Make war , not love

[Ninurta]

It's not about the nukes, it's about Israel's aggressive military expansion in the region, with the USA being promised the spoils of war. It's disgusting.

It's only normal for other countries to take up arms to protect themselves.

Double standards.

Yes indeed, double standards.

"Other countries" only take up arms "to defend themselves", whereas of course Israel is not allowed self defense - instead they are accused of "aggressive military expansion" when they take up arms.

I think there is a definition of "double standard" in there somewhere...

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What was worthy of my attention is he was reiterating what others have reiterated about Israel during the Gaza genocidal bombings, that Israel hides the truth from their people. This I believe to be fact.

There is another of those unnecessary adjectives -"genocidal". In addition to it being factually untrue, it is injected into propaganda in order to elicit emotional responses. No one likes "genociders", now do they? Just like the descriptor of the Iranian clerics as a "terrorist regime" from the other side of the debate, the "genocidal" adjective is utterly unnecessary, and found only in propaganda displays. Regular people, like you and I, pick it up from the propagandists and continue spreading it to give it a wider, and usually unsuspecting, audience. That's really the power of propaganda - it gets regular Joes and Josies to do the heavy lifting to spread it.

An interesting discussion on accepting independent or alternate news reports or refusing to accept it. It may be that some people who can't accept the other side of the reality can be accused of supporting Imperialism or are authoritarian apologists. One thing for sure, is no military faction will tell the truth as to the level of devastation that was inflicted on them by their enemy.

That's true. Some folks are likely unable to accept news reports that oppose their particular agenda. Other folks probably just don't have the time or inclination to properly evaluate them, so they run with whatever they are told to run with by their own "side".

There are no"Black Hats" or "White Hats" except in old western movies. reality is sloppier and fraught with shades of gray.

Nothing, but NOTHING is ever as "good" as it's proponents claim, nor is it ever as bad as it's detractors charge.

Hence the need for careful evaluation, which again some folks have neither the time nor the inclination to evaluate for veracity. That is exactly how propaganda spreads, as we can see from both sides to the equation right now. People who either cannot or will not do independent assessments of the claims put forth just grab what they are told and run with it, sans vetting.

There is also, possibly - although I find it hard to believe - some folks who do not know what to look for in evaluating propaganda. I can't imagine anyone growing to adulthood and not being able to recognize it, but then I may be biased, as I've been taught to look for it for many decades now.

Here's another example that I posted in the shoutbox last night: I'm seeing multiple claims from the US side that the Iranian navy has been "demolished" or "eradicated". However, I'm also seeing warnings about the Straights of Hormuz being closed. So, if America has truly "eradicated" the Iranian navy as they claim, who in the hell is closing off the Straits of Hormuz?

Some times, the propaganda is well-hidden within logical inconsistencies, and may have to be teased out by throwing those inconsistencies one against the other.

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The "authoritarianism" debate is probably really for another discussion. However, I will say that, from my perspective here on the ground in Virginia, which is currently spiraling into an authoritarianism that Stalin would have been proud of, the authoritarianism is coming from the exactly opposite side from what I see bandied about on the internet. Now, that's just my experience from here on the ground, rather than any lofty internet debates on the matter, whiler the internet continues to inform me that my eyes are not really seeing what they are reporting to me at all. So you can probably take it with a grain of salt.

Maybe I shouldn't believe my own lyin' eyes, as one man has previously been accused of charging.

.

[The Crying Bunny]

Or maybe. . . . . . 

Trump is telling the truth.

And Israel aren't evil joos.

And Iran is a really bad-guy terrorist state.

[Ninurta]

Or maybe. . . . . . 

Trump is telling the truth.

And Israel aren't evil joos.

And Iran is a really bad-guy terrorist state.

Are there really and "good", non-evil joos? I've heard people say that the only good joo is a dead joo... mostly Arabs and Arab apologists. "Eliminate them from the River to the Sea", that sort of thing... although many of the folks chanting that here haven't the slightest idea which river or sea they are referring to in their chant. They seem to be just repeating noises they've heard, like a parrot can do. In the US, it's mostly the Arab apologists, who are almost all on "the left"... you know, the same people who claim to support Native Americans, of whom the same thing was once upon a time said - the only good one was a dead one. The irony or cognitive dissonance of their opposite positions seems to be lost upon them.

I have to admit that I am biased on the topic of Iran being a "bad-guy" state. I remember Khomeini taking the place over, and the old "leader" dying in exile, unable to ever go back home before he died. I remember the "students" taking over the embassy, and holding innocent people hostage for 444 days - not, generally speaking, the action of "the good guys". I remember when Dumbass Carter made a half-assed attempt to rescue them, which resulted in abject failure and humiliation of the US, giving fuel to the fire engulfing Iran at that time. I remember all the years of the Iranian Clerics threatening death to me and everyone I love.

So, yeah, I'm probably biased against the cleric's regime in Iran.

Accusing Trump of "telling the truth" may be a bridge too far. Mostly the words coming out of his mouth or fingers are bloviations whose only purposes seem to be to push air around. I never listen to what he says - I only watch what he DOES, or attempts to do.

That is where the rubber meets the road.

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[The Crying Bunny]

Occam's Razor my friend.

I'm a simple man.  I'm not complicated.

I swore an oath to the Constitution and my bride.

Never to a political party or person (other than my wife)