A BBC investigation reveals that Microsoft is permanently banning Palestinians in the U.S. and other countries who use Skype to call relatives in Gaza.
Reportedly, Microsoft has been banning and wiping the accounts of users who have leveraged Skype to contact relatives in Gaza. In some cases, email accounts over a decade old have been locked, destroying access to banking accounts, OneDrive storage, and beyond.
United States resident Salah Elsadi lost his account of over 15 years in the dragnet. “I’ve had this Hotmail for 15 years. They banned me for no reason, saying I have violated their terms — what terms? Tell me. I’ve filled out about 50 forms and called them many many times.” Eiad Hametto from Saudi Arabia echoed the report, “We are civilians with no political background who just wanted to check on our families. They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years. It was connected to all my work. They killed my life online.”
Many of the users affected by the bans expressed that Microsoft may be falsely labelling them as Hamas
Remember: today it’s “just” the Palestinians and you may not be affected or care. But tomorrow, it could be you.
Yep. If you ever shared a political opinion, that could put you on someone’s naughty list. If that someone gets a position of power and decides they want to attack, well, you could be the next metaphorical Palestinian.
Voting on Lemmy isn’t private (and is probably for sale on closed platforms) so just upvoting an opinion might be enough to get you on some lists.
Downvoted your comment just to be safe
Man, messed up innit. & how could it be made private without enabling a whole different set of bad actors (astroturfers, marketers, political axe grinders)
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. —Martin Niemöller
So what you’re saying is, that there is now an easy way to delete your MS account?
i am sure that only affects the data YOU can ever access, but never the data already stored for later abuse ;-)
This is the final nail in the coffin for me. My next PC is going to be a Linux machine.
Your current PC can become a Linux machine by lunchtime. What are you waiting for?
The last time I used a Linux PC was around 2012 with something called “Egyptian Hax” that my sister set up because she wanted me to play NetHack, so a guide would be a great start. I’m aware that WINE has gone through some vast improvements, but beyond that I don’t really know where to start, what distro would be good for me, or anything else.
Edit: not getting mocked for admitting my ignorance would be a huge encouragement as well, tbh. It’s hard not to be resentful when a community is hostile to new members. Calling someone a slur for not already being a part of the in group is a great way to keep people from joining. 👍
Write down a list of the software you use (e.g. web browser, office suite, notepad, image viewer, video player, … ). Download Linux Mint from here and use Balena Etcher to write it into a pen drive. Switch off your computer, plug in the pen drive and switch on. DON’T INSTALL YET. Run Linux ‘live’ for a couple of hours, see if everything (speaker, printer, webcam, all the software you listed above) is working correctly.
Once you have confirmed that all is well, copy your files into an external hard drive, confirm that everything important has been backed up, and then install Linux from the pen drive. (You can have both Windows and Linux on the same computer, but then Windows should not be given internet access or it will ‘update’ and mess up everything. This can be repaired using, for example, this software, but why bother?)
Saved. I’ll look at this Sunday if I have time (I’m making that PCM developed by NightHawkInLight to use for a few planned events).
Ty very much!
Don’t let the gatekeepers put you off. The Linux community is quite helpful if you can get past their garbage. Every guru was once a noob 👍
I’m also going to recommend Linux Mint, its a really friendly beginner distro. I’ll presonally recommend you do Linux Mint Debian instead of normal linux mint
since regular linux mint is Ubuntu based and really loves snaps.The default user env is cinnimon which is going to look a lot like Windows 10 making the transition easier. If you want to install steam its literally a command line away from installing and then its ready to go. That and Steam personally pushing for Linux as a viable gaming platform there are a lot more games now that work out of the box now on steam.
Mint doesn’t use snaps at all by default. It has a regular .deb repository supplemented by Flatpaks.
Really? I swore I’ve been told that the regular mint uses snaps since ubuntu loves them. I haven’t used mint since snaps were a thing eitherway.
I’m saving this to note down that the flavor I’m most likely to want is “Cinnamon”. I didn’t really understand the rest, but thank you!
