I fail to see why I should care about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict any more than other conflicts in the world. I don’t understand why virtually in ALL Muslim countries it provokes such outrage. Frankly, I think they’re stupid for making such a big deal of it. Most of those countries do not share a border with Israel, and some of them are thousands of miles from it. Iran doesn’t share a border with Israel, and yet Iran is totally obsessed with Israel. Pakistan seems to have more outrage against Israel than it does against terrorism against its own people.

When the British created Northern Ireland, essentially stealing part of a sovereign country, you didn’t see Catholic countries like Spain and Italy going absolutely bonkers about it. There are lots of ongoing conflicts in the world today, and many have been more deadly when you add up the total number of people killed than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and most people shrug their shoulders – that is if they’re even aware of those conflicts at all. Look at Rwanda. 800,000 killed. Did we care? Lots of people didn’t even know about the conflict, or even where the country was. Look at Darfur.

And yet when there is even one death in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict it makes the news.

And people just go bonkers over that conflict. I know of no issue where people get so entrenched in rooting for one side and are utterly unable to see any merit in the other side. I know of no issue where people seem to have utter contempt for the other side.

Somebody will probably say “well the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is different because…” Look, EVERY conflict is different. Every conflict is unique. The fact that there are some unique characteristics about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict doesn’t mean diddely squat to me.

I care, a little, but no more than I care about the many other conflicts going on in the world, and frankly less than some.

And yet, as is obvious on ATS and anywhere the issue is discussed, people have these huffing and puffing opinions as though the conflict was the most important thing in the world and their side was totally, obviously right.

I find it stupid. I mean REALLY stupid. I’m open minded, but I have yet to hear a reason why I should care so much about that particular conflict, why I should put it on a pedestal above all other conflicts.


[edit on 18-1-2009 by ClintK]

Are you serious?
Another thread on why do people care so much?

wth, just because you don't care that innocent lives are being killed then nobody else should too?

One israeli dies and the entire country mourns over ONE death

Sooooo many palestinians die and they should be stoic about it?

Man I don't know what world you live in but I should wouldn't want to visit.

And the ripple effect this causes is incomparable
e.g. Money and weapons to israel to finance genocide, the world view of muslims spreaded by the one-sided media, blowback etc.... etc...

I don't get you posters, if you dislike the attention then why keep returning to Middle East Issues section of ATS?

Why should we care that you don't care?
Should I make an entire thread about that too?

[edit on 18-1-2009 by ModernAcademia]

You should care because it represents the utter failure of the progression of the human species.

Here we have an 'educated' society, with few social problems related to underdevelopment; low crime, low unemployement, high levels of education, and lots of hard cash. All the staples of a modern, advanced and learnéd society. We are forced to trust the assumption that with these things in place humanity can be liberated from our 'toils for survival' and persue higher ambitions.

Yet here is Israel, acting like a bunch of terrorist warmongers. I mourne not only for the innocent lives lost, but mostly for the failure modern humanity.

Its disgusting, and seriously depressing for anyone who believes that we are making any kind of progress as a global human community.

exactly

the topic keeps getting heated and everyone comments so much because everyone knows Israel is a terroist state but every acts like they are the victims.

it's not the same with darfur

Originally posted by The_Modulus

I mourne not only for the innocent lives lost, but mostly for the failure modern humanity.

Very poetic. but back to topic.

Why do you care about the middle-east conflict? how does this war effects your everyday life in south africa, and why does it carry such weight on your mind compared to other current world events?

Originally posted by The_Modulus
You should care because it represents the utter failure of the progression of the human species.

Oh. And the fact that 800,000 people died in Rwanda didn't represent the utter failure of the progression of the human species?

And by the way, your signature demonstrates my point about people having extreme views and not attempting to see the other point of view.



[edit on 18-1-2009 by ClintK]

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We ARE going to stay on topic and not discuss other members.

Fact

People replying the way they are furthur proves what the OP is trying to get across. The point isn't that this conflict isn't important, but that it's not any more important than any other that goes on.

I can understand the "why should I care" feeling alright. It reminds me of when a child goes missing. If the parents are rich, suddenly this child missing is huge news that we hear about for weeks, internationally. While I can see the situation as being terrible, I also see it as implying the rich child is more important than the hundreds and thousands of others that go missing but get no mention, during the same timeframe of the rich childs media attention. All the attention goes towards this one child, instead of missing children generally. All are important, are they not? But why focus on just one?

That's how I feel. It's a terrible thing going on in the middle east but it isn't the only terrible thing going on around the world, as we speak.

