Comradeship // Freechat

I genuinely think there is something wrong with you if it doesn't inspire you.

Jumping onto a post about the immense heaviness of reckoning with the human toll of this bombing campaign in Gaza and the discounting, detached way it is discussed in the media with what amounts to

What do you mean? We get to watch spectacular violence like the ground war, isn't that enlivening?

is an empathy failure.

I've seen some footage like what you've linked. It's true that the courage of the resistance fighters in Gaza is remarkable and inspiring, and that this courage stands in contrast to the hesitancy of the IDF to even set foot on the ground they purport to invade.

But does that really so uplift the totality of these events that it makes them somehow a pleasure to follow? And are clips like that really very informative about that totality? I think one can only answer 'yes' to those questions if one is selectively detached from certain facts as well as feelings.

If anger is easier to access than grief, why? If it's easier to focus on the ground war than the siege, why? If justified violence is easier to witness or contemplate than suffering, why?

For someone fighting on the ground, the fight itself is the answer to those questions. But for you and me?

It's almost like we were taught as little boys that violence and anger are our purview, but grief and care are not; that to countenance sadness is to approach defeat.