1/2: I've said it before and will again because it bears repetition...
There is absolutely no such thing as a clean war, one where nobody but the baddies get hurt or killed, and that is exponentially more true when it's a war against terrorists, against barbarians, against any form of hapless causehead or True Believer in the Cause.
The whole point of terrorism is in the term: TERROR. The point of terrorism is to get the government to give up/in in order for the terrorists to stop murdering.
@thedisasterautist Agreed.
I have little sympathy for Hamas or those who support them.
I also have little sympathy for Russians or others who support Putin as well.
Two conflicts thats are joined by one reason- democratic countries under attack.
The days of trying to fight with one hand tied behind our back are gone.
The same way how you cant win a war from the air alone- you cant win a war on propaganda alone.
War is nasty business and the only solution is to not start them.
Unfortunately more than one generation has grown up without major conflict and humanity has forgotten the holocaust and world war.
@AkomoCombine: One generation in particular grew up desperate to avoid conflict and believed that the Berlin Wall falling meant everyone was going to get along and sing campfire songs, and so they stropped paying attention and actively worked to shut up people who paid attention and spoke out about what they saw happening.
2/2: For my money, if there's one thing that's could well lead to some kind of New Dark Age or at least make this one substantially darker is for civilization -- as in Actual Civilization -- to give up defending itself against terrorism and violent outright barbarity because someone's feelings get hurt or because "stopping down to their level makes us no better than them". Fuck that noise.
The latter half of the 20th century learned nothing from the first half, apparently.