You're right that I should have considered seige's statement in the context of the whole conflict and not just the latest flare-up, that is my fault.
What I was trying to do was express a general frustration with what I see as pretty extreme hypocrisy on this forum when it comes to violence against civilians. (Not to mention no small amount of antisemitism since Oct 7, see the comment before last). I remember when Russia invaded Ukraine. I was a lurker at the time. There was an enormous sense of glee on this forum for the destruction that followed, and consistent denial of the crimes that Russia committed against Ukrainian civilians, either in its indiscriminate bombing practices or in more on-the-ground massacres and war-crimes in Bukha and elsewhere. They accused Ukraine of bombing its own people and blaming it on Russia. Time has since passed and such denial has become rare, but what replaced it was an indifference to the human cost and general sense that whatever Russia was doing was worth it to protect itself, regardless of the civilian suffering it wrought.
This is repeated in discussions on options for PLA strike strategies in westpac. It is not uncommon to see advocacy for intensive bombardment of dual-use infrastructure in Japan and even Taiwan; especially Taiwan. This includes things like electric grides, telecom networks, food stockpiles, and water distribution. Are the commentators here ignorant as to what this would mean for civilians in Taiwan? Would they be willing to personally endure the hell that followed for the sake of reunification? They are either unaware of simply indifferent.
That brings us to the most recent spate of conflict in Israel. This was sparked when Hamas operatives snuck across the boarder and massacred about 1200 civilians in their homes and in a music festival. Women were on video being raped and murdered. Entire families including children were killed, and hundreds were captured. Again, the reaction here was one of general glee. People called the victims settlers and mocked their suffering, calling for their mass murder or expulsion "back to Europe", regardless of the fact that 60% of them descended from MENA Jews fleeing ethnic cleansing, and refuse to even acknowledge this undisputed historical fact. Then the predictably terrible retaliation follows in Gaza, and there is an outpouring of sympathy, suddenly human life matters and individuals should not be punished for the actions of their forefathers. Many of the people displaying this sympathy are ones who mocked or otherwise dismissed the suffering of dead Ukrainian and Israeli civilians.
And nobody calls out or even acknowledges this. It's the same behavior Americans display and are hated for; only caring about life when it benefits them geopolitically, and showing a total disregard for it otherwise. And the worst part is that Israel/Palestine does not even implicate China in any meaningful way, it just wants to buy oil from Arab countries and agrotech from Israel, it has no political stake in this. But many forum-goers make up a stake to accommodate their own biases.
