tomatopathe

Israel and allies have spent enormous resources convincing themselves and anyone they can that Palestinians don't exist.

I suggest you watch reviews of the BYD fleet. They are incredibly positive.

That is not true unfortunately. I tend to be very left wing socially - economically I'm more left of center - and that was reflected on my social media as well - either pushing me towards more radical content or stoking anger with more radical right wing content to get me riled up and coming back for more.

I ended up with a growing hatred and emnity for a growing number of people and "groups", and black and white thinking. Even though I was aware that I was being manipulated, it was still impossible to sit on a high horse above the fray.

It's quite easy to manipulate human minds, even ones that are careful and aware. We can all be manipulated. It's why advertising works, for example.

The only thing to do really is to not play that game. Avoid advertising, avoid other content curators deciding what you get to see and telling you how to reason, etc... realise that most people are empathetic, that most people want what's best, and those that are radical have been manipulated to be that way, sadly.

This is the first generation with worse prospects than the previous one. Wealth inequality is growing, and robber barons are back. Climate change is making any prospects even worse.

Combine that with a communication revolution (social media, to be exact) which allows anyone to pretty much target anyone else with any message they feel like, means disinformation pushing narratives is everywhere. And not to forget, there people in charge of these platforms are among the aforementioned robber barons.

It's easy to offer simple solutions to these problems and push disinformation to people who don't have the knowledge, time or energy to debunk everything and think deeply about things, since they're busy slaving away to put food on their tables, struggling to build a future, and looking for solutions. And simple answers give people a sense of control or explanation over their difficult situation.

It's why I have completely removed myself from every social media platform there is, except this one and I'm only on here intermittently.

Israelis will never accept to become a minority. It's as simple as that.

I'm not a communist because I think communism is a big failure.

So is deregulation and unfettered capitalism. It's why every time we deregulate and cut taxes, the wealth gap gets wider, life gets shitter for everyone but the wealthiest, etc...

These are the same clowns who added most of the debt (Bush and Trump tax cuts) then complain about the debt when they're no longer in power.

Honestly? Yeah I don't see any way around this than to simply predicate all aid to the region on conditions.

1. Israel on the demand that not one more brick be laid anywhere outside Israel's borders and a plan with enforcement mechanisms to dismantle the settlements that are there in order to guarantee the possibility of a sustainable Palestinian state with an economy under their own control (I.e that trade, commerce, construction, monetary policy be Palestinian and not imposed by Israel). That reparations be paid to families of the victims of this bombing campaign and settler violence over the years, that those who perpetrated violence be brought to justice.

2. Palestine on the condition that they renounce the right of return, that they apprehend and surrender all militants to an international tribunal, that they recognize Israel, that they pay reparations to the families of Israelis that have been killed over the years.

3. Egypt and Jordan on the demand that they participate in the enforcement of the above.

4. for all parties, that Jerusalem be declared either an international city, or joint capital (split East-West).

5. that Iran be completely isolated from the region. This is a tough one, they have their fingers deep within Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon.

It's unclear how anything else can work.

If this requires a permanent UN military mission with the right to shoot to kill any threat all along the border of both Palestine and Israel, I'm fine with it. If it means Israel bitches and moans about how unfair it is, who cares. It's about time they respected and enforced the law. If it means Palestinians need to fight to dismantle their own militant orgs and fight for peace, at least they will have a light at the end of that tunnel instead of the despair of the past 70 years (and earlier too, tbh).

Hamas doesn't give a fuck about peace, ceasefires, children, or anything else.

That doesn't mean Israel should get carte blanche to do whatever they want. Let's not forget that prominent members of the current Israeli government have expressed very clear genocidal desires of their own.

Yeah sure.

Conservatives elect speaker who didn't believe in dinosaurs or climate change, wants to make homosexuality illegal, voted to overturn the election and did everything in his power to thwart it, reports aren't allowed to question it, but it's those opposed who are "socialist scum".

Them's Nazi words, quite literally.

Yeah, he'll get trounced by someone in his own party though, like the last one did.

Mainly because all the productive land was taken from them.

The few farms and fisheries in Gaza can't produce enough for 2 million people. Especially since they aren't allowed to mechanize their agriculture, and are limited in maritime range for fishing.

And forget the possibility of trade ports...