71–80 of 88 posts
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Are you sure it was dead? I just looked in the kill log, and there is no record of an editor killing it. The kill log is only kept per server invocation, but the server process has been running since yesterday evening, PST.
I was pretty sure it was, but I could have been mistaken. Is there a difference between "dead" and whatever happens when enough users flag a submission? If so, it could have been the latter.
Fantastic. I'll start posting stories about Hamas storing weapons in mosques, schools and hospitals. And firing rockets at civilian centres in Israel. Then we'll have ourselves an old fashioned reddit party! first one to invoke godwin's law wins!!
When Hamas kills 1100 people you can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hamas_suicide_attacks
Seriously let's have a debate on this. This being a hacker forum is the perfect place to do it isn't it?
I say this as someone who has very strong views on the topic, yet hope and pray that issues this divisive will not be allowed to sow seeds of disunity in an otherwise harmonic and well functioning community.
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Yes, but you didn't say "be an optimist" - you argued that I don't care, because I don't want to discuss it on this site, which is a bad argument. There are plenty of issues that I care deeply about for which this site is not an appropriate forum. > 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing' - Edmund Burke Discussing the issue on internet forums is so close to "doing nothing" as to be…
Discussing the issue on internet forums is so close to "doing nothing" as to be virtually indistinguishable. I don't think that's true. People are very much influenced by things other people say, and there is nothing magic about the web that makes this stop working online. I've often been influenced by things I read in forums. And in this specific case, you're particularly mistaken, because the situation is so much i…
What if it's only happening to the extent that it is BECAUSE we're all sucked into watching/discussing it? What if the war is not so much on Palistinean civilians, but rather on OUR sense of balance, well-being, confidence about humanity, etc.? What if we're all being psychologically conditioned into a passive, regressive child-like state of mind via the various horrors we're witnessing so that we can be made to wait for some strong, daddy figure to save us all - like when Bush saved us all from the evil terrorists in Iraq? What if this is just one massive, sophisticated psy-ops operation?
Before I get downvoted to Hacker News sub-hell, just ponder this as a possibility, no matter how seemingly absurd. I find the whole situation disgusting for reasons that span the spectrum of "sides" and "issues". But I find myself creeped out as I wonder how I went from being suspicious about the UN after reading 1984 as a kid to now find myself secretly wishing it would "take over" the middle east.
We're being reduced to emotional wrecks by people who seem to be, like some sick experimenters, trying to figure out exactly what reduces the most people to emotional wrecks the fastest. And what's happening in the meantime? For starters, this country's economic infrastructure has been wrecked to well, so quickly that we've gone from object of jealousy to object of ridicule and derision.
The 'ol "watch the horrors in the front while we attack the rear" distraction.
Snap out of the bee-hive mentality. The more we're all on the same frequency the easier we are to control. "But I caaaaare!" Then stop doing the anticipated (caring) and venture out into the chaotic: start a forum calling for the blowing up of the entire middle east.
Go to some embassy and burn Israeli, Palistinean, U.S. and Russian flags. Confuse them.
Gather all your jewish friends and have them wear t-shirts that say "Jews for Hamas", then gather all your arab friends and have them wear "Arabs for Zionism" t-shirts. Call CNN and tell them that if they don't cover your stunt you'll decapitate 50 kittens and post it on YouTube.
Start a cult that promises to sacrifice the first alien that lands on earth to some ancient Chinese deity.
Wear t-shirts that say, "Me me me! Money money money! To hell with the third world! Me me me!"
Do anything but for humanity's sake, break out of this resonance conditioning.
Your "caring" is being used against you. Stop caring every time a kid, whether Israeli or Palistinean, is blown up and my hunch is that "they" will stop resorting to this nonsense to get on CNN and in your living room.
In other words, if WE alL agreed that poetry was a sign of moral correctness, I guarantee you Israel, Hamas and the UN would be flooding YouTube with their top writers trying to outdo each other in poetry.
