Israel vs Hamas Conflict 2023

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Hmmmm ........ anyone else smell ......politics? Just curious..............

Its dangerously close…

 

[MiTasol]

That is another very offensive statement- where are you located?

I moved to Australia in 2011 but have lived in 8 countries and worked in 7. One of my children and all my grandchildren currently live in the US but one child recently immigrated to Australia. Others are looking at moving here, to Canada or to Ireland.

I still have other relatives and many friends in the US though.

One nephew very recently moved to Australia as well but I have not seen him for probably 20 years when he lived in Hawaii.

 

[manta22]

I moved to Australia in 2011 but have lived in 8 countries and worked in 7. One of my children and all my grandchildren currently live in the US but one child recently immigrated to Australia. Others are looking at moving here, to Canada or to Ireland.

I still have other relatives and many friends in the US though.

One nephew very recently moved to Australia as well but I have not seen him for probably 20 years when he lived in Hawaii.

"I moved to Australia in 2011..." From the US?

 

[buffnut453]

A fig leaf is a fig leaf is a fig leaf. If one's ideology can be used to repress or exterminate others who don't agree, is that an issue of the believer, or of the belief? Westerners think of Buddhism as a peaceful religion, but maybe ask the Rohinga. Is it the practitioner or the belief, or perhaps both?

And just to say, all preachers cherry-pick. Every single one.

This thread is not about religion, and I understand that going deep on this will kill this thread, but ignoring the influence of religion in this war is shortsighted.

So, again, we're back to a binary view of the problem. There are literally hundreds of millions of Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists etc.who live peaceably with people of other faiths. Show me one teaching of Jesus that advocates extermination of other people.

Just because some people profess to believe a particular religion and then go on to commit heinous acts against humanity does not mean they are faithful followers of that faith. Just because some people twist religion to suit their own immoral objectives does not make religion the cause.

There are plenty of Moslems who are actively working to tackle the spread of Islamic extremism. So, yes, I say it is corrupt religious so-called leaders who are the cause and not the religion itself. Human pride and lust for power exist in the religious world as well as in the secular. There IS a religious component to these conflicts, clearly. However, the way to tackle it is by limiting the influence of e premiers within those faiths.

As a strongly active Christian, I don't want to impose my beliefs on anyone else. I believe in allowing all people to worship who and how they may…or not to worship, if that's their preference. I strive to treat all alike and have no desire to limit the freedom of any other person. And I refuse to paint all people of any faith, or of no faith, with the same 12-mile wide paintbrush.

 

[MiTasol]

"I moved to Australia in 2011..." From the US?

As I said I have lived in many countries and I consider none "home" so where I was born is immaterial. I moved from PNG to Aus as that was the last place I lived and worked. The fact that many of my relatives live in the US is not a hint.

Too many people are blinded by national (or provincial/state) pride and in many cases I find that countries national pride totally misplaced as they religiously believe their own society is the absolute best in the world and will not allow any thought of what is wrong with their country. The freedom to exercise critical thinking is crushed through peer pressure.

I chose Australia for a mixture of freedom, climate (Canada is wonderful but too cold in winter), great people, freedom, excellent medical, freedom, and many other things, including the fact that Aus has freedoms of thought and rights that have long disappeared in the US due to peer pressure.

Is Aus perfect? #$%^&*() NO. But it is safe and has lots of freedoms and, so far, the them and us American syndrome where your side of politics or whatever is absolutely without exception right and the other side absolutely without exception wrong has not yet seriously infected Australia.

Freedom in the US has become so badly twisted that many people in first and second world countries outside the US think that the US is "going troppo" to use an Aus phrase.

My fathers generation fought and died for freedom and one quote (attributed to many different people) that often crops up covers what REAL freedom actually means is I Disapprove of What You Say (or write, or do), But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to do It

Examples of how freedom has become twisted in many countries using the US as an example. The US is not the only offender by a long shot but many who live outside the US consider it the worst offender by a very wide margin. The vast majority of Americans are great individuals but cannot see what is in front of them due to peer pressure.

• in many US states ANY twisted soul can ban a book. There is no discussion on the merits of the book. One person on their own can ban it from anything from one to every library in the district or state because it is their right. If you want to read that book you have no rights because in most cases there is no process to un-ban what has been banned without any discussion or need to provide a legally based reason for the ban. Thankfully some publishers are now having banned book weeks.
• In some US states the idiots want to ban guns and in other states they allow anyone to get a gun and go apeshit with it. There is no discussion on a rational middle ground. No reasonable person has any objection to vehicle drivers licences, pilots licences, A&P licences for fixing aircraft, medical licences, etc, so why is this beyond consideration in so many states. Australia is not a good model because here, in my opinion, they have made gun ownership far too onerus and made the penalties too light.
• In multiple US states the highest cause of childhood death is gunshot injuries. No other country loses anywhere near the same percentage of its citizens to gunshot injuries. Aus has had just one school shooting in the last 100 years and that child gave himself up after firing a couple of shots and not killing or injuring anyone. The case has not gone to court yet but it looks like the parents are going to be charged which is exactly what should happen as the child is to young to truly understand what they were doing.
• In too many US states people are given too many rights without ever being taught that rights are earned by accepting responsibilities and that you must accept that everyone else has the same rights as well. The worst right is the right to ignore everyone else's rights and that "right" is abused to the point of insanity by both sides of politics in the US.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

And none of this has to do with the Israeli - Hamas conflict and has gone completely down the political rabbit hole.

Sigh…

Closed for now. Will consider re-opening at some point. Need to discuss with moderator/admin team.