So...I've been watching kyle kulinski today, and I'm going to be honest, this guy is really rubbing me the wrong way. Normally I listen to this guy because out of all the leftie commentators on youtube, he's the one who I normally agree with most, but there is a huge area of disagreement that we have, and that is foreign policy. He's more in the anti war "leftist" camp, basically overcorrecting from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and going to the other extremes, whereas I'm more a centrist liberal aligned with the democratic establishment and the Biden administration. I understand that the answer to neoconservatism a la Bush was a middle ground approach, not the opposite extreme, which is cringe.
But with this dude being OBSESSED with Israel-Gaza, and other such issues, it's like his primary focal point these days to obsess over it, and he goes on and on in a constant state of moral outrage about "babies being bombed" to the point that it turns me off. A huge point of disagreement that we have IS over this matter of "tone", and after watching his program today, I'm just going to say that this is a fundamental disagreement.
One video he talked about today was about protested accosting Joe Manchin and calling him a "sick ####". Now, I dont like Joe Manchin. if anything, I HATE Joe Manchin. I DESPISE Joe Manchin. I'm GLAD the dude is retiring. He literally rat####ed the Biden administration out of accomplishing anything significant because he was a conservative with a D after his name, and he held up EVERYTHING. But Kyle's approach to him? Yeah, let's have protesters scream in this guy's face EVERYWHERE HE GOES so he never has a moment of peace, EVER. kyle thinks this is acceptable. That congresspeople be constantly harassed by their voter base constantly screaming at them. And I'm going to be honest, even if I agree with the POINT of the protest here, I dont agree with the way they went about it. I dont think screaming at sitting congresspeople and harassing them in public is the way to approach politics. But for some reason, the left thinks this is effective, and that we need MORE of this.
We also see this with the Israel-Gaza war stuff where it's now becoming acceptable for leftists to just start SCREAMING at elected officials for not taking a stronger stance on this issue. And again, Kyle's approach is "we need more of this" and that "these people shouldn't have a moment of peace." I fundamentally disagree, and I fundamentally think this is a bad strategy.
Again, reminds me of what the anti war nuts did to my vietnam vet dad in the 1960s, screaming at him and calling him a "baby killer" the left does deranged stuff like this, and then they wonder why there's a cultural backlash against him and why the right ends up winning in a landslide. The left often has a good point morally, but if this is their approach to actually addressing issues, this is gonna backfire hard. Because while that stuff is effective at first, eventually it gets to a point where all the screeching blends together and the response of most sane people is "SHUT THE F UP!" Seriously, people don't wanna hear that. And honestly, if I were an elected official, I'd be going in the fetterman position of openly mocking these people and making it part of my persona that do the LITERAL OPPOSITE OF WHAT THESE PEOPLE WANT.
Like, does Kyle not understand that not everyone thinks stuff like blocking traffic and screaming like a child and acting uncivilly is a good idea? That it might create a backlash? Even worse, Kyle also covered how some of corporate media is ALSO turning on Biden somewhat, and suggesting (in a much more softball way of course), that yeah, what Netanyahu is doing is not okay, and that maybe we should break off from them and stop supporting them as hard as we are? Of course, Kyle didn't like that, because he didnt like the soft tone. These reports, like Fareed Zackaria, and Don Lemon, used their INSIDE VOICE and talked about how this is a strategic mistake and blah blah blah. What does Kyle want? More open moralizing in the shrill obnoxious voice that makes me tune out.
Like, I'm going to be blunt, I'm not really 100% pro israel right now either, I do think that Biden should probably back off and encourage a reduction in tensions. It isnt a hill Im gonna die on because 1) i dont actually care all that much and it's not one of my purity tests, and 2) i dont actually think there is a solution that would work. The US is a mere third party in this conflict supporting Israel, one of the two main factions. And in my opinion, the two factions are extreme, intractable, and completely unwilling to compromise or negotiate. They both hate each other, have genocidal wishes toward each other, and neither will compromise an inch. And honestly, when delving into this conflict and the strong feelings on both sides, my gut instinct is to just go "screw this" and to let them kill each other. Because quite frankly, it's not my concern.
