These posters are apparently all over Beirut - or wherever rubble exists, anyway. They bother me. They bother me because the message they convey implies that "we Lebanese were simply minding our own business, living our lives and not bothering anyone, and then all of a sudden, an Israeli-American armaggedon befell us!"
Well...What can I say? Witty? Sure. Especially that "Middle Beast" one. But self-righteously stupid nevertheless.
Message to Hizballah propaganda people:
You don't go beat up on someone a hundred times your size, and then cry "wawa" when the guy finally turns around and beats the crap out of you! Oooh... "made in the USA!"
Duh!!!
You knew what they were capable of doing all along... even when your brainwashed supporters were distributing baklawa after you kidnaped those Israeli soldiers.
What would have happened if we lived in a Democratic polity? Well... I think the public would have had a lot of questions to ask. Maybe they would have formed a commission. Maybe that commission would eventually come to certain conclusions that would not necessarily please Hizballah, but Hizballah would have to abide by its decisions anyway.
Oh wait, we don't live in a democratic polity. Besides, the very people who should be at the forefront of calling for such an inquiry, consider doing so "treacherous." How many articles have I read, quoting villagers standing in front of their ruined houses, proudly proclaiming that the "Muqawama" protected Lebanon?
Oh yeah. And how could I forget? This calamity was "made in the USA!" It's all the Big and Little Satan's fault! I'm going to go blow my self up now so that I can somehow make my life a little better!
Stupid!
17 comments:
Oh Edward Said would have a field day with you
blaming the victim is the perennial symptom of the classic lebanese inferiority complex viz-a-viz the civilized west.
comte,
is Hizballah the victim here? Go and ask a Hizballahi if he sees himself as a victim?
The Shi'a of the South are the victims. The organization that they believe has their interests at heart committed a disastrous error, and struck the Israelis one too many times. The Shi'a civilians ended up paying the highest price of all.
Shouldn't they then hold this organization accountable for its blunder? This organization that, I repeat, claims to have their interests at heart?
sherri,
I want to make a couple points:
1. I have said this before: we all know what the Israelis have done before, what they are capable of doing, and what they are capable of getting away with.
2. I am not making a moral argument. Rather, I am saying, if you were Hizballah, and you were genuinly concerned with your population, would you continue on a path that ensures the kind of response we got throughout July and early August?
You see... Hizballah always thought that it had the upper hand, and that the Israelis would not "cross the line" because of their "detterence."
Well, they were proved to be very wrong. The Israelis slammed villages, the dahiyeh, Lebanon's infrastructure and more into oblivion. Shouldn't Hizballah be held accountable for its false assumptions?
You see, we always knew what Israel was capable of. I wouldn't expect any better from them. However, maybe we should expect a little bit more from Hizballah.
The people in Haifa may also say....
..Made in Russia....
Raja, I think you underestimate the power of propaganda. In my opinion, Nasrallah understands Lebanon very well. People don't have to believe in everything Hezbollah says, they only have to accept the big points and the tone. The militant view has many allies of fear throughout the world as well. Very few will examine the evidence carefully and announce that almost everything Hizbollah claims is false, nor that there are no incidences of Israel violating international law. (Here's one example of such a falsehood.)
Am I the only one reading this who actually agrees with Raja's sentiments?
This is not about justifying who is a victim and who isn't. Hell, everyone's a victim.
But I had the exact same reaction as Raja to those posters, and to hezbollah's supporters' claims of victory, and resistance.
I have news for them idiots: When you're country's destroyed, it's not a victory. End of story.
People should stop valuing "dignity" and "honor" over life itself.
I got the crap beat out of me, my village is rubble, my friends are dead, but you know what? I held on to my dignity and honor...hah!
To Raja
Though I would have used a little bit less sarcasem, I agree with every word. It is high times that people in the Arab world in General and Lebanon in particular, start taking control over where thier lives are going. Sure, we can blame Israel and the US as much as we want; but we should look at where it has gotten us to. I could go into many examples but I think we are all smart enough here to see this... it has gotten us no where. Simply provided us with an excuse to stay where we are.
To Doha:
I agree with you the post is simplistic, and even more, sarcastic; but sometimes it takes this sort of posting to actually convey the message.
To Comte Alvaviva
Edward Said would have a field day with everyone. He is a known scholar but as his many critics in the Arab world would note, his ideology summed up to saying that the whole Arab culture which has developed for thousends of years, was a creation of the west and Orientalists. Quite demeaning to people who have had their hand in so many of the world's intelectual developments, sometimes before Western philosophers could even grasp the ideas!
In a sense, Edward Said's idoelogy resembles that of Hezbollah and other radical Islamist movements of blaming others for their mistakes. Not surprisingly, this was also a Palestinian tactic, which Said supported: blame Israel for Palestinians using Jordan, Egypt and Syria for their wars before 67; blame the US for taking sides after Nasser decided to take Soviet weapons, blame Israel for Palestinians throwing away the Camp David 2000 accords etc. etc.
So please if you are going to quote or refer to Edward Said, at least take the time to know what he was all about.
Sherri I am trying to understand your logic; but alas, I have failed.
You are saying that because Hezbollah has done similar things before, Israel should seat quietly again? I would not expect them to and anyone who has followed Israeli politics should not either. Especially Shikh Nasrallah who kept bolstering about how much he knows Israeli politics.
He said Olmert and Peretz lacked the military experience. True, but he would have had to deduce from that, that it means they had a lot more to prove to the public and as such would react harder to such provocation, as they did.
And besides, does the fact that Hezbollah has done it before justifies inaction???
