As part of my morning browsing of articles Medium is recommending to me, I found this one
The Type of Questions Zionists Demand Answers To
I enjoy reading articles on people’s positions on whether Israel or HAMAS/Palestinians are the problem in the war. There are many more articles on Medium that support the “Israel is committing Genocide” position. The vocal left seems more inspired to be involved in long form social media like medium (why is a topic for another article).
Back to the article. The article was the author responding to this comment I made.
Why is HAMAS not surrendering?
It was on another article the Johnny Silvercloud wrote:
How Is the Government of Israel Counting Hamas Fighters?
Before I comment, I normally look at the author’s about to get some understanding of who they are. Johnny Silvercloud is a US Army vet. That from my perspective lends allot of weight to him writing on a conflict like the Israel/HAMAS war.
I answered his question with a number of questions that I think about. A version of the Socratic method.
He did not directly refer to me. Not clear why that is the case. I also did not get thoughtful answers. Instead, his article launched by judging me as a “Zionist” in the title. Terms like Zionist were meaningful in the past. Today they have become meaningless because they are laced with unstated judgements.
In his article he also made this judgement: “The fellow typically shows up in an antagonizing manner, butthurt at the valid criticism placed”.
That kind of comment makes me wonder about what authors on Medium are really looking for in comments. This author seems to be looking for affirmation that his position is somehow morally inspired and thus not to be questioned. My experience is that is very common for vocal left authors on Medium. He leads with Trump like degradations of me versus focusing on what I wrote. I recently wrote an article on the concept of decency that relates to that issue. Michelle Obama stated this simply: “When they go low, we go higher”. Does he believe her statement?
I did learn one thing from his response. I asked this question: “Why don’t Palestinians civilians help the IDF locate tunnels?” One of his answers floored me: “Additionally, Israel already knows where the tunnels are; they built most of them.”
That concept was one that I would never have occurred to me. What makes someone even view that statement would in anyway make sense? He made no reference to support it. I did find this wiki article discussing the tunnels in Gaza. No implication that Israel built the tunnels.
What have I learned from his article? He as an example of the vocal left does not seem interested in respecting a view that does not support his position. He ends his article with a two very self-aggrandizing statements:
Honestly, it’s kinda funny when people assume they know more about warfare than I do, or they think we are on equal footing concerning their level of ignorance.
I’m the most effective military writer you know
I am challenged to respond directly when a person leads with derogatory accusations and self-aggrandizing conclusions.
Thanks for reading. I am really interested in the question for authors and commenters — what are you really looking for in a response?
