leadership and poor politics. America is not the virtuous, perfect entity, but they're not so terrible as Middle Eastern leaders try to brainwash their populations into thinking either. In reality they're actually like a clumsy dolt at times, lots of military power but often times it's not very accurate. This is unfortunate, really terrible (and even sadder that the US media isn't covering this at all), but the person using this as justification to go join ISIS is badly misguided as well. That's not going to help that region at all and only reason a mistake like this can happen is because you have radical religious nutjobs like ISIS running amok in the US. |
What boggles my mind is how the civilians in ISIL, mostly loyalists cause they aggressively drove out dissenters, can't see how crap their leaders are. They are *trying* to get them killed to make propaganda, how can they not see how utterly effed up that is?! I mean, if a large battle is on your doorstep and your governing force *forces you to stay*, that should set off alarm bells if you are capable of thinking on your own.
I won't condone errors like this, they shouldn't happen and it is sad that one has happened now after months of fairly smooth sailing. Well, smooth as things can be in that madhouse. But the reality that no one likes is that total war, which has essentially been the tactic used by all parties involved against ISIL, results in civilian loss of life. Often large. I mean, fhe Allied Forces of WWII - "The Greatest Generation" - caused directly or indirectly the deaths of over 4 million civilians in their war efforts against the Axis. It was accepted, though not celebrated or desired, because the threat and intolerable violence of the Axis had to be stopled. We cannot sit and condemn the ISIL - rightly - as ruthless and animalistic and buckle at the cost of war.
War is tragic, war is brutal. War is, by its very definition, inhumane to some degree. This isn't a prize fight where non combatants are some audience. Its an armed conflict, it's messy and ugly. Instead of using tragic misfortune to vilify, sometimes to the point of dehumanizing, we should all look and see the cost of hasty judgment, of making war without counting the cost. Of why diplomatic solutions and careful planning should always come before righteous indignation-fueled shock-and-awe. This should be a warning against war, not against the "super evil, ruthless" United States, a warning that no matter how far you advance your technology, war will always be hell. It never changes.
