All right. This is a long one, but necessary. 🕊️
It covers normal human behaviour and cognitive bias that war trauma and propaganda quickly exacerbates.
It looks at histories of collective punishment and the complexity of breaking from cycles of violence.
And it looks at the failure of international systems to provide the moral weight necessary to protect civilian rights.
Oh, and I talk about the Book of Judges.
Y'know. As a "treat".
https://onlysky.media/mclark/moral-war-a-contradiction-of-terms/
Thank you for sitting with it, Jules.
It's a hard thing to see our reactions repeat in vicious cycles, one conflict after another. We so rarely learn.
@MLClark Excellent opening recalling Judges.
Another excellent point about both sides thinking God is on their side. (God, if She exists, doesn't pick a side.)
I wish everyone had the ability to leave the past in the past, and decide to move forward with a blank slate. It won't happen. Too many powerful people have a vested interest in the status quo.
Thank you for writing the column. You cry out so we don't have to. 😢
Your seasoned comments last night are no less deeply felt, Stephen. You're just viewing all of this from a few more cycles down the line.
Thank you for sharing those insights from experience. It's so hard when we move through what-ifs that imagine better worlds we will not live to see. Born too late and too early, etc etc.
Hope you had a lovely chat with the sun this morning, if nothing else!
@MLClark We're about to launch a Falcon Heavy with a NASA probe to an asteroid. Launch is targeting 9:19 AM Medellin time. Watch along with us!
@MLClark Wow. Thank you for this. I learned a lot.
Thanks for taking the time with it, Selkie. There is a lot *to* learn, so I'm thankful for the opportunity to sharpen my understanding by writing it all out.
Take good care of yourself today!
@MLClark Your depth of knowledge and ability to draw overarching connections across time is impressive. I will be thinking about your words as further news arrives.
@MLClark
Dude.
OK I've never actually read the whole bible, but that's gross. The part with the concubine.
(I understand back then everybody had their own local god and the gods were always getting offended and picking fights with each other.)
That story echoes the one where angels visit Sodom and Gomorrah and their host tries to offer his virgin daughters to the crowd that wants to violate them.
In Judges, a Levite is visiting a town where the locals want to assault him, and sends out his concubine instead. In the morning he finds her dead on his doorstep. The other tribes are so outraged they almost wipe out the town's tribe. It goes to war to steal women so its line can continue.
The Bible's histories are ROUGH!
@MLClark I'm reading through your article now.
I'm at a loss how to proceed in this situation.
The situation Israel finds itself in, I mean. It's so complex.
I don't know what I'd do if I was in charge of the country's safety and the region's prosperity and stability but completely getting rid of Hamas seems like a really good first step.
I think that's a perfectly sound conclusion, Janallmac. Just acknowledging that it's all very complex, & that most of us have no idea how to fix this, is a huge step up from grandstanding (as some do) about how they have the perfect solution.
None of us do.
And that's awful. Just awful.
So we'll grieve our imperfections together.
🫂 Thanks for taking the time with this piece. It means a lot to know it offers some clarity, however hard, about how challenging this is going will be.
Amazing read. Nice touch with BoJ 💜
Thanks, Bosmang. Judges is not everyone's morning cuppa, but I really appreciate that you found value in it. High praise. 🤗 Hope you're feeling better!
Getting there, kopeng. 💜
thanks for those details. the middle east is a gordian knot in my mind, and your clarity has loosened it up considerably in understanding why it is what it is.👌🏽👍🏼
and, yes, the lines from Judges apply even to American courts at the moment.
next stop🔜🔁all vs all.
@MLClark
Excellent read... as always from you!