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The problem is much bigger than that. Can you tell the difference between terrorists and war criminals committing an atrocity, and a militia of freedom fighters

by bostik 6y ago

The problem is much bigger than that. Can you tell the difference between terrorists and war criminals committing an atrocity, and a militia of freedom fighters delivering their brutal but understandable form of justice? Can anyone?

jbullock35 6y ago
Yes. Sometimes it's not hard: > In 2018 the BBC looked into a video circulating on social media showing soldiers blindfolding and then shooting two women and children in Cameroon.
- bostik 6y ago
  Sure, sometimes you do get an obviously easy pick. But what I'm talking about are the amateur snuff clips where a small group of men armed to their teeth and dressed in camo stand in front of tied, bound and kneeling young men, the latter of which are then executed, one by one. And it's only later you learn that the young men were serial war criminals and rapists who not only committed the acts themselves but forced their victims to commit them on their own families, before feeding them a hand-grenade brunch. For us it's disgusting and horrifying. For the societies where it happened that's evidence of justice having been carried out. And the worst of it? If material like that was filmed on a Hollywood studio lot, you'd give it PG, or "15" at best. After all, what's not to like in a some good old-fashioned vigilantism?
Xelbair 6y ago
No one can. It all depends which side you support - the only option is to present both viewpoints in equal measure to 3rd party audience.
dmurray 6y ago
Easy - ask the US government which ones are the bad guys. If you get too far away from where they draw the line between terrorists and freedom fighters, your platform won't be welcome anywhere in the western world anyway.
- bergstromm466 6y ago
  I think you're joking... but sarcam is hard to spot in text format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...
  - dmurray 6y ago
    Under my proposal, all justified military actions aligned with those in your link would be considered good and necessary, and censored only if necessary for military secrecy or to avoid alarming people. All atrocities committed by those aligned to other sides should be considered acts of terrorism, and of course it should be illegal to cover up evidence of such war crimes. Easy!
    - bostik 6y ago
      Terry Pratchett would be proud. He even formalised the universal battle cry: "remember the atrocities done to us to justify the atrocity we are about to commit!" As would another, earlier British author. Can you remember when you were not at war with Oceania?

by bostik 6y ago

jbullock35 6y ago

Yes. Sometimes it's not hard: > In 2018 the BBC looked into a video circulating on social media showing soldiers blindfolding and then shooting two women and children in Cameroon.

bostik 6y ago
Sure, sometimes you do get an obviously easy pick. But what I'm talking about are the amateur snuff clips where a small group of men armed to their teeth and dressed in camo stand in front of tied, bound and kneeling young men, the latter of which are then executed, one by one. And it's only later you learn that the young men were serial war criminals and rapists who not only committed the acts themselves but forced their victims to commit them on their own families, before feeding them a hand-grenade brunch. For us it's disgusting and horrifying. For the societies where it happened that's evidence of justice having been carried out. And the worst of it? If material like that was filmed on a Hollywood studio lot, you'd give it PG, or "15" at best. After all, what's not to like in a some good old-fashioned vigilantism?

Xelbair 6y ago

No one can. It all depends which side you support - the only option is to present both viewpoints in equal measure to 3rd party audience.

dmurray 6y ago

Easy - ask the US government which ones are the bad guys. If you get too far away from where they draw the line between terrorists and freedom fighters, your platform won't be welcome anywhere in the western world anyway.

bergstromm466 6y ago
I think you're joking... but sarcam is hard to spot in text format https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...
- dmurray 6y ago
  Under my proposal, all justified military actions aligned with those in your link would be considered good and necessary, and censored only if necessary for military secrecy or to avoid alarming people. All atrocities committed by those aligned to other sides should be considered acts of terrorism, and of course it should be illegal to cover up evidence of such war crimes. Easy!
  - bostik 6y ago
    Terry Pratchett would be proud. He even formalised the universal battle cry: "remember the atrocities done to us to justify the atrocity we are about to commit!" As would another, earlier British author. Can you remember when you were not at war with Oceania?