If, god forbids, you got mogged in the street once, you would have two options. The first don't ever carry a purse or wallet. You know someone is going to mug you again so next time don't carry money!!! The second is take a self defense course. The results of that should be clear.
Doha, Raja,
I, for one, am glad you decided to moderate the comments. It had gotten out of hand lately on this and other blogs.
There seems to be a certain segment of the audience who's not interested in actual debate, and more interested in oneupmanship, and tossing around chidlish and immature slogans and accusations.
Al Ghaddab, and anyone else who likes to bandy slogans and rethoric:
This is not a world of black and white. No one is always right or always wrong. Just because I am Lebanese doesn't mean I have to side with every opinion coming out of Lebanon or out of the Lebanese government (or Hezbollah for that matter). Democracy is based on healthy dissent, disagreement and debate. It also invites constructive criticism.
Just because I happen to disagree with this or that action by Hezbollah or by whoever else, doesn't make me an Israeli sympathizer. And just because I disagree with this or that action by Israel doesn't make me a Hezbollah terrorist. I'm a Lebanese, and I have lots of opinions on lots of things that happen to fall in the various shades of grey in between your black and white worlds.
Hi Raja:
Hezbollah says very clearly what they want: to destroy Israel. The rest is just filling. "If they kidnapped before and Israel didn't do anything... if the Israelis attacked instead of negotiate". Simply, that is not the issue.
Why did Hezbollah say it attacked (with a barrage of missiles against Israeli towns to distract while they were kidnapping the soldiers, please don't you forget who started with the missiles)? To free Samir Kuntar, that murderer?
Just a question. Did not occur to HA that the best way to free anyone and stop the bloodshed is by MAKING PEACE WITH ISRAEL instead of crossing the border to attack her?
just a thought.
To Tears for Lebanon
Israel had no intention to destroy Lebanon. Had they had it they would have done so from air without risking the lives of their soldiers on the ground.
As for some Lebanese were minding their own business, I can only utter a famous quote: "Bad things happen when good people seat idley by..."
TFL said: "some Lebanese were just simply minding their own business, living their lives, and not bothering anyone."
Most of Israelis were doing the same, living their lives. For six years we had peace and quiet, economy was recovering on both sides, it seemed like a good period.
But then, Hez decided to cross the international border, kill some Israeli soldiers and kidnap two.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing", and indeed most good Lebanese did nothing to prevent Hez from taking Lebanon hostage.
Item 7 makes no sense.
Cluster bombs and WP are not violations of the Geneva convention, and there is no such thing as a vacuum bomb.
BTW, are you honest enough to mention Hezbolla's violations of the Geneva Convention?
Just discovered this blog. Re. desperate and stupid: a rant.
Truly the Internet empower anyone to express his or her opinion, if it can be considered one – sic
You should have the decency to remove your misleading and misspelled – This blog was created to honour the memory of heroes of all the Lebanese sects who were assassinated for their patriotic stands.... Over and above " sects " – resic
sherri
international humantarian law is not the only body of international law.. neither are the rules regarding war.. there are many other international legal concepts at play here.. and you could analyse the lebanese israeli relationship under international law ad nausium..
your statements in relation to ignoring what other countries in our region do are inappropriate - because treaties do not embody all that is relevant to international law.. they are merely one part.. one must also examin the other body of international law - which is known as customary international law..
here we look at how the countries in the region act and the extent to which they feel bound by such norms..
most of the treaties that you rely upon in your comments were not written by the middle eastern states.. and those that subscribe to such treaties generally fail to apply them because in many ways they are largely out of context in our region..
i suggest you stop attempting to assert your notions of what americans refer to as christian-judeo values (i think that is the term) and start to genuinely consider the conduct of our region..
the other bloggers above - citing incidents in syria and jordan where large scale massacres were undertaken for the purposes of internal security are entirely relevant.. while deplorable and revolting - this nonetheless demonstrates how this region acts to achieve security..
how dare you keep silent in relation to those events and how dare you not seek the prosecution of those leaders and continue to say that israel is not entitled to use its best efforts to juggle the humantiarian dilemma with the security techniques of its very region..
i suppose under your theory - israel's only acceptable course of action during the past few months was to lodge complaints with the UN.. given that HA is entrenched in civillian areas - according to you israel had no right to defend itself because that would endanger civillians.. so instead - by your theory - israel should have lodged 3000 complaints and just copped the missiles and bit its tongue..
sherri - you continue to apply a very limited understanding to a very broad and deep fact scenario that you fail to understand..
i suggest you do some more research because your assertions of fact are way off..
genuinely wishing peace to our region and hoping we never again have to examine these issues..
lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
i have never said that israel is beyond criticism but i find it constantly surprising just how far your posts go with their one-sidedness..
how you decided that customary international law is suddenly irrelevant..
how you decide that the media should dictate the application of international legal principles.. and that journalists should those to judge our actions..
i struggle to follow the cohesion in an argument that conveniently disregards any issue that conflicts with it..
conducting this way is not debate.. its a sermon..
i believe in the power of dialog.. i believe that it was underexplored in these circumstances.. but not just by israel.. i have also said that i am unable to judge the events given that history always does so better in hindsight once the dillusions of media fog clear up..
i think the great thing about this blog is that we have a rare opportunity to gague opinions on both sides without some strange gatekeeping of US-Euro media giants..
i am unclear as to why you endeavour so valiantly to gatekeep the issues you consider - here in the free world of this blog..
where even moderated comments - are still clearly showing us all sides..
wishing for peace for our region and for you sherri - wherever it is that you are
lirun
telaviv
www.emspeace.blogspot.com
we need to look forward
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