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_Robert_ wrote:
When taking a rational view of the situation right now, moral justice doesn’t really win wars or gain territory.

If you’re going to take a rational view then you have to factor in human psychology. Is Israel’s approach one that ends extremism? No. Is the approach of Palestinians one that gains freedom? No. If one side has to g…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
Or is the death toll on the hands of Hamas?

Some of it.

If they put down their arms, the killing stops. If Israel puts down its arms the real killing will begin.

This recent wave of violence kicked off when IDF tear gassed Al-Aqsa Mosque. In the bigger scheme, territory expansion and military police are both ongoing forms of…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
A few weeks go by and he drops the fact that his female counselor is attractive and that he told her so and that she responded in a way I felt crossed a line by seeing him socially outside the counseling session. He felt a romance was blooming. I saw someone taking advantage of a highly vulnerable patient.

Agreed. There are lines…[Read more]

It does work, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best tool for everyone. I have known three people who have gone through CBT for PTSD (one definitely did CPT, specifically). For two it helped considerably but it was a lot of work. The third found it problematic despite trying a couple of different types of CBT with different therapists. She…[Read more]

One of the unfortunate aspects of therapists is that many people have to shop around for one who is a good fit. Not only that, but some therapists border on (or actually are) negligent or incompetent.

I can think of reasons your therapist wouldn’t want you to vent in sessions depending on her modality. For instance, if her focus is cognitive…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
Death toll is a poor measure considering the fog of war. The intent of each warring faction is what matters.

The fog of war? No when you have a prolonged policy that accepts civilian deaths, those deaths are on your hands. Dressing it up in idealism doesn’t undo the barbarism of it.

TheEncogitationer wrote:
Autumn, Islam…

Isn’t an excuse for the fucked up situation in Gaza.

And nowadays, as 9/11 demonstrated, we are no longer protected by the vastness of two Oceans.

As a singular event, it was tragic. But in the span from 1995-2015* the number of deaths due to terrorist incidents was 3322. That’s around 150-160 per year.…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
past performances are not an assurance of future performance.

No one is making such an argument. If that were the extent of my thinking, I’d propose we wipe America off the map first and then address terrorist cells and the nations that fund them after. But I don’t because a) that’s not the limit of my thinking and b) it’s not…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
Yes to date the death toll is miniscule. That is why i said it is not fair to extrapolate the death rate.

It is. Nuclear warfare isn’t a new variable. It’s been in the equation since before any of us were born, though of course the technology has improved since Hiroshima/ Nagasaki. If you operate based on evidence, up to this…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
Autumn, i think you downplay the threat from Islamic terrorism.

The death tolls to date tell a story of who the biggest threats are to whom. I don’t know what magical thinking lets us jump to a scenario where that suddenly reverses. Even if the will was there, the mechanics largely aren’t. The only thing keeping such a fantasy…[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:
Autumn, However, to a Jihadist, the death of a child in the service of Allah is glorious,

Not just to a Jihadist. Military strategists throughout the ages have not given a fuck. Not enough to prevent children from becoming ‘collateral damage’. Attracting and promoting disordered thinking is far from a Hamas patented process. The…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:
Autumn,

Well, we’d best blow up more children to make sure that a group of people who can’t get out from under the thumb of a nation of 10 million people doesn’t spiral out of control and take over the whole world.

No one said that and you know this.

I am telling you that is the byproduct of your chickenshit fear monge…[Read more]

Well, we’d best blow up more children to make sure that a group of people who can’t get out from under the thumb of a nation of 10 million people doesn’t spiral out of control and take over the whole world.

TheEncogitationer wrote:
See the story that started this thread. Saudi Arabia is more conciliatory to Shia rival Iran than to Israel. And many of the Hamas terrorists that Shia Iran bankrolls are Sunni.

I read it. It’s consistent with what I wrote.

TheEncogitationer wrote:
Autumn, Ah, but the rulers of Saudi Arabia also bankroll Islamic Madrassahs (religious schools) in the U.S., Canada, and all over the world, which serve as vehicles of Anti-Jewish, Anti-Christian, Anti-Unbeliever, Anti-Western hatred and indoctrination in Islamist theology and ideology.

You may be shocked to learn that…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:

Saudi Arabia’s public schools…

Are in Saudi Arabia.