|
Zonie63 -> RE: "Welcome to America's 30 year War" (5/23/2013 8:14:39 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Aswad
quote:
ORIGINAL: Zonie63
Anyone who would throw rocks at a heavily-armed individual is an idiot.
Well, duh...
That said, I don't expect uneducated teenagers from families living on $900 per year in a civil war zone to have excellent judgment.
Still, I would expect that they know what a gun is and what it can do.
quote:
quote:
It's hard to sympathize with reckless teenage delinquents and gang-bangers.
If you find it hard, I'd submit that it's a worthwhile challenge to set your mind to. As a starting point, consider just what conditions these kids live with. Over half the population is children, and one third are under fourteen. They're a violently oppressed ethnicity/class in their own country, live with civil war and what to them appears to be indiscriminate bombing on a regular basis, and so forth.
I consider myself liberal, perhaps even slightly leftist, but that doesn't mean I'm a bleeding heart. I don't sympathize with people who commit acts of violence, whether right or left, whether in the USA or abroad. Sure, I can consider what conditions people live under, just like the Sandy Hook killer or any number of violent criminals in our society, but sympathize? No way.
But in case you're wondering, I don't sympathize with the IDF or the U.S. government either. If violence is directed at my government, then I'll consider the conditions that the perpetrators live under, and perhaps I might even understand the reasons for it. But that doesn't mean I'm going to sympathize with them.
quote:
quote:
There was one case near El Paso where a kid from the Mexico side was throwing rocks at the Border Patrol, and the Border Patrol shot and killed the kid. There was the usual outrage at the Border Patrol, but all I was wondering: Why was the kid throwing rocks at armed individuals in the first place? How stupid.
Look, if I was going to write people off based on their behavior being stupid according to my own metrics thereof, I would have to write off most of humanity as being terminally stupid, and our species as a disease. I find that to be a supremely unproductive exercise, and so I try to respect people and their lives anyway.
I don't see anything wrong with calling something as one sees it. I think that people should take responsibility for their own actions.
In the case in El Paso, I recall that the kid was throwing rocks at the behest of the drug cartels, mainly as a diversion to distract the BP while smugglers were crossing the border at another location.
If I went down to Mexico and started throwing rocks at armed thugs in the drug cartels, I would expect to get shot. If I did, do you think most people would sympathize with me and consider me a victim? Or would they just consider me a fool?
quote:
Where I live, you just don't do a thing like that. You can put the kid in his place, sure, but you don't kill him for it, and certainly not with a firearm. This has been a cultural norm since the days when we raided the British Isles for slaves and plunder, when people worried about the barbarian hordes up here and their violent bearzerkers. You would be branded and outlawed for it back then, as a civilian, worse if you were a combattant. These days, you're simply a pariah and socially shunned if you do such a thing.
If the IDF wants to throw rocks back at the kids, I'm gonna give them a pass on that, though I don't think it's particularly decent behavior. When they go shooting these kids, then, no, that's when they lose any claim to legitimacy (not that they had much to begin with).
I never said they were legitimate.
quote:
quote:
If it's just a ploy to get shot and gain sympathy from the bleeding hearts in the media, then okay, but they'd still be better off if they would just take the Gandhi non-violent route.
The non-violent route only scores points with people that have a sense of decency, and hence is ineffective in Israel.
How effective is rock throwing?
quote:
quote:
Throwing rocks at someone with the intent of doing bodily harm is against the law.
Does it demand the death penalty, effectuated extrajudicially, on the spot? Thought not.
For that matter, lots of people throw rocks without any intention beyond lashing out in anger, or even much thought for consequences.
No, I didn't say that it demanded the death penalty, but it's not as if these were innocent kids walking in the park and being unfairly harassed by "The Man." They're not victims as I would define the term. They knew the risks, they took their chances, and lost.
I remember a case many years ago, in which a female police officer was attempting to arrest a man for burglarizing the offices of an ice company. He was a large man, much larger than the police officer, and he made a threatening movement as if to lunge towards her. She pulled out her weapon and shot an unarmed man. He didn't even have a rock to throw.
There are also cases where someone with a gun might charge at police officers, even though they have no chance of winning a gunfight against them. I think they call it "suicide by cop."
Honestly, I don't take rock-throwing very lightly. It's not like kicking sand in someone's face or spitting on someone. One can cause serious injury or death. You seem to think that it's no different than a bunch of kids playing football, but I just don't see it that way.
|
|
|
|
