Yeah we learned last year that half of this fucking country runs on pure hate for anyone who isn't exactly like them, and even then they'll find reasons to hate them too. They're suffering but other people suffering worse actually makes them feel better. Then they're shocked and appalled when their Walmart trip gets more expensive and their response to it is that other people should still be hurt more.
They have no empathy. They do not have the capability to think about anyone other than themselves, and it shows daily.
Yet you can injure people with culture. Constantly stoking emotions like fear and its siblings hatred, loathing, and obedience, eventually stimulates the amygdala into an enlarged state.
The problem is not just ideology, it's biology. Cults are freaky, man. There's the psychology of inducing trances and there's even probably some weird acausal shit that we don't understand and would label magic.
But our persistence as a species relies on us figuring it out.
The only difference between you and them is where their empathy lies. War is awful shit, but often used to end other much more awful, and less visible shit.
War is awful shit, but often used to end other much more awful, and less visible shit.
You do realize we're talking about the war on terror here right? If you think there's something more awful than bombing an apartment building and killing 53 people being prevented by this shit then I don't even know what to say.
Okay, and you think these bombings will lead to a regime change in Yemen? The Saudis tried that first. Low to moderate level foreign conflicts with a widely hated enemy (which the West and Israel are) do nothing but strengthen the ruling government. Hell, even a full-scale war isn't at all guaranteed to remove the rulers from power, because it gives them legitimacy that they otherwise lack. This is why Hamas is still in power despite 18 years of blockades, three wars and a genocide.
Just because someone tried it and it didn't work, doesn't mean you just say "fuck it". You try new methods and keep working at the problem until it's solved.