Would you like an eli5 for some stuff you’ll see in the linux community/forums/etc?
I’d personally be happy to give you a quick rundown of some stuff.
Don’t listen to people who mock you for asking a question. They are never the people whose advice is worth listening too. Start small. Get 8gb or bigger thumb drive. You can even use an external SSD. USB C would be the best. Follow the guide below or find a guide of your own. Start with Ubuntu. It isn’t perfect but it is the most popular distro out there. Be aware this installation is going to be laggy due to it being on a slower thumb drive. This will allow you to see that it just works. Games might be slower loading due to the thumb drive. I use steam daily and only have seen a few games I couldn’t play. Everyone was due to the ham-fisted drm the games had implemented.
https://itsfoss.com/ubuntu-persistent-live-usb/
Alternatively you can install a second hard drive in a PC and use both safely without fear of problems. I’ve been running linux as my daily driver for over ten years. I still have a windows installation that I can boot into if needed. Usually for firmware updates that only can be performed in windows. Currently I haven’t needed it in over a year.
I may look into Ubuntu if I have time this weekend. How does it differ from mint?
I’ve heard about it, but nothing of substance.
I will probably get a lot of hate from this but Ubuntu is simply more mature than mint. I’ve used mint and it works. The main gripe with Ubuntu is its use of snaps for many applications. They are not ideal but they do work. The main problems you may run into with snaps is the same problems you will run into with flatpak, appimage or docker.
Its a little more complicated to get persistence but my current main boot flash drive I carry with me daily is a 128gb thumb drive running ventoy. Ventoy is great because all you need to add a iso to the thumb drive is simply copy the iso over to it. Getting persistence is a little more complicated but the ventoy installer has a web gui that makes it easier. The ventoy installer is available for windows and linux. https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html
On my bootable flash drive I have Debian, Ubuntu, Mint , kali, tails and even a arch installation with persistence. I also have several other utility iso’s including hirens_PE. I have installers for windows as well. I mainly use the linux installations for rescue and diagnostics on windows PC’s. I have however ran machines with no hard drive at all for weeks at a time without any problems at all.
So using rufus to make a bootable thumb drive is okay for a single OS with persistence but you can use ventoy and test several distros to find what you prefer.
When it comes to computers I’m an average nerd.
The main problems you may run into with snaps is the same problems you will run into with flatpak, appimage or docker.
This means nothing to me other than “there are some things that are more complicated with Ubuntu compared to Mint”.
Snaps, flatpaks, docker etc… are small compressed applications that come with all the dependencies to run in a container. Their advantage is that they can run without installing all the extra dependencies on the host installation. They often suffer from random bugs such as permission errors. Along with many having questionable possibly malicious sources. The Ubuntu devs have went all in on them. Many people enable flatpak on mint to get some application that isn’t included by the package manager. What I was trying to convey is that these differences and the arguments they enable are kinda like watching two old farts at a coffee shop arguing over whether a Ford or a Chevy truck is better. In the end snaps and flatpak have some utility but are often a sore subject for some.
What matters is if you get what you want. For instance on Ubuntu you can install steam as a snap or install the actual application. Both work fairly well. You will be able to play most games by using steam and proton or by using other helper apps to install your games. The names of these are winetricks, lutris or playonlinux. Asking which one is best will often trigger arguments similar to asking what distro is the best.
I personally slowly eliminate snaps from my Ubuntu installations by compiling the applications myself. Not everyone enjoys doing that kind of thing. No matter what you choose you can usually get it working. With Ubuntu you will have quite a bit more support in the form of posted solutions and walk throughs but distros like mint are catching up a bit.
Installed? Sure, you can do that by lunchtime.
Getting it set up? Making sure all your drivers are working right? Troubleshooting issues? Finding alternatives to programs you need that don’t work on Linux? Especially for someone who has never used Linux before? That will take much longer.
If only I could install it on the Surface Pro X…
Damn, they worked so hard to gain goodwill in the last few years and it seems they’ve set out to destroy it in record time.
