5 ms·

I'm always perturbed to see people talk of mass killings so casually

lpapez 7mo ago
The US public discourse is so dehumanized today that anyone who is not "with them" is literally not a human anymore. Even within the country itself "the leftards" are considered an obstacle which can be removed if only enough force is applied. Sending armed agents at protesters is seen as being the same thing as sending pest control to clear out beaver dams on the creek. Nobody cares what the beavers think, they are not human, they do not have feelings. They are simply a menace to be dealth with.
- no_shadowban_5 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - orwin 7mo ago
    It took 8 years the last time.
- smitty1e 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - no_shadowban_5 7mo ago
    [flagged]
  - comrade1234 7mo ago
    > The conservatives, when they protest (Tea Parties) leave public spaces in fine shape. As long as you ignore the feces smeared on the walls and the injured police.
  - JumpCrisscross 7mo ago
    > The conservatives, when they protest (Tea Parties) leave public spaces in fine shape We're just skipping Charlottesville and the Capitol? We have idiots on both of our fringes. But only one of them is in power right now.
  - chneu 7mo ago
    Jan 6th. Even the example you gave is incorrect. Lol. It's so obvious when conservatives cherry pick information to placate their views.
    - smitty1e 7mo ago
      Pelosi's Folly? Give the other leg a pull too, please.
- pydry 7mo ago
  The supporters of imperialism all about nonviolent protest and democratic principles if it seems feasible it could bring about US foreign policy goals: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111067 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111067 Or, if an anonymous and uncorroborated source claims tens of thousands of said protestors were allegedly massacred. If it doesn't, and the strategy now involves blowing up desalinization plants ( https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-threat-desalination-plants-war-f624bed66bee79f68454d581ae1d624a https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-threat-desalination-pl... ) and invoking a humanitarian crisis on the level of a nuclear catastrophe, well... then they're a bit less concerned about human rights.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
no_shadowban_5 7mo ago
Didn't you read the URL? It's not mass killing, it's statecraft. It's not casual, it's responsible.
- ghywertelling 7mo ago
  James Cameron in Avatar: Fire and Ash makes fun of these Big Picture guys (so called ThinkTank people) towards the end.
  - jacquesm 7mo ago
    That's a movie. This is about reality.
    - ghywertelling 7mo ago
      ThinkTank guys have been around since centuries. This movie was released in Dec 2025. Do you think there could be a causal link? Art imitates life.
- tdeck 7mo ago
  It's not this, it's that! And a green account no less.
andrepd 7mo ago
"Responsible Statecraft" they call themselves.
roenxi 7mo ago
There aren't a lot of alternatives - the amount of mass killing going on right now is unusually high. People can't spend all day frothing with moral outrage at the horror of it all. If something is routine there isn't much of an alternative than to discuss it as routine. This article is actually unusually good, I wouldn't be surprised if the site was generally anti-war. It isn't unusual for the level of analysis to be "we're the in-group, we're morally right, they're the out-group, we can't imagine they're competent, lets kill them it'll be easy". The moment people start doing serious analysis they become well-armed pacifists. As a case study; this war is part of a trend of the US hurting itself in aid of ... nothing useful for the US. The only silver lining is I don't see the Trump presidency surviving this and that might be a lesson to the next guy about trying to start fights.
- div 7mo ago
  It’s really quite amazing how the US went in without seemingly an iota of planning beyond “kill ayatollah for regime change”, but at this rate we will see US regime change before Iranian.
  - ZeroGravitas 7mo ago
    Enough planning for the Secretary of War to buy defense stocks and the son of the president to own a drone manufacturing company. Just not planning for anything that might help "make America great again".
    - ryandrake 7mo ago
      It's really this simple. People seem so confused as to why this administration is doing this and why this administration is doing that, but it's clearly about personal enrichment of leaders. It's not some complex 5D chess game. If you want to know why Trump did this or why Hegseth did that or why Bondi did thus, just look at who placed bets, owns stock, owns companies, and/or will be personally enriched by the decision. That's all there is to it.
  - gzread 7mo ago
JumpCrisscross 7mo ago
> perturbed to see people talk of mass killings so casually I'm almost perturbed to not see it discussed at all. What are the casualty estimates of blasting open the Strait?
- Caius-Cosades 7mo ago
  I'm just going to throw some napkin pointers and rough guesstimate-arithmetics here. -At the very minimum you would have to search and secure 130 000 square kilometers in a mountainous region, in a hostile country where you have no popular support, and where most of the male population has had somewhere around two years of military training. To be sure that Iranians couldn't lob anti-ship missiles into the strait, you'd probably need to double or triple that area. -And that's because of anti-ship missiles, with distances ranging from few hundred kilometers to thousand or more. And only one missile needs to get through to cause a mass casualty event onboard of a warship involving hundreds of people. So, assuming that troops get to the shore, then there's the slight peculiarity of modern warfighting. Drones. Cheap and plentiful, with FPV drones having the range varying from 30 to 60+km, you can be assured that visitors stay on shore or island(s) will be filled with plenty of activities such as listening to never ending buzzing of drones or trying to find cover from those drones. As good as US electronic warfare efforts might be, wire-guided FPV drones don't really care. So unless the US incursion is going to be anything but a short 30 minute visit to a largely meaningless Tump island we're probably going to be looking at hundreds of casualties if we are extremely lucky. If they really want to open and "secure" the Strait, I think we're going to be looking at Russo-Ukrainian war-tier butcher's bill. And since that would be perfectly fine for Israel, I think that's exactly what we'll be getting. I hope I'm wrong though.
xtiansimon 7mo ago
> “…getting blown to smithereens…” Looney Tunes language like this projects an aura of un-reality further in the article, which I like even less.
sph 7mo ago
Number 1 reason why I want to see the United States of America and its very loud citizens get a taste of humble pie in this self-inflicted crisis of idiocy with global ramifications. Even when discussing a war that's obviously gone out of hand with no easy resolution in right, there's still this air, this attitude from American commenters that somehow the might and brilliance of the US military will prevail in the end and they can restore their position as leaders of the free world. Meanwhile the rest of the world has waited 50 years for this day. Let me have a little schadenfreude with my €2.20+ litre of petrol.
- recursivedoubts 7mo ago
  a strong majority of the united states citizens are against the war, despite a full court propaganda press against the right and a no-kings distraction op against the left https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/03/25/americans-broadly-disapprove-of-u-s-military-action-in-iran/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/03/25/americans-br... don't confuse american citizens with the bought-and-paid talking & tweeting heads we are forced to live with
  - pjc50 7mo ago
    "No Kings" isn't a distraction, it's very tangible popular opposition, and they're certainly not in favor of the war?
    - recursivedoubts 7mo ago
      It muddies the waters by focusing on divisive issues like immigration enforcement and de-emphasizing the war, preventing what could be a unified left-and-right antiwar movement. Plain anti-war protests could draw significant support across the political spectrum, so divisive issues are inserted as wedges. Same thing that happened in the 60's, when the anti-war movement went from a coat-and-tie affair to a laurel canyon one.
      - zzgo 7mo ago
        If you think the No Kings movement is preventing a unified front against the war, you haven't been paying attention to the political discourse in the US since the rise of the Tea Party 15+ years ago.

