Thursday, July 20, 2006
Disproportionate Response, and Other Older Responses
Commenter and friend Yehoshua reminded me of a topic that is in the news right now that needs to be discussed:
But Yehoshua's comment also prods me to deal with the subject of "proportionate response" myself -- and indeed a few other subjects that are "hot" right now.
I don't usually do roundups of my own posts, but current developments on the Lebanese border have returned the spotlight to a few issues I've already dealt with in recent months. While I may very well come up with new and more sarcastic ways to make the same points again in coming weeks, I thought I'd start by pointing you to a few of these older but still relevant posts you might not have seen yet. Remember, however, that one of my blogging goals has been to constantly improve my writing skills, so, if I've had any success in that area, please bear in mind that these older posts should absolutely suck helium.
Back in December I had a disproportionately sarcastic response to those who project their own proportionality fetishes onto Israel.
As Israel's three kidnapped soldiers are still missing, presumably in the hands of parties within the Palestinian and Lebanese governments, another December post examining the U.N.'s view of hostage takers still stands as relevant but useless given the particular special place Israel holds in the international community's heart.
And if you wonder who exactly are these Hezbollah and Hamas bozos and who is pulling their strings, you might be interested in seeing a little puppet show.
You may be wondering why I haven't done one of my by-now-cliched game shows about Hezbullah. In fact, I do hope to have on in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with a peek at the real thing -- a Hezbullah Game Show from the people at Hezbullah's Al-Manar Television Network that Israel is apparently so wrong to want off the air.
And finally, I'll just arbitrarily add a fun post I ran across in the search for my kidnapping- and Nasrallah-related posts: bumper stickers for the Islamist bumper. A couple examples:
UPDATE:
Potfry is disproportionately funny as usual on this very topic with his latest post, Scoreboard Installed in Lebanon to Ensure Israel Wages "Proportioned" War.
John Soper also makes some good points, including:
Noahtorious B.I.G. has some strong opinions on the subject.
Of course Cox and Forkum bring their overwhelming wit to the topic of "disproportionate force" too.
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
I quote his comment first of all because it's a pretty good and succinct answer all by itself, and I also really like his phrase "craven idiocy."
Here's a creative idea, Gav: why don't you do an analysis, in your inimitable fashion, of the craven idiocy behind the whole notion of "proportionate response" toward people who would murder every last one of us?
But Yehoshua's comment also prods me to deal with the subject of "proportionate response" myself -- and indeed a few other subjects that are "hot" right now.
I don't usually do roundups of my own posts, but current developments on the Lebanese border have returned the spotlight to a few issues I've already dealt with in recent months. While I may very well come up with new and more sarcastic ways to make the same points again in coming weeks, I thought I'd start by pointing you to a few of these older but still relevant posts you might not have seen yet. Remember, however, that one of my blogging goals has been to constantly improve my writing skills, so, if I've had any success in that area, please bear in mind that these older posts should absolutely suck helium.
Back in December I had a disproportionately sarcastic response to those who project their own proportionality fetishes onto Israel.
As Israel's three kidnapped soldiers are still missing, presumably in the hands of parties within the Palestinian and Lebanese governments, another December post examining the U.N.'s view of hostage takers still stands as relevant but useless given the particular special place Israel holds in the international community's heart.
And if you wonder who exactly are these Hezbollah and Hamas bozos and who is pulling their strings, you might be interested in seeing a little puppet show.
You may be wondering why I haven't done one of my by-now-cliched game shows about Hezbullah. In fact, I do hope to have on in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, I'll leave you with a peek at the real thing -- a Hezbullah Game Show from the people at Hezbullah's Al-Manar Television Network that Israel is apparently so wrong to want off the air.
And finally, I'll just arbitrarily add a fun post I ran across in the search for my kidnapping- and Nasrallah-related posts: bumper stickers for the Islamist bumper. A couple examples:
Shiite happens.
He who dies with the most infidels wins.
UPDATE:
Potfry is disproportionately funny as usual on this very topic with his latest post, Scoreboard Installed in Lebanon to Ensure Israel Wages "Proportioned" War.
John Soper also makes some good points, including:
And:
Reaction from around the world has been divided, muted, and detractors have primarily said that Israel's response was "disproportionate"... i.e. they have the right to respond but not quite so much.
Cease-fire is about the weakest form of non-violence agreement imaginable. The scale goes something like: cease-fire - armistice - peace treaty - non-aggression pact - alliance. Notice how no terrorist group ever wants a more lasting peace other than the minimum necessary to regroup their forces. Their true, ambitious final goals never diminish.
Noahtorious B.I.G. has some strong opinions on the subject.
Of course Cox and Forkum bring their overwhelming wit to the topic of "disproportionate force" too.
