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> How can you call the Nakba a myth? Not exactly what I said. I said you should understand why pro-Israelis consider it to be a myth. You don't have to agree,

> How can you call the Nakba a myth? Not exactly what I said. I said you should understand why pro-Israelis consider it to be a myth. You don't have to agree, but at least understand the arguments. You say you're not smart, but if you're smart enough to argue one side, then you're smart enough to understand the best arguments of the other. Though "How can you call the Nakba a myth?" is in the form of a question, I have enough experience in "debates" of this sort to know it would be a mistake to treat it as a question. "How can you call the Nakba a myth?" is not actually your earnest request for an exchange of views, is it. It's more of a rhetorical device to demonstrate disagreement, even disapproval. Given that it's not an invitation to exchange views, were I to make the mistake of interpreting it as an actual question, and were then to take the time to answer, explain, link to sources, ask questions in return, would you not scoff, dismiss, divert, and not seek to absorb the actual argument, but look immediately for ways to "debunk" it? Some, worried about ideological taint, might even run off to find approved anti-Israel sources to find out how they "debunk" the argument. Invariably, the quality of the rebuttal is not as important as its existence. You (and your co-interlocutor @racional) disapprove, and you are on Team Palestine, therefore it doesn't really matter what the Nakba myth arguments actually are, nor their rebuttal, because they aren't gonna be seriously considered anyway. Again, disappointing, but unsurprising. Not sure how barking talking points at each other is helping at this point. Let us all cheerfully agree to disagree. You can continue to believe that Israel is committing genocide, and I can continue to believe that the accusation is murderously cynical, callous and morally bankrupt.

runarberg 2y ago
You are approaching this as if this is some sort of a debate, with a panel of judges who score us point depending on our performance. That is not the case. There is no competition, no judges, and whatever it is we are doing is nothing like competitive debate. If we were doing competitive debate, a tactic like building a hypothetical Nakba denier, and claiming I have to understand their point—despite denying the Nakba being obviously wrong—that tactic might work in competitive debate, but not here. I don’t care about people who deny a real historical event, and I don’t have to acknowledge them, let alone understand them. They are just wrong. If they exists, that changes nothing, except the number of misinformed and wrong people surrounding this issue. This is not a competitive debate, but an internet forum aimed at tech workers and tech enthusiasts. My goal here is to inform people of the ongoing genocide (which is really sad that that is something we need to do in the 21st century) because there are tech workers contributing to the genocide. I entered this thread 10 days ago because you had been gish galloping common myths about the issue (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40269500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40269500) and I felt the need to correct some of them for a wider audience. Some of those myths were ridiculous and obviously wrong, such as Zionism being a dog whistle, and smearing Pro-palestinian protestors as Nazis. It was not hard to correct those. Why I continued the thread though, that is anybodies guess. IF your goal is to win me in a debate, you have probably succeeded. Congratulations. But I’d like to remind you that there are real victims in the ongoing genocide. Real people, some of them are tech workers who may have an account here on HN. To them this is not a debate which seperates people into “our team” and the “other team”. To them this is a disaster, a tragedy. Out of respect to all the victims of the genocide, I’m not gonna “agree to disagree”. You were wrong on multiple points in your original post, and while these wrong points persist in the public dialog, there will be tech workers feeling OK about contributing their work into furthering the atrocities, which will result in even more of our comrades being murdered in the ongoing genocide.
- rendall 2y ago
  > My goal here is to inform people of the ongoing genocide No. You're goal is to misinform people with a dangerous, mean, and genocidal lie. Why you would do such an evil thing is an open question. That you and others like you shamelessly, smugly repeat this lie, even at your own expense, is deeply weird. Was it hatred, implanted during childhood? Religious indoctrination of some kind? It will remain a mystery to me why people like you hold such recalcitrant, unmitigated hate but it's very clearly there, and it's the same hatred that has caused actual genocide through the centuries. Something ugly, deep in your soul. I hope you figure it out and uproot it someday. It can't be making you happy. Good luck.

runarberg 2y ago

You are approaching this as if this is some sort of a debate, with a panel of judges who score us point depending on our performance. That is not the case. There is no competition, no judges, and whatever it is we are doing is nothing like competitive debate. If we were doing competitive debate, a tactic like building a hypothetical Nakba denier, and claiming I have to understand their point—despite denying the Nakba being obviously wrong—that tactic might work in competitive debate, but not here. I don’t care about people who deny a real historical event, and I don’t have to acknowledge them, let alone understand them. They are just wrong. If they exists, that changes nothing, except the number of misinformed and wrong people surrounding this issue. This is not a competitive debate, but an internet forum aimed at tech workers and tech enthusiasts. My goal here is to inform people of the ongoing genocide (which is really sad that that is something we need to do in the 21st century) because there are tech workers contributing to the genocide. I entered this thread 10 days ago because you had been gish galloping common myths about the issue (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40269500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40269500) and I felt the need to correct some of them for a wider audience. Some of those myths were ridiculous and obviously wrong, such as Zionism being a dog whistle, and smearing Pro-palestinian protestors as Nazis. It was not hard to correct those. Why I continued the thread though, that is anybodies guess. IF your goal is to win me in a debate, you have probably succeeded. Congratulations. But I’d like to remind you that there are real victims in the ongoing genocide. Real people, some of them are tech workers who may have an account here on HN. To them this is not a debate which seperates people into “our team” and the “other team”. To them this is a disaster, a tragedy. Out of respect to all the victims of the genocide, I’m not gonna “agree to disagree”. You were wrong on multiple points in your original post, and while these wrong points persist in the public dialog, there will be tech workers feeling OK about contributing their work into furthering the atrocities, which will result in even more of our comrades being murdered in the ongoing genocide.

rendall 2y ago
> My goal here is to inform people of the ongoing genocide No. You're goal is to misinform people with a dangerous, mean, and genocidal lie. Why you would do such an evil thing is an open question. That you and others like you shamelessly, smugly repeat this lie, even at your own expense, is deeply weird. Was it hatred, implanted during childhood? Religious indoctrination of some kind? It will remain a mystery to me why people like you hold such recalcitrant, unmitigated hate but it's very clearly there, and it's the same hatred that has caused actual genocide through the centuries. Something ugly, deep in your soul. I hope you figure it out and uproot it someday. It can't be making you happy. Good luck.