Comment by applfanboysbgon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by applfanboysbgon | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

applfanboysbgon

I don't know why you decided to hop to multiple unrelated threads of conversation with other people while ignoring my reply to you on this subject specifically earlier, but to restate: wholesale violence does not solve terrorism. You already fucking tried this in Afghanistan, and failed, badly. The solution to terrorism is to stop giving people reasons to be terrorists, which means you must stop killing their people and trying to conquer their land/resources, as the US has been engaged in constantly for the entire post-world-war period. A commitment to peace won't make all of the terrorists disappear overnight, so you will have to deal with a long tail of violence against you for years to come, which is known as "consequences for your actions". You have a right to take measures to defend yourself against individual terrorists, but if you ever want actual peace, those measures can't include actions that will create new generations of terrorists, like invading a fucking country, assassinating its leader, bombing schools, sinking ships on diplomatic missions, and destroying infrastructure. Every single one of these actions will create new terrorists who hate your country so much they will lay down their lives to hurt it.

Actually, not only did you ignore my reply, you're ignoring the post you're replying to as well. THIS WAR IS NOT EVEN A REGIME CHANGE WAR. STOP PROJECTING YOUR OWN MOTIVATIONS ONTO THE US GOVERNMENT.

So by your reasoning America is the terrorist. Got it.

But then it's Iran that's giving America reasonable cause to be terrorists. Maybe the US is the biggest terrorist in history. Good for you, I'll buy your story for the sake of discussion.

But then why isn't the IR subject to the same scrutiny? Why are you criticizing one side, but not the other.

For me, I criticize IR far more than the US for banning free speech. For hanging and mutilating women. For kidnapping civilians. For celebrating Israeli deaths. For using residences and schools to house munitions and military targets. For openly advocating that their purpose is to "export Islamic Revolution." For subjugating and murdering protesters by the tens of thousands. And more...

For me this makes the US the lesser of two bad actors. I don't have much choice but where I do, I choose the less immoral, and hopefully I'm right. That doesn't mean I promote the violence on either side. Or that I like or agree with either side.

There's bad and worse. That's politics and even more so, that's war. But I'm definitely not voting for worse.

Change my mind. Seriously...

> stop giving people reasons to be terrorists

FFS they don't need reasons. Their stated goal and actions in support of it is the destruction of the apostatic free world. Your oppressed/oppressor narrative is vapid. Though terrorism is a tool they use, their goal is a caliphate with Sharia law.

You are literally brainwashed by American propaganda, JFC. Iranians do not hate you because you are free, they hate you because you are trying to control their country. Do you understand they are not movie villains? They are real people? Real people who would, in normal circumstances, prefer to live their lives peacefully? Imagine what it would take for you to decide the best way to spend your life is to strap a bomb to yourself and kill people from a country on the other side of the planet? Some reasons that may motivate you so heavily would perhaps include that country overthrowing your democracy and massacring your children. Reasons that are not likely are "jealousy of their FREEDOM".

I already know your next tired argument will be BUT THE RELIGION OF PEACE, so I will go ahead and pre-empt it. It is not genuinely religion that motivates people to die in acts of terrorism. If it were, that would still not be a reason to attack America, which is on the other side of the planet, as opposed to any of their closer neighbors who are just as full of heathens. Take, for example, Japan. It is a notable country on the world stage, once the #2 economy in the world. It has never, not even a single time, been attacked by an Islamic terrorist. Why do you think that is? Is it because Japan is not free? Is it because Japan lives in accordance with Islamic principles? Or is it because, maybe, just maybe, Japan hasn't given a single person from the Middle East any reason to want to sacrifice themselves to kill Japanese people?

Similarly, note that Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with 270 million people, 87% of which are Muslims. Not one of them has ever staged a terrorist attack against the US. Doesn't that seem strange to you? If Muslims are inherently evil people born for the religious purpose of attacking the US, surely Indonesians should be doing it too? Or maybe, just maybe, it's not actually religion that motivates such extreme acts of self-sacrifice, and the real reasons Indonesians don't attack the US is because the US has not given Indonesians reasons to hate it?

Why are you making this about Muslims generally?

You were already going there.

> their goal is a caliphate with Sharia law.

Nope. But now that you see how your distorted world view can lead you to the wrong conclusion, you should consider reassessing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com