WSL and WSL2, Android Apps, working with Qualcomm to get their ARM computers to a credible state, the new Powershell and the push to open source so many things…
And in the past 12-18 months they’ve been crashing and burning, either backtracking on those things or by starting new initiatives to become scummier and scummier. TPM, Copilot, the ad situation, abusing their position of power with office/teams, the giant safety holes in the Recall feature… But it seems every day there’s something new in the news. It’s never ending.
That’s a nice project, but the last update was from 2 years ago and it needs way too much work to be close to usable. Windows 11 might be getting ads but at least audio works…
To be Done:
Support for Audio Subsystem #21 Support for LTE/Modem #22 Support for Webcams #23 Support for External Display Ports #27 Support for Suspend #29 Support for TrEE Services #37 Support for Sensors #38 Support for GNSS/GPS #39 UEFI ResetSystem() crashes #41Various other issues can be expected, see the issue tracker for details.
Yeah I kinda figured that, just did a quick Google search and found that.
I’ve got a dell xps15, awesome Linux experience no issues with any hardware. Also think pads are great as well.
The problem I have is that this covers a very niche use case for me. I want it to be a tablet - lightweight etc, but not be constrained by mobile apps. I don’t want iOS’ version of lightroom, I want to have Darktable and Rawtherapee and a full fledged Visual Studio code, and well, you get the picture.
I don’t need a laptop because I also have a MacBook Pro - I went this way because Apple’s processors are too far ahead to ignore. So I can take AMD but my opinion is that intel’s offerings are just not competitive and I’m not buying any of them.
This leaves me with very few options - I’d be keen on buying an AMD-powered Ubuntu tablet but they don’t seem to exist.
And also my surface works perfectly fine, so spending a non-trivial amount of money and ewaste just to change OS seems rather silly. I’m sticking to that one for now.
Yep all very good points! I think Linux will catch up with the mobile processors soon.
they worked so hard to gain goodwill in the last few years
I have no recollection of this.
If only I could install it on the Surface Pro X…
I’m not surprised that you can’t, but I’m still disappointed.
Why wait? Install it now. I would recommend Mint as a beginner distro.
Why do people keep recommending Mint as a starter distro? Maybe if your computer is a toaster, but it lacks tons of modern features. Seems like a one way track to people thinking Linux sucks. Fedora KDE edition is a way better beginner distro for a halfway decent PC.
I use Mint and I like it. It does everything I need it to do.
What keeps people away from Linux, or at least it helped keep me away, were people arguing with each other about distros like a mini-OS war within the OS wars and it makes the whole thing sound like it’s a lot more trouble than it’s worth.
Most people’s computers are “toasters” because most people’s computers are used for things like web browsing, word processing and maybe a few games. They don’t need the modern features, they need something that works better than a Chromebook and isn’t super bloated.
Do you know what also keeps people away from Linux? Being told that Linux Mint is a good distro for beginners, and then going to the Linux Mint website and finding that there are three different flavors, Cinnamon, XFCE, and MATE, and not knowing what any of that means because you’re a beginner. Beginners don’t benefit from incomplete information that requires prior knowledge, and every time I see “use Linux Mint” without any clarification on Desktop Environments, I see a jerk who doesn’t know what “beginner” means.
As someone who did exactly this, the differences are spelled out pretty clearly for “Linux beginners”. System reqs and included features all there to read…
Because the UI is similar to windows, so it will feel more familiar to (ex-)windows users
The UI is similar to Windows.
Which UI? Linux Mint comes in three flavors: Cinnamon, XFCE, and MATE.
Nobody has suggested a specific flavor, and those desktop environments vary quite a bit.
True, I meant cinnamon, which (IIRC) was the default/suggested to you when you went to the website.
It isn’t default or suggested. It says that it is the “most popular”, but my point is that if you’re making a beginner choose a desktop environment before they even install Linux, you’re setting them up to be overwhelmed.
who are these adult humans who can’t face choices? I don’t really understand how or why they even chose their PC in the first place.
It sounds like such people will be a lot better off with android or mac, or windows or chromebook. If they want to do games get a console.