But precisely because we get sucked into this crap by design we get more and more "Oh no, look at all the children suffering."
If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic. http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
It's probably worth noting, now that this story has been on here for a few hours, that it has produced very little worthwhile discussion - just one mention of some interesting facts about white phosphorous weapons, and a bunch of flame wars about whether this topic is appropriate for HN. Imho that's a good indication that this topic was in fact not appropriate.
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When Hamas kills 1100 people you can.
It's all so simple and one sided isn't it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hamas_suicide_attacks Seriously let's have a debate on this. This being a hacker forum is the perfect place to do it isn't it?
Let's face it. The last 60 years have been a disaster for the Middle East, and any action from either side can be "justified" with pointing at something the other side has done.
There have been attempts to make peace, but there have been too many demands that the other side can't accept. This can only be solved by one of the sides letting history be history and try to make a real attempt at peace. I think Israel, as the dominant party, should withdraw to the borders of 1967 and that the Palestinians should accept a multi-national peace keeping force that would stabilize the region and prevent further attacks on Israel.
It might take a couple of generations for the two sides to forgive each other, but it is worth a try.
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It's all so simple and one sided isn't it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hamas_suicide_attacks Seriously let's have a debate on this. This being a hacker forum is the perfect place to do it isn't it?
I'm not supporting Hamas and am not supporting any attacks against civilians from either side. But you also have to look at what has happened the last 60 years. Israel is not without blood on their hands either. Let's face it. The last 60 years have been a disaster for the Middle East, and any action from either side can be "justified" with pointing at something the other side has done. There have been attempts to ma…
I'm amazed that this story hasn't been killed yet (it really seems to go against a lot of previous editorial decisions here, which I thought were a really good idea.) Can you imagine a story about Hamas using human shields on the front page? it would be nuts, whether you think it's an important issue or not. These kinds of stories are a magnet for trolls.
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You would have an excellent point if the practice of using phosphorus flares was what was being reported. Unfortunately, the issue that's most heavily reported on is use of phosphorus-based artillery. I invite you to explain to me how reports from UN staff that WP-based artillery shells where used on several warehouses of aid supplies in the midst of a UN compound doesn't constitute use of WP as an incendiary against…
> WP as an incendiary against heavy concentrations of civilians. While you're at it feel free to discuss how WP artillery shells can be deployed in an urban environment without affecting "heavy concentrations of civilians". The rule isn't against the use of WP where there are heavy concentrations of civilians, it's against using WP as an incendiary where there are heavy concentrations of civilians. Using it as a smok…
Classic military-industrial double-talk. WP doesn't come equipped with a non-incendiary mode.
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I'm not supporting Hamas and am not supporting any attacks against civilians from either side. But you also have to look at what has happened the last 60 years. Israel is not without blood on their hands either. Let's face it. The last 60 years have been a disaster for the Middle East, and any action from either side can be "justified" with pointing at something the other side has done. There have been attempts to ma…
Look, my point is not one way of the other (although I do have strong opinions on the matter.) My point is that when you mix politics and controversy in an anonymous public forum, you get a lot more heat than light. I'm amazed that this story hasn't been killed yet (it really seems to go against a lot of previous editorial decisions here, which I thought were a really good idea.) Can you imagine a story about Hamas u…
And yet...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=438654
So why can't the discussion continue? Why aren't Israel and Hamas's actions viable targets of inquiry?
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Look, my point is not one way of the other (although I do have strong opinions on the matter.) My point is that when you mix politics and controversy in an anonymous public forum, you get a lot more heat than light. I'm amazed that this story hasn't been killed yet (it really seems to go against a lot of previous editorial decisions here, which I thought were a really good idea.) Can you imagine a story about Hamas u…
These kinds of stories are a magnet for trolls. And yet... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=438654 So why can't the discussion continue? Why aren't Israel and Hamas's actions viable targets of inquiry?