I can tell you why. Those that are raising hell about the "innocent"lives being expended in Gaza and totally ignore true genocide and persecution elsewhere in the world, they simply hate Jews, and thus, they hate Israel.

You'll hear them stand proud and tout that they are just against the Israeli government, but that's all camoflage. They simply hate Jews, and since Israel is representative of a Jewish state, they damn it on a regular basis, and ignore the hundreds of thousands that are being exterminated on a regular basis all over the world.

Come to think of it, these folks are mighty peculiar who they raise hell about, aren't they?

Originally posted by DeMitsuko
Why do you care about the middle-east conflict? how does this war effects your everyday life in south africa, and why does it carry such weight on your mind compared to other current world events?

Perhaps you should re-read my post and you discover why this affects and upsets me.

Originally posted by ClintK
Oh. And the fact that 800,000 people died in Rwanda didn't represent the utter failure of the progression of the human species?

You see, this is the exact point I was making. As completely unacceptable as any act of genocide, war, and general murder of innocent life is, many such instances do not violate any principles of progress, as I'm sure we can agree that pre-genocide Rwanda was not exactly a representative of the culmination of modern social progress.

Now I'm not saying that Israel represents any such culmination of civilitude, social justice and progress, but they are an extremely well-endowed nation. High levels of education, employment, functioning democratic government, abundant and discursive media, advanced criminal-justice system... everything is in place for the results of such progress to come to fruition, yet what are the results we are witnessing?

Killing, violence, war, all those aspects of humanity that we look into the past at with remorse, regret and disgust. Where is the progress? When will we stop killing each other as a function of peacekeeping and problem solving? If Israel is any measure to judge by, our prospects as a global community are grim.

Originally posted by ClintK
And yet, as is obvious on ATS and anywhere the issue is discussed, people have these huffing and puffing opinions as though the conflict was the most important thing in the world and their side was totally, obviously right.

That's probably part of the answer: people are personally and emotionally vested in one side of the conflict. And I mean this to represent both sides (pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian). So what we get is often mere propaganda because people want their side to be very much "obviously right".

So why are individuals so heavily invested in the conflict? Probably lots of reasons but I assume many of them already come to this current conflict with minds made up...so they're filtering all the information through that bias.

The missing-rich-child analogy is interesting, too. It implies that the MSM has a role in actually generating all of this focus. I'd be interested to hear what others think the goal of this is. Or does the MSM simply respond to a public interest in the conflict?

Originally posted by The_Modulus

Originally posted by DeMitsuko
Why do you care about the middle-east conflict? how does this war effects your everyday life in south africa, and why does it carry such weight on your mind compared to other current world events?

Perhaps you should re-read my post and you discover why this affects and upsets me.

Originally posted by ClintK
Oh. And the fact that 800,000 people died in Rwanda didn't represent the utter failure of the progression of the human species?

You see, this is the exact point I was making. As completely unacceptable as any act of genocide, war, and general murder of innocent life is, many such instances do not violate any principles of progress, as I'm sure we can agree that pre-genocide Rwanda was not exactly a representative of the culmination of modern social progress.

Now I'm not saying that Israel represents any such culmination of civilitude, social justice and progress, but they are an extremely well-endowed nation. High levels of education, employment, functioning democratic government, abundant and discursive media, advanced criminal-justice system... everything is in place for the results of such progress to come to fruition, yet what are the results we are witnessing?

Killing, violence, war, all those aspects of humanity that we look into the past at with remorse, regret and disgust. Where is the progress? When will we stop killing each other as a function of peacekeeping and problem solving? If Israel is any measure to judge by, our prospects as a global community are grim.

The USA has a highly educated populace. Didn't stop us from killing many innocent Iraqis. Not intentionally, but neither does Israel. Germany was a country with a highly educated populace and look at what they did in WWII. All you've done is tell me you're against Israel and blame them for everything. I've already read a million posts like that. I don't think Israel and Palestine are the sole representatives represent the human race. It means Israel and Palestine might have failed in sone way, but not the whole human race.

[edit on 18-1-2009 by ClintK]

Originally posted by dooper

You'll hear them stand proud and tout that they are just against the Israeli government, but that's all camoflage. They simply hate Jews, and since Israel is representative of a Jewish state, they damn it on a regular basis, and ignore the hundreds of thousands that are being exterminated on a regular basis all over the world.

I like to call these people "closet anti-semites".
Its the same people who will shout that not everyone that hate israel hate jews even before anyone said anything about hating jews.

"The thief doth fear each bush an officer."


[edit on 18-1-2009 by DeMitsuko]