It's very kafka or PK dick or some other surreal author thing. I know there's a genocidal war in Yemen where the Saudis and the US are indiscriminately murdering as many Yemeni people as possible using famine and disease and the destruction of all civilian infrastructure.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, people are finding dead civilians in towns and labelling it genocide.

But the numbers of dead civilians, relative to other modern wars, is very small. Like "The US kills this many people at a single wedding then writes them off as collateral damage" small.

And there's no recognition, reflection, or awareness of this. It's like the War on Terror never happened. It's like Yemen doesn't exist. It's like staring through the internet in to a parallel reality. it's so, so fucking bizarre. And I honestly don't know what to make of it. Pure ignorance? Maybe, people are very uninformed. Racism? Probably, Ukrainians have been promoted to "White People" while Yemenis are firmly brown. Completely guileless hypocrisy? It's okay when our side does it? We're the good guys so our murders are justified while the evil orkish enemy are bad guys and their murders are unjustified?

Fucking bizarre. Just fucking bizarre. And absolutely no mention of similar killings by Ukrainian forces in Donbas.

  • Spongebobsquarejuche [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    We’re the good guys so our murders are justified while the evil orkish enemy are bad guys and their murders are unjustified?

    Pretty much this.

    • AcidSmiley [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      The usual wording is "nice whataboutism, how late is it in st. petersburg?", but yes, that's always the sentiment behind that. we're the good guys, so just like in the movies, the people we kill probably deserved it or killing them was at least one of these hard decisions you have to make for the greater good.

      no matter how hard you keep pushing, as long as the person you're arguing with believes in the "we're the good guys" part, they have a means to deflect what you're saying. it is that believe, in "the West" as a force for good, that maintains cultural hegemony in the US, the EU and their allies. any worthwhile anti-imperialist agitation starts with undermining it.