Hamas or Israel? Which One to Cheer For?

[Nice Squirrel]

A lot of people pick sides in sports and this whole Israel v. Hamas match have a lot of people excited. There are so many heroic acts and martyrs I was wondering how do I choose which team to root for? Being in the Midwest, many of my friends are all like, "Rah-rah-rah! Ski-U-Hamas"! while others are "Is-ri-ale! Is-ri-ale! I-rah-rah! Fight! Fight!" So I'm not sure which side to choose. I wish it was the Packers v. Bears, because that would be easy.

That is to say this game has been going on for pert near 70 years and both teams are really good at it.

We have some very passionate supporters of both sides here. How do you decide who to root for? and which team should I root for?

 

[NobleSavage]

I tend to like the underdog. Israel seems to have the upper hand and they have nukes and US foreign aid.

 

[NobleSavage]

Then again some of those IDF girls are cute! (they seem too young to be killing and dying -- it's sad)

 

[Harry Bosch]

A lot of people pick sides in sports and this whole Israel v. Hamas match have a lot of people excited. There are so many heroic acts and martyrs I was wondering how do I choose which team to root for? Being in the Midwest, many of my friends are all like, "Rah-rah-rah! Ski-U-Hamas"! while others are "Is-ri-ale! Is-ri-ale! I-rah-rah! Fight! Fight!" So I'm not sure which side to choose. I wish it was the Packers v. Bears, because that would be easy.

That is to say this game has been going on for pert near 70 years and both teams are really good at it.

We have some very passionate supporters of both sides here. How do you decide who to root for? and which team should I root for?

I'm on the side that wants peace and a two-state solution. I'm against Hamas, radical Pals, and radical Israelis.

 

[Derec]

Then again some of those IDF girls are cute!

Yes! A "Babes of IDF" calendar would be much more successful than the "Babes of Hamas" calendar.

 

[SimpleDon]

I too have a hard time deciding who to root for in this conflict. Every time that I think that I have found a basis to decide which side to pick some nagging little thing destroys my certainty, more often than not the nagging little thing is one of those inconvenient things called facts.

I have tried the sports analogy, which when you don't have a vested interest in the game and you are not already a fan of one side or the other, is the good old American tradition of rooting for the underdog. But in this case both heavily armed, morally corrupt sides claim to be the underdogs. And throughout the history of the conflict both could be rightfully considered to the underdog But also both sides claim that the other side are terrorists, which somewhat undercuts their own claims to be the underdog.

I am a soccer fan and when we watch a match as a neutral we usually root for the game rather than one team or the other. The idea that what is important is to a well played match that demonstrates the beauty of the sport, for when played well it is a thing of beauty. Needless to say this doesn't provide any help in this conflict or any other, for that matter. War has to be viewed from awfully far away to be viewed in anything approaching those terms.

I forget who it was who said that the person most responsible for shaping American post world war two foreign policy was John Wayne. I think that it is only a slight exaggeration.

So sports, underdogs and John Wayne are no help. What are we left with among the easy answers? Flipping a coin? [/tongue, cheek]

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Neither. Israel is a bunch of murderous thugs who have no problem killing hundreds of innocents in order to get a few enemies and the only reason that Hamas have killed less innocents is because they don't have the same caliber of weapons.

If the whole region were to fall into the sea, the world would be a brighter place.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I tend to like the underdog. Israel seems to have the upper hand and they have nukes and US foreign aid.

Yeah, a lot of people on here seem to look at it this way.

Underdog or on top says nothing about right or wrong.



Or do you support serial killers over cops?

 

[NobleSavage]

I've long given up trying to figure out who is right or wrong. Granted Israel is a democracy and I'd rather live there than any other place in the middle east.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I've long given up trying to figure out who is right or wrong. Granted Israel is a democracy and I'd rather live there than any other place in the middle east.

Is Gaza not a democracy? I thought that part of the reason why people are saying that it's ok to kill so many civilians is because they voted for Hamas.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

It is a peculiar American idea that when we see a conflict one of them MUST be the good guy and the other MUST be the bad guy.

Sometimes both sides are bad.

 

[Shadowy Man]

It is a peculiar American idea that when we see a conflict one of them MUST be the good guy and the other MUST be the bad guy.

Sometimes both sides are bad.

Furthermore, a "side" isn't some monolithic entity presenting a single ideology or opinion. When millions of people are involved it will inevitably be far more complicated than "good versus bad".

 

[arkirk]

There is nothing to cheer for in this conflict...except seeing it end.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I'm hoping for a draw so that Jordan can move up to first place thanks to their defeat of Syria.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I've long given up trying to figure out who is right or wrong. Granted Israel is a democracy and I'd rather live there than any other place in the middle east.

Is Gaza not a democracy? I thought that part of the reason why people are saying that it's ok to kill so many civilians is because they voted for Hamas.

Gaza is a pseudo-democracy.

Hamas won a majority of the seats but didn't wait around for the next election, they staged a coup. They haven't permitted an election since.

As some author put it quite some time ago (not specifically about this situation): One person, one vote, once.

 

[dystopian]

Or do you support serial killers over cops?

Depends on how entertaining their murder sprees are in the movie.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

It is a peculiar American idea that when we see a conflict one of them MUST be the good guy and the other MUST be the bad guy.

Sometimes both sides are bad.

Furthermore, a "side" isn't some monolithic entity presenting a single ideology or opinion. When millions of people are involved it will inevitably be far more complicated than "good versus bad".

Well said, both of you.

 

[Arctish]

It is a peculiar American idea that when we see a conflict one of them MUST be the good guy and the other MUST be the bad guy.

Sometimes both sides are bad.

Furthermore, a "side" isn't some monolithic entity presenting a single ideology or opinion. When millions of people are involved it will inevitably be far more complicated than "good versus bad".

Well said, both of you.

QFT

 

[GenesisNemesis]

How about we just don't fucking root for anyone?

Oh, other people have already said that.

 

[EricK]

I hope Israel survives as an entity for the sake of the Israeli people.
I hope Hamas does not survive as an entity for the sake of the Palestinian people.