It’s sort of like if a person has no enthusiasm for or interest in cars, they might be better off with a rental.
if you really want to make another version of something like chromeos for this audience, there is nothing stopping you. But the free/foss open source world is always going to have choices that bamboozle these people who can’t look at the mint website and pick one, or just resolve to test all three.
KDE is closer to the modern Windows UI than Cinnamon. Cinnamon looks like Windows XP which nobody has used in like a decade. It’s not a familiar UI anymore.
Noted, thank you!
The next version of Mint is in beta right now and will likely release within a few weeks. Might want to hold off until then.
Or OpenSUSE Thumbleweed. Or OpenSUSE Slowroll.
How does that compare to mint?
I did not use mint, so it is hard to compare for me. But people say that it is easier to use than mint.
To be honest I used Tumbleweed long time ago(around 6 years), I’m using Gentoo for last 6 years.
I just switched one of my PCs to Linux mint. I am not that smart with computers. I have never used Linux before. I have no experience in changing operating systems. All I did was buy a flash drive stick and used my phone to go to Mints website and follow their directions. That was a month ago. It was a great decision. Mint is amazing and im glad I did it. I am currently getting ready to switch both my wife and my gaming computers over to Mint as well.
Will believe it when it happens.
Have you considered that you don’t know me?
It’s not personal. I’ve just seen hundreds of people claim “that’s it, I’m installing Linux on my system tonight/this weekend!” In response to one of these articles. Very rarely do people seem to actually follow through.
If you do, great! Although already putting it off until your next system isn’t a good sign.
I’ve been vassilating on it for a couple years, actually. I was going to do it when I built a PC (I just had a laptop for college) but then my parents bought one for me while I was in the middle of figuring out what parts to get with my sister’s help. It’s probably my fault for telling them about it around my b.day, tbf. 😂 I used a partitioned system that she helped set up for me 10 years ago or something like that, but I wanted to make one that was just a Linux PC, and for the past few years the idea of installing Linux on my current computer just never occurred to me because my plan became obsolete. The brain is a funny thing.
Nice!
Damn, thats some google level behavior.
What the fuck, MIcrosoft.
No, it’s standard corp level behavior that’s beholden to government censorship and propaganda when it doesn’t fit the narrative. You can substitute any big tech company in the US for Google. They all do this. It’s why the government is not a fan of TikTok, they don’t have that same level of control over the flow of information.
that and it is quite literally spyware that sends all the consumer data to the CCP where they can adjust their own algorithms to show things that can sway the minds of people too young to think critically
it is quite literally spyware
So are Facebook and Instagram, which are apparently not a problem. Remember Cambridge Analytica?
where they can adjust their own algorithms to show things that can sway the minds of people too young to think critically
Every social media platform does this for maximum retention
to the CCP
What’s the CCP gonna do with it that’s worse than what Western companies do with it?
deleted by creator
they can adjust their own algorithms to show things that can sway the minds of people too young to think critically
Ironic. You’re literally commenting on companies adjusting their algorithm to create a narrative and censor something your government doesn’t like.
Think critically next time. You’re not smart as you think you are.
Yeah what are people going to do when Google starts banning accounts for using ad blockers?
That’s probably when I’ll finish de-Googling entirely.
All of these are a shit stain from the same asshole of corporate USA
What the fuck, MIcrosoft.
Ok, honest question. Are you surprised?
If it was any other company I would be. But it’s Microsoft.
Yes.
I’m no microsoft fanboy, but I am shocked that they would do this. Everyone should be shocked. To be anything but shocked is to be complacent.
This is the kind of shit google does on the regular, Never heard of Microsoft doing anything like this before.
And as I’ve said in response to instances of google doing this, I’ll say it again here. This continues to highlight the dangers of having all your eggs in one companies basket, by choosing comfort and convenience you’ve given your entire digital life over to a company that has no compunctions against metaphorically guillotining it for any reason they want.
This continues to highlight the dangers of having all your eggs in one companies basket, by choosing comfort and convenience you’ve given your entire digital life over to a company that has no compunctions against metaphorically guillotining it for any reason they want.
