The angry young man...

As the debates rage on...and the deaths... it seems everybody is suggesting "ceasefire" or "one-sided" or "Hezbollah started it" or "Israel started it" and everything in between.
Everybody has an opinion about the attrocities being committed in Lebanon and presumably everybody has an opinion about the US and Britain's stance on this.

My opinion on the matter is blatantly clear: It didn't start with the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. Why, the day before Hezbollah soldiers were abducted from Lebanese land and the Israeli jails are full of Palestinian and Labanese prisoners who have not been tried.

Obviously some people will suggest that terrorists should be treated differently than soldiers, however, I hold the belief that a mother who's badly burned and has just watched her child be blown to smithereens by either will cease to see a difference.

Now, it's very easy to point a finger at Israel with their occupation of Palestinian land, torture of prisoners, breaking of UN resolutions, etc. But, it's equally easy to see Israel as a pawn in the Multi-national's goal of Western supremacy in the whole region.
To get to Syrie and Iran...well, Hamas is a thorn in the side and Hezbollah is the first stumbling block to pave the wave.
Hell...that oil pipeline should be ours and not Iran's with their crackpot regime...

However.
I was lying in bed (nowadays I do little else but lay in bed or slave my guts out in a mind bogglingly boring, tedious and rigid call centre) and was thinking about how you could actually solve the Middle East crisis.
Something...constructive...if you will.
And this is what I came up with:

Things are going to have to happen at the same time instead of in steps. I'm going to sum them up, not in neccesarily in order of importance.

The West is going to have to stop imperialising the region and accept that oil will be controlled by someone else.

If we look at Israel's behaviour, it's very hard to see what can be done about it. But if we compare their behaviour to that of a single human, it becomes a lot easier to see how to cope.
Basically, what you are looking at is a badly abused child who's grown up into an angry young teenager and is throwing a tantrum.
And how does one deal with that? Well, you physically restrain him, calm him down and give him therapy.

If we look at the Palestinians we see a group of people who are being badly abused and they will grow up into equally angry young men.
Now's the time to intervene, start giving them therapy and creating positive chances for the future. Stimulation! Not punishment and rejection.

Then we go to Hezbollah, Hamas, Syrie and Iran.
It's easy for some of us to scream: "Islamo facists!", but that's pathetic, unconstructive and very generalistic in a negative way.
Most people in these countries couldn't give a damn about Israel, the West, etc. if they could live normal lives and felt free to express themselves in their religious beliefs, etc.
If the Palestinians were living normal lives, a great amount of friction would be relieved and most political parties who oppose Irael's existance would lose their goat to beat on.

Obviously there will still be extremists (as there are in every society). And again I say "humanize the behaviour". And what do you do when a friend is being really extreme?
You calm him down, you talk to him and you give him something more constructive to occupy his time with.

If someone is so far gone that reality is completely astray...medication.

And so, I guess, what I'm trying to say in jumbled fashion (because I'm tired of working in a sweatshop and only want to go and get drunk) is that the only way to solve the situation in the Middle East is to look at the various fractions as individuals and set out a way of dealing with that and then enhance it to scale.

There.
Now, where's my beer?

Originally posted by shavixmir
As the debates rage on...and the deaths... it seems everybody is suggesting "ceasefire" or "one-sided" or "Hezbollah started it" or "Israel started it" and everything in between.
Everybody has an opinion about the attrocities being committed in Lebanon and presumably everybody has an opinion about the US and Britain's stance on this.

My opinion on th and then enhance it to scale.

There.
Now, where's my beer?

Originally posted by HumeA
Um... I don't really have an opinion. The rest of your logic must be flawed. 😀

Edit: I do find it quite interesting, however, that your metaphor for Israel is some distant, twisted teenager, while your analogy for the terrorist is a friend... A psychologist would have a field day.

Originally posted by shavixmir
Who says the twisted teenager is distant? 😉

Originally posted by HumeA
Fair enough, but you get my point.

Originally posted by shavixmir
As the debates rage on...and the deaths... it seems everybody is suggesting "ceasefire" or "one-sided" or "Hezbollah started it" or "Israel started it" and everything in between.
Everybody has an opinion about the attrocities being committed in Lebanon and presumably everybody has an opinion about the US and Britain's stance on this.

My opinion on th and then enhance it to scale.

There.
Now, where's my beer?

Originally posted by shavixmir
But I feel I must point out, that by accepting someone as a friend and helping them on that basis you are more likely to achieve you goals than by the alternative.

Originally posted by HumeA
That really depends on your goals though. It is also one thing to accept someone as a friend, and quite another to make that friendship mutual. You can't help someone like that if they don't want to listen.

Originally posted by shavixmir
There's also a difference between accepting someone as a friend for friendship or accepting someone as a friend to help them.

Originally posted by shavixmir
Or to put it another way:

If you're muddled up (maybe it's just your avatar that implies that though...hehehe...well, I found it funny anyways...) will me smacking you about the place and smacking your neighbours around too, make you less muddled up?

The same with Israel. Pointing the finger at them and abusing them is only going to enhance their ta ...[text shortened]... (plural, not Royal, obviously) must surely persue constructive objectives in such situations?

Originally posted by shavixmir
But I feel I must point out, that by accepting someone as a friend and helping them on that basis you are more likely to achieve you goals than by the alternative.

Originally posted by shavixmir
As the debates rage on...and the deaths... it seems everybody is suggesting "ceasefire" or "one-sided" or "Hezbollah started it" or "Israel started it" and everything in between.
Everybody has an opinion about the attrocities being committed in Lebanon and presumably everybody has an opinion about the US and Britain's stance on this.

My opinion on th ...[text shortened]... and then enhance it to scale.

There.
Now, where's my beer?