The US public discourse is so dehumanized today that anyone who is not "with them" is literally not a human anymore. Even within the country itself "the leftards" are considered an obstacle which can be removed if only enough force is applied. Sending armed agents at protesters is seen as being the same thing as sending pest control to clear out beaver dams on the creek. Nobody cares what the beavers think, they are not human, they do not have feelings. They are simply a menace to be dealth with.

no_shadowban_5 7mo ago
[flagged]
- orwin 7mo ago
  It took 8 years the last time.
smitty1e 7mo ago
[flagged]
- no_shadowban_5 7mo ago
  [flagged]
- comrade1234 7mo ago
  > The conservatives, when they protest (Tea Parties) leave public spaces in fine shape. As long as you ignore the feces smeared on the walls and the injured police.
- JumpCrisscross 7mo ago
  > The conservatives, when they protest (Tea Parties) leave public spaces in fine shape We're just skipping Charlottesville and the Capitol? We have idiots on both of our fringes. But only one of them is in power right now.
- chneu 7mo ago
  Jan 6th. Even the example you gave is incorrect. Lol. It's so obvious when conservatives cherry pick information to placate their views.
  - smitty1e 7mo ago
    Pelosi's Folly? Give the other leg a pull too, please.
pydry 7mo ago
The supporters of imperialism all about nonviolent protest and democratic principles if it seems feasible it could bring about US foreign policy goals: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111067 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111067 Or, if an anonymous and uncorroborated source claims tens of thousands of said protestors were allegedly massacred. If it doesn't, and the strategy now involves blowing up desalinization plants ( https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-threat-desalination-plants-war-f624bed66bee79f68454d581ae1d624a https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-threat-desalination-pl... ) and invoking a humanitarian crisis on the level of a nuclear catastrophe, well... then they're a bit less concerned about human rights.
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]

no_shadowban_5 7mo ago

Didn't you read the URL? It's not mass killing, it's statecraft. It's not casual, it's responsible.

ghywertelling 7mo ago
James Cameron in Avatar: Fire and Ash makes fun of these Big Picture guys (so called ThinkTank people) towards the end.
- jacquesm 7mo ago
  That's a movie. This is about reality.
  - ghywertelling 7mo ago
    ThinkTank guys have been around since centuries. This movie was released in Dec 2025. Do you think there could be a causal link? Art imitates life.
tdeck 7mo ago
It's not this, it's that! And a green account no less.