I agree. Which is why I don’t use anything Microsoft. Even in software projects I go out of my way to not use a single Microsoft dependency or library.
I self-host my own photo auto-upload with Nextcloud. I don’t use Windows. I’m forced to use MS stuff at my work but I managed to get the company-wide policy changed to allow anyone to use Linux or Mac, so I’m running Ubuntu.
I’ve also been working up the effort to ditch stock Android and go with GrapheneOS.
They don’t want the stories of the Israeli atrocities commited in Gaza to be leaked to the world.
Stallman was right again.
Always has been.
I don’t understand why it’s so mainstream to equate Palestine with Hamas. It’s as if there is an actual conspiracy going on to to support this genocide. Is it because it’s so easy to say you’re antiemetic if you oppose “the Jews”?
It’s completely normalized racism. America has been institutionalizing Islamophobia for years to justify their invasions of the Middle East where we kill millions of
innocent civilians“terorrists”Before the 2000’s a lot of that manufactured hate was directed towards Asians because we needed to justify war crimes in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos etc.
Early in 2001, the commission presented a report to the incoming G.W. Bush administration warning that terrorism would be the nation’s greatest national security problem, and saying that unless the United States took proper protective measures a terrorist attack was likely within its borders. Neither the president nor the vice president nor any other senior official from the new administration took time to meet with the commission members or hear about their findings.
The commission had 14 members, split 7-7, Republican and Democrat, as is de rigeur for bodies of this type. Today Hart told me that in the first few meetings, commission members would go around the room and volunteer their ideas about the nation’s greatest vulnerabilities, most urgent needs, and so on.
At the first meeting, one Republican woman on the commission said that the overwhelming threat was from China. Sooner or later the U.S. would end up in a military showdown with the Chinese Communists. There was no avoiding it, and we would only make ourselves weaker by waiting. No one else spoke up in support.
The same thing happened at the second meeting – discussion from other commissioners about terrorism, nuclear proliferation, anarchy of failed states, etc, and then this one woman warning about the looming Chinese menace. And the third meeting too. Perhaps more.
Finally, in frustration, this woman left the commission.
“Her name was Lynne Cheney,” Hart said. “I am convinced that if it had not been for 9/11, we would be in a military showdown with China today.” Not because of what China was doing, threatening, or intending, he made clear, but because of the assumptions the Administration brought with it when taking office. (My impression is that Chinese leaders know this too, which is why there are relatively few complaints from China about the Iraq war. They know that it got the U.S. off China’s back!)
So what you’re saying is: Lynne Cheney has been wrong for 23 years so far.
Plenty of folks on here have bought into the China Boogeyman narrative. Her family’s propaganda has been devastatingly effective. We likely will be at war with China in another generation, given our current trajectory.
China isn’t blameless. Factory and camp narratives aside, their naval actions are bellicose.
their naval actions are bellicose
The atrocities that western nations have had to commit to keep a foothold in places like Osaka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, and India really disqualify any of these folks from claiming another country is “bellicose”. We’re still out in Oceania committing genocides of native peoples, to this day.
That’s before you get into some belly-aching about a Chinese warship sailing through the Straight of Taiwan, as though its not American property.
Hahaha. First of all this is old, there’s not any bases in Afghanistan anymore. Second, this is the same propaganda Russia runs with about NATO. They do belligerent stuff and then complain when their neighbors ask the country with a bigger stick for protection. Also, did someone include HK in this graphic? I know there’s lots of US bases in the Pacific, but I think someone is gilding the lily.
But also no, it’s not just about sailing a ship through Taiwanese waters. We do the same thing to China all the time, just to remind them that under international law that’s okay.
It’s conducting war games that completely surround Taiwan.
It’s claiming a ridiculous area for it’s EEZ, far larger than international law allows and completely disregarding any potential EEZ for other countries in the area.
It’s sinking fishing vessels in international water
It’s hacking the government systems of it’s neighbors
The list goes on…
Why would China engage in military conflict with the USA when they can just sit back and watch the USA collapse on its own?
Because a good solid shove can always make a collapse happen earlier.
