Ratings

[Aloofi]

Originally posted by Aloofi:
, since I don't oppose war by itself, but I opposse wars that i believe are being fought for the benefit of the greed of a few.

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By this I mean that I see 2 kinds of wars.
1- Just wars (self-defense)
2- Injust wars (Unprovoked/greed motivated/imperialist agression)

I'm clarifiying so I don't get called a warmonger, which I am not. I do agree that wars are evil by itself, but when you are attacked there is little choice.

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[Aloofi]

Originally posted by Jack Simth:
Yet you bash Aloofi. Why?

The first thing that comes to my mind is because of my nationality. In off-line life I have found people to be far friendlier to me as long as they don't know from where I am, and I guess its the same way Online. I blame that on the bad coverage Israel gets on the media worldwide, and how Palestinian drive-by-shootings and suicide attacks on civilians are justified as a result of "opression". I think this anti-israeli propaganda works in a subconcious level and make people to have bad prejudices of anything Israeli.

Now, I'm not saying this is why.
I'm just posting my thoughts on this matter, I don't claim to know what is going on in other people minds, nor I'm using this to justify any wrongdoing I may have done.

Man, should I add a disclaimer to my signature?

[Loser]

Originally posted by Gryphin:
Come on guys,
How different would this conversation be if tone inflection and body language could be read?

It is my belief that communication of text-only or even voice-only nature lends itself to dehumanization more easily than face-to-face conversation.

This is not to say that I haven't seen face-to-face debates of certain matters (religion, politics, how to raise one's children) turn into aggressive, physical conflicts, but that the attitudes that lead to these sort of conflicts come much easier when we cannot see, and perhaps smell, each other.

I worked in a call center for several years, and found that people on the phone were more likely to get angry, irritated, or condescending than they were in person. It is only worse in text.

The truly frightening part of this is what happens to children who experience social interaction only though inhuman means such as these. I have met some kids raised on the BBS, and while they might be eloquent, convincing, and confident in text and chat, most of them are troublingly deficient in real world interpersonal relationships. (Most, don't take this personally unless you feel this applies to you.)

If this does cause a problem, what of TV. Do actors correctly portray proper body language in all situations? Do they react to stimulus naturally? I am certain the answer is no to both.

Perhaps those of us raised on television are all distanced from true humanity by being surrounded by false or forced drama while we grew up. Perhaps this is the reason so many people express their lives in such dramatic terms, and resort to dramatic levels of emotion so easily. We live as we were taught and we were taught by television, where drama and inappropriate reactions are scripted in for entertainment value. Perhaps this has not been noticed because it affect some more than others, and the mostly unaffected majority cannot see what is 'wrong' with themselves.

But would this not be true of other media: what of books. Think of the people you knew while growing up who always had a book with them. Would not the artificial situations, expression, and reactions in any form of fiction teach children to dramatize their lives? Do not the bookish, escapist, drama-club-types describe their own lives in excessively melodramatic terms? Surely the answer to both is yes.

But we cannot live a life without fiction, without escape: I certainly won't. Surely it must be a matter of proportion. If a growing mind spends enough time in the real world, they will react to real world stimuli in an appropriate, real world manner.

This is terribly off topic, and even off the off-topic topic, but the words just seemed to line up in my mind, ready for the keyboard. It seems I am inspired. Inspired to make a fool of myself.

[dogscoff]

Aloofi, I find that experience surprising. In my experience, the kind of people who take enough interest in foreign affairs to have an opinion on the israeli/ palestinian issue other than "damned if I know" or "leave 'em all to it" are generally intelligent and informed enough to realise that the average israeli has little to do with any palestinian persecution and is probably even opposed to it. They would certainly be aware of the hypocrisy of automatically labelling all Israelis as discriminatory.

Of course you tend to word your opinions rather more strongly than most...

[Aloofi]

Originally posted by Loser:
This is terribly off topic, and even off the off-topic topic, but the words just seemed to line up in my mind, ready for the keyboard. It seems I am inspired. Inspired to make a fool of myself.

Oh no, you are absolutely right.
Every time we see in a movie 2 characters talking, we are not seing 2 people talking, but the script writter talking with himself.

We learn by imitation, and in movies the characters with whom we identify are put in situations in which their reactions are teaching us how to react when a similar situation happens in our lives.

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[Aloofi]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
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Of course you tend to word your opinions rather more strongly than most...

Because I don't see a peace movement on the other side of the green line, nor the will to create a peacefull co-operation.
I see the Palestinian media poisoning the mind of their youths with anti-israeli/anti-semite propaganda, thus making sure the new generations will not want to live in peace.
I see the Palestinians saying one thing in english, and the exact opposite in Arabic, and I see the western media turning a blind eye to this.
I also see how the western powers are trying to create a Palestinian State without an enforced peace treaty.

I don't even feel like discussing the Middle East peace no more.
Its doomed from the very begining. I have no hope at all. The mistakes from Oslo are being repeated all over again.

I'll tell you what's gonna happen:
1-The western powers are going to force Israel to accept the creation of an hostile Palestinian State 9 km from Tel Aviv and 25 from Haifa.
2- The Palestinians will not see the new state as a diplomatic agreement they are bound to, but as a military victory over Israel.
3- The Palestinians will partially cease their attacks on Israel for 6 years, in which they will arm themselves for the 3rd and final Intifada. I say partially because Hamas will continue their attacks, and Israel will not be able to respond.
4- The Palestinian will start their final intifada around 2009.
5- Israel will respond.
6- The Arabs countries will intervine.
7- Israel will defeat them, or Israel will be destroyed, and the Jewish population will be exterminated, as promised by the Palestinian political and religious leaders.

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[oleg]

mistake

[ May 08, 2003, 18:29: Message edited by: oleg ]