I don't understand how somebody can speak of the West having "foundational human rights and democracy" non-ironically now a days. We are literally providing the weapons to carry out an actual genocide in Gaza. And 'democracy' doesn't elevate Trump vs Biden as the two most liked candidates in the country. It's just a system with intentionally massive barriers to entry played by political elites and the occasional outsider billionaire, exactly the same in systems of minority rule.
The past ~10 years have been a serious masks off moment. I long for who we were in the past, but I sometimes wonder if we ever were that, or if it was just a more well maintained facade. But this current nonsense? Yeah, I'm not particularly upset about giving another bloc having their time in the limelight, because at this point somebody calling what we've become to be grounded on 'foundational human rights and democracy' is plainly nauseating.
In the grand scheme of things, I don't really have any delusions with regard to with war. I am vehemently opposed to it, yet simultaneously think it's inevitable and will probably stay with us forever. When two sides have fundamental and irreconcilable differences, a physical altercation is likely. On the level of nations, this is war. And in war an unfortunate reality is that innocents will die.
But what Israel is doing isn't war and the innocents they're killing aren't unfortunate 'collateral damage.' They're primarily and purposefully killing civilians that had absolutely nothing to do with what aggrieves Israel, exactly the same as Nazi Germany was killing Jews who had absolutely nothing to do with their grievances. And they're doing this only thanks to American weapons and technology.
After all is said and done, Israel will claim victory, yet Hamas will likely be dramatically larger than ever, at least if there are any Gazans left, simply because each person whose brother, father, or child was killed by Israel is now going to hold a life-long death grudge against Israel, in the same way that Jews still seek out what few remaining Nazis there are, when they aren't getting standing ovations in the Canadian parliament at least (more of those 'foundational human rights' being displayed). And this is because genocide has nothing to do with war - it's something uniquely abhorrent.
The past ~10 years have been a serious masks off moment. I long for who we were in the past, but I sometimes wonder if we ever were that, or if it was just a more well maintained facade. But this current nonsense? Yeah, I'm not particularly upset about giving another bloc having their time in the limelight, because at this point somebody calling what we've become to be grounded on 'foundational human rights and democracy' is plainly nauseating.