Without America the Palestine people would have starved to death years ago. Their own Arabian brothers won’t even help them. America doesn’t need to institionalize islamaphobia when they do it themselves. You can look into any Islam media and you would find they actively burn u.s. flags on state media and call for our destruction. Nothing was needed to justify your made up war crimes in any of those countries because they all started the wars. Japan bombed pearl harbor. North Korea invaded South Korea. Vietnam Gulf of tonkin. Etc etc.
Lol fuck off with that hard angle, also the Gulf of Tonkin was a false flag.
The fun thing with Tonkin is it doesn’t even need to be a false flag, it can credibly be explained by a bad radar return. I don’t know which is is a worse basis to get 400,000 Americans Killed? (Including Agent Orange and Suicide numbers)
Haha that was funny. Mentioning the Gulf of Tonkin incident as justification for war and really meaning it
Without America, Palestine would be united and free by now. A single multicultural country from the river to the sea that can recognize and celebrate its diverse people and history. Instead though we have a genocidal European colony.
Without America the Palestine people would have starved to death years ago. Their own Arabian brothers won’t even help them.
Iran won’t help Palestine, but also Iran is the shadowy hand behind Hamas.
Egypt won’t help Palestine, but the CIA/MI5 need to coup the elected government every decade or three when it gets to Muslim Brotherhood-y.
Lebanon won’t help Palestine, but Israel says there are tunnels into Gaza from Lebanon so they need to start bombing again.
Turkyie won’t help Palestine, but the IDF had to murder Turkish aid workers in 2010 to prevent their aid flotilla from reaching the shore.
So Palestinians are Hamas?
Why is Iran not helping Fatah?
Their support of Hamas is on ideological grounds. Israel is holy waqf land that belongs to Muslims and should be cleansed from Jews.Even when Egypt had sovereignty over Gaza they made sure to prevent Palestinians from going to Egypt.
Tunnels from Lebanon… to Gaza…? Where’d you read that?
Hezbollah begun bombing Israel in support of Hamas. They’re also funded by Iran (much more than Hamas though).
Meanwhile Palestinians live in camps in Lebanon. Some of those walled and surrounded by watchtowers.
They have less rights there than anyone else (including refugees and migrant workers), despite living there for 3 generations at this point.Turkey under Erdogan has been mostly hosting Hamas leaders while bombing Kurds in Syria.
I don’t think much needs to be said about Assad.
The only country in the area which actually helped Palestinians was Jordan. Although that also changed for a while after Black September.
Most of UNRWA’s funding over the years has come from the EU and USA.
Israel is holy waqf land that belongs to Muslims and should be cleansed from Jews.
That’s crazy because I’ve heard Israelis assert the exact opposite.
Most of UNRWA’s funding over the years has come from the EU and USA.
There’s a certain dramatic irony in funding UNRWA, paying Israel to bomb UNRWA, and then claiming you’re the only folks providing aid to Palestinians.
That’s crazy because I’ve heard Israelis assert the exact opposite.
Yes, religious extremists exist also in Israel.
There’s a certain dramatic irony in funding UNRWA, paying Israel to bomb UNRWA, and then claiming you’re the only folks providing aid to Palestinians.
I’m not the one who wrote USA is the only one providing aid.
What you quoted is the reality. The bulk of the funding over the years has been from the USA and the EU.
He’s really bad at sarcasm. He’s trying to point out the inconsistencies.
Iran won’t help Palestine, but also Iran is the shadowy hand behind Hamas.
Your point being what? That they fund Hamas so they’re helping?
Egypt won’t help Palestine, but the CIA/MI5 need to coup the elected government every decade or three when it gets to Muslim Brotherhood-y.
Somehow Egypt helps them by having secret govt backed coups? Instead they could have just taken in refugees but why would they do that? They’ll just have a coup instead.
Lebanon won’t help Palestine, but Israel says there are tunnels into Gaza from Lebanon so they need to start bombing again.
So Lebanon helps the Palestine people by building tunnels where Hamas stored weapons and hostages?
Turkyie
I recall the Turkish police raiding those same charity offices accusing them of being linked to Islamic terrorists.