But again, Kyle, and he said this on his program today, believes the international community should FORCE some sort of solution on both parties. Oh, so NOW you want America to be the world police, eh Kyle? Like, wtf. Any solution from the outside is not going to work and not going to last, because neither side will accept the terms. They just wanna kill each other. Neither side will negotiate or compromise. Any peace will be like the peace after WWI: a 20 year armistice. If it even lasts 20 years, I'd be shocked if it lasted 20 years. I mean, I'm thinking 5-10 years max before these guys are ready to go again. Because you cant just force these guys to stop unless you repress them with an iron fist. Look at what happened in Yugoslavia after the USSR fell, suddenly crap these guys had bottled up for like a full CENTURY exploded all at once and they went full genocide mode on each other. The same thing happened to much of Africa and the Middle east after the colonial powers like the UK left after WWII, and we're STILL dealing with that. The fact is, why do I care what these guys wanna do? They wanna kill each other, let them, it's not my problem, and I really don't think that we should be the world police here. Maybe some people do think that, but I don't, and that's what I learned from the past 30 years of post cold war international politics. If it isn't strategically important for US and international interests, I dont wanna be involved, because if we got involved in conflicts like this, we'd be involved in everything, constantly, in a constant state of war. And we'd be putting our troops and our people in danger for nothing that concerns us. And we'd be wasting trillions in tax dollars on peacekeeping efforts that don't go anywhere. it's like we're learning nothing from the Clinton administration. Btw, we did this during clinton. We were involved in all of these UN peacekeeping efforts, some of which went sideways and were horrible PR moves that damaged the clinton administration's approval. Like the "black hawk down" incident in Somalia. Remember that movie? yeah. That was Clinton's foreign policy in a nutshell. Let's not do that. I'd rather stay out of things that don't involve us unless they serve some larger important strategic purpose for our own national security. Like Ukraine or something.
But yeah, back to tone. I think a soft spoken tone with well thought out arguments are more effective than screaming at people and harassing them. Crazy concept, I know. And yeah, I actually would agree with the CNN approach over the Kyle Kulinski approach. Because let's face it, most of us in the US are pro israel, we just dont necessarily want to see them commit a full blown genocide. And yes, the proper framing is about encouraging them to rein it in, not screaming at them for existing in the first place, which just serves to make people dig in and develop a persecution complex (and Israel is great at that, they LOVE doing that, they love being able to say anyone who hates them just hates all jews or something). I think kyle is nuts with his strategy of constant moral outrage and screaming at people. because after a while that stuff not only loses its effect, it drives people back the other way. Again, I honestly think a huge reason people turned on the left in the 60s and 70s was in part because they pushed the envelope too far by doing crap like this, which just led to a conservative backlash in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Just my opinion....strategically speaking of course. I probably do end up agreeing with the left on a lot. Maybe not with the proper amount of intensity or lack of nuance, but I'm not really that out of line with the ideas that Joe Manchin is a piece of crap, and Netanyahu should rein it in a bit. However, I do understand screaming at people isn't the right way to go about it.
I also understand, and this is where I'm gonna get on the people threatening to not vote for Biden in november, that if you DO pressure Biden to your point of view, you HAVE to support him. If you make him stick his neck out and push him left, and then you just go off and vote for jill stein or cornel west or soemthing, what are the odds that the democrats will ever listen to you again? It's not gonna be very high. Heck I'm kinda starting to understand why the democrats tend to ignore leftists. Because even if the democrats do try to appease them, they're just gonna get screamed at for not being on the right side of the conflict in the first place, or the shift being insincere, or for not going far enough.
By the way: on that one. You guys do realize a cease fire is generally temporary? it's not a long term peace agreement, it's just a temporary cessation of hostilities. People scream cease fire now then are screaming at harris for suggesting a...6 week cease fire. Wtf did you expect? Also, this is assuming that we can actually get the parties to agree, and if hamas doesnt they're just gonna blame us for not offering a good enough agreement for them.
Like, seriously, not even I'm stupid enough to want an easy fix to a multi generational conflict half way across the world where the two sides LITERALLY HATE EACH OTHER and people just expect Biden to somehow force a solution here. That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works. When I have a purity test, any idea I have could be submitted as a bill in congress that could be passed tomorrow with the right votes. Im not asking for...whatever this is. These people are insane. Asking for....literally long lasting peace in the middle east is a "what color would you like your dragon?" level ask. Everyone says they want it, it never happens, people dont understand the root causes that drives the hatred and conflict in the first place, and people aren't willing to change and compromise to make it happen. So let's be realistic.
And let's not bash biden for trying to do what you ask to the best of his abilities with his limited ability to act and influence the situation.
No comments:
Post a Comment