The Rhetoric of Endless War - Justifying the Unjustifiable

Before my updates, start with reading Eboo Patel referenced on Brian McLaren's blog.

I asked some rhetorical questions in my last post--and here's an example of how they too often get treated. This article from Ralph Peters in the New York Post is probably a fair example of the rhetoric, propaganda and discourse which try to justify the unjustifiable in Gaza today.

I did a simple deconstruction of Peters' column, as the basis of my analysis, and I identified a series of fallacies, justifications and downright lies. Next post, I will go into what this really means. I will write a short summary about the implications of this type of thinking when it passes as acceptable language. I'm sorry for not being able to do it now. {Finally got to it, click here for that analysis.}

[In the meantime if you are interested after reading Peters' column, send me an email and I'll send you back a 4 page table looking at it line by line in a Word document.]

Today was the most murderous in Gaza. The airstrikes have run out of targets, so it's up to tanks and foot soldiers to go out and kill who they can kill. Is Israel targeting militants as it claims? It would need to have pretty good intelligence to recognize militants among the folks huddled in their homes and hiding in their basements.

I always try to strike a balanced tone, but let me make my opinion clear: Israel has put itself at exactly the same level as those it purports to fight. Even worst, because Israel has other options, it has access to a free world, to an open field of ideas and it should know better. Finally, Israel is the one who has chosen to continue an abomination at the center and root of all this, the occupation.

In thoughts with the ignored victims of Gaza, who have nowhere to go, as well as the far fewer victims in Sderot, who can hop on a bus.

Elrig