andrepd 7mo ago

"Responsible Statecraft" they call themselves.

roenxi 7mo ago

There aren't a lot of alternatives - the amount of mass killing going on right now is unusually high. People can't spend all day frothing with moral outrage at the horror of it all. If something is routine there isn't much of an alternative than to discuss it as routine. This article is actually unusually good, I wouldn't be surprised if the site was generally anti-war. It isn't unusual for the level of analysis to be "we're the in-group, we're morally right, they're the out-group, we can't imagine they're competent, lets kill them it'll be easy". The moment people start doing serious analysis they become well-armed pacifists. As a case study; this war is part of a trend of the US hurting itself in aid of ... nothing useful for the US. The only silver lining is I don't see the Trump presidency surviving this and that might be a lesson to the next guy about trying to start fights.

div 7mo ago
It’s really quite amazing how the US went in without seemingly an iota of planning beyond “kill ayatollah for regime change”, but at this rate we will see US regime change before Iranian.
- ZeroGravitas 7mo ago
  Enough planning for the Secretary of War to buy defense stocks and the son of the president to own a drone manufacturing company. Just not planning for anything that might help "make America great again".
  - ryandrake 7mo ago
    It's really this simple. People seem so confused as to why this administration is doing this and why this administration is doing that, but it's clearly about personal enrichment of leaders. It's not some complex 5D chess game. If you want to know why Trump did this or why Hegseth did that or why Bondi did thus, just look at who placed bets, owns stock, owns companies, and/or will be personally enriched by the decision. That's all there is to it.
- gzread 7mo ago

JumpCrisscross 7mo ago

> perturbed to see people talk of mass killings so casually I'm almost perturbed to not see it discussed at all. What are the casualty estimates of blasting open the Strait?

Caius-Cosades 7mo ago
I'm just going to throw some napkin pointers and rough guesstimate-arithmetics here. -At the very minimum you would have to search and secure 130 000 square kilometers in a mountainous region, in a hostile country where you have no popular support, and where most of the male population has had somewhere around two years of military training. To be sure that Iranians couldn't lob anti-ship missiles into the strait, you'd probably need to double or triple that area. -And that's because of anti-ship missiles, with distances ranging from few hundred kilometers to thousand or more. And only one missile needs to get through to cause a mass casualty event onboard of a warship involving hundreds of people. So, assuming that troops get to the shore, then there's the slight peculiarity of modern warfighting. Drones. Cheap and plentiful, with FPV drones having the range varying from 30 to 60+km, you can be assured that visitors stay on shore or island(s) will be filled with plenty of activities such as listening to never ending buzzing of drones or trying to find cover from those drones. As good as US electronic warfare efforts might be, wire-guided FPV drones don't really care. So unless the US incursion is going to be anything but a short 30 minute visit to a largely meaningless Tump island we're probably going to be looking at hundreds of casualties if we are extremely lucky. If they really want to open and "secure" the Strait, I think we're going to be looking at Russo-Ukrainian war-tier butcher's bill. And since that would be perfectly fine for Israel, I think that's exactly what we'll be getting. I hope I'm wrong though.

xtiansimon 7mo ago

> “…getting blown to smithereens…” Looney Tunes language like this projects an aura of un-reality further in the article, which I like even less.

sph 7mo ago

Number 1 reason why I want to see the United States of America and its very loud citizens get a taste of humble pie in this self-inflicted crisis of idiocy with global ramifications. Even when discussing a war that's obviously gone out of hand with no easy resolution in right, there's still this air, this attitude from American commenters that somehow the might and brilliance of the US military will prevail in the end and they can restore their position as leaders of the free world. Meanwhile the rest of the world has waited 50 years for this day. Let me have a little schadenfreude with my €2.20+ litre of petrol.

recursivedoubts 7mo ago
a strong majority of the united states citizens are against the war, despite a full court propaganda press against the right and a no-kings distraction op against the left https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/03/25/americans-broadly-disapprove-of-u-s-military-action-in-iran/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/03/25/americans-br... don't confuse american citizens with the bought-and-paid talking & tweeting heads we are forced to live with
- pjc50 7mo ago
  "No Kings" isn't a distraction, it's very tangible popular opposition, and they're certainly not in favor of the war?
  - recursivedoubts 7mo ago
    It muddies the waters by focusing on divisive issues like immigration enforcement and de-emphasizing the war, preventing what could be a unified left-and-right antiwar movement. Plain anti-war protests could draw significant support across the political spectrum, so divisive issues are inserted as wedges. Same thing that happened in the 60's, when the anti-war movement went from a coat-and-tie affair to a laurel canyon one.
    - zzgo 7mo ago
      If you think the No Kings movement is preventing a unified front against the war, you haven't been paying attention to the political discourse in the US since the rise of the Tea Party 15+ years ago.