In the wonderful year of our Lord 1209, the Catholic church declared a holy crusade against vegetarians of the time.‚ The vegetarians in question were the Cathars, who rejected all forms of killing including war and capital punishment and avoided any food that resulted from sex- meat, eggs, dairy products.‚ The Pople didn’t like them because they had different doctrines than the Catholics, including the assertion that the God of the Old Testament was in fact the Devil.
The first town captured by the Crusaders was Beziers, in southwest France.‚ The abbot who commanded the Crusaders was asked by his troops how they should tell the Cathars from the Catholics.‚ The abbot replied, “Kill them all.‚ God will recognize his own.”‚ 20,000 people were then put to the sword, “regardless of rank, age or sex”.‚ The medieval Catholics may have been evil crazy mofos, but at least they believed in equality, right?
The sad part is that the same mentality still exist in our modern society.
In most wars the victims are not the enemies but the innocent bystanders. Take the Conflict in Gaza for example, over 900 have been killed, most of them are women and children who have nothing to do with Hamas. I’m not pro israel like your government, but I’m not against them. I am Not pro or against Gaza and the Palesteins, however I’m against war, I’m against stupid tactics that will not weaken but strengthen Hamas. Yes the rockets from Hamas have to be stopped, but there are better ways to do that. Israel is not fighting terrorism but commiting murder and I worry that Gaza will turn into a new Somalia.
I hope that the World unites in an economic boycott of Israel so that they have to consider other opions in how to fight against Hamas.
Sara,
The Gaza situation is very difficult… I can understand why both the Palestinians & other Arabs are angry, as well as why the Israelis are trying to defend themselves against rocket attacks. My feeling is that the international community is starting to get sick of dealing with that situation and they aren’t going to step into the conflict too quickly. It’s sad to see some of the horrific images of war though.
I hate war, but a sad part of life is that many cultures bring war to your doorstep. It’s easy to see how wrong it is when you look at ancient history (like the Catholics & Cathars), but the lesson from the Cathars is that you need a society prepared to defend itself. Defensive fighting is justified, but then you run into the problem of “preventative defense” where your country uses little excuses to invade others. War is a vicious cycle.
Defensive Warfare – Warfare that focuses on neutralizing the effectiveness of an adversary’s aggression
Israel’s recent military actions should NOT be considered preventative warfare. When someone launches bombs into your neighborhood and you fight back that is called self defense. I am shocked that many have condemned Israel for overexerting their military power!! How does a modern nation fight an enemy that enemy that uses sticks, stones and shity rocket launchers?
Oh, and an economic boycott on Israel is absolutely ridiculous, would never happen and would really, really hurt the entire region since it happens to be the strongest, most modern/capitalistic economy in the region!!!
F&
Tara
The question is not how? but why ?does a modern nation fight an enemy that uses sticks, stones and shitty rocket launchers? A modern nation with 250 nuclearbombs standing by. A modern nation with resources to solve this without breaking any humanlaws. Their minds are clouded with hate and not fear and selfdefense. This is the result of multiple generations growing up in this infected conflict.
I respect your views, we are living in a free world after all. I also understad that we both are products of the country we grow up in. I asume that you are an American, well I’m not, I’m Swedish. Our countrys have very diffrent views when it comes to issues like peace, humanrigths etc. I think you should google DIME=Dense Inert Metal Explosives. It would be good for you as an american to understand what it is when your country starts to use it. Where will you try it out, Iraq or Iran? my money is on Iran.
When it comes to your views on the economic boycott i suggest that you look it up. You have cleary missunderstood the goal and the power of it. I will NEVER have so little respect for the value of a human life that i will look on this Palestinian Holocaust as Bs.
Sara