Your point being what? That they fund Hamas so they’re helping?
Uh… Literally yes. Palestinian Islamist resistance is the only notable resistance movement in Palestine.
Somehow Egypt helps them by having secret govt backed coups? Instead they could have just taken in refugees but why would they do that? They’ll just have a coup instead.
My man the Egyptian government is an American puppet what are you talking about?
So Lebanon helps the Palestine people by building tunnels where Hamas stored weapons and hostages?
Literally yes. See above.
LO-fuckin-L at using Gulf of Tonkin, a well known false flag operation meant solely to draw the US into a protracted conflict we had no business being in. 🤡
I mean sure maybe the August 4th incident was overblown but the August 2nd 1964 incident did happen where our ship was attacked by Vietnam torpedo boats. Maybe you get attacked and don’t do shit at all about it who is the real clown there?
Ohhhh got it, only one false flag attack was committed by the US. That means the war in Vietnam was justified.
To be clear regarding “false flag” operations for anyone unaware: this entails attacking our own military in order to provide spurious cassus belli to enter a conflict we had no valid reason to enter. In this case, a civil war on the other side of the planet, in a bay we should never have been in to begin with.
How stupid does a person need to be to think that, not only was the war in Vietnam justified, but that the Gulf of Tonkin false flag incident is that justification?
Vietnam torpedo boats attacked our ship on August 2 1964. Deny that fact as much as you want. Our ship was in international waters when attacked. There were multiple justifications to get in that war I don’t really care to get into them. Tldr: We help our allies and protect democracy in the region.
We help our allies and protect democracy in the region.
LMAO. Your military protects interests of the billionaires and their economy. It has fuck all to do about democracy.
But keep guzzling whatever you already are, those braincells aren’t going to repeat propaganda by itself.
🤡 👟👟
You heard it here first folks, war crimes don’t exist if they burn your flag!
You can look into any Islam media and you would find they actively burn u.s. flags on state media and call for our destruction.
Well yes. Do you have any idea how much US neo-colonialism has harmed the Middle East over the past 70 years? Your country supports ISIS for fuck’s sake go touch some grass.
Also why do you think their Muslim brothers won’t help them? Surely not because most of the Arab world is run by American puppets.
I don’t understand why it’s so mainstream to equate Palestine with Hamas
Decades of Islamophobic propaganda combined with a strong American economic interest in Israel might have played a role.
Basically we spent 20 years fighting “terrorists”. So now it’s really easy to paint one side or the other as the “terrorists”. And thanks to Islamophobia pushed by mainstream TV shows and Movies, if you get painted as a “terrorist” then everyone in your country is also a “terrorist”.
The word is in quotes because very few of the groups fought by regular forces (regular infantry as opposed to special operations) were actually international militant NGOs like Al Qaeda. Mostly they were local militias mad at the coalition forces for their own reasons, like “Why did you kill my kid in an airstrike!?!”, or “I like the Taliban because they pay me really good for the poppy you torched. Also, you torched my livelihood in a country that has no safeguards against starving to death.” And even the Taliban, ridiculously evil bastards that they are, were never an AQ like group. They were concerned solely with taking back Afghanistan.
All of this nuance was lost on anyone who didn’t read the actual reports coming out of these countries though and many of those reports were classified. So all most people got was their favorite action and/or police drama shoveling the idea that all muslims are terrorists. With a side of Fox News villifying any brown people they could find.
So now, Israel walks in, sees all this, screams “terrorist!” and shoots the nearest Gazan kid. Predictable results were predicted many times by academic scholars.
I don’t understand why it’s so mainstream to equate Palestine with Hamas.
Because the mainstream is unironically ignorant of the true political and social state of Palestinian society. They don’t realise that Hamas is an extremist Palestinian political party, while the actual moderate Palestinian faction worthy of support is the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. Show them this Wikipedia page of the ongoing civil war among Palestinians and you’d get cricket noises from the average perpetually online mainstream.
Gaza is controlled by the Hamas, while the West Bank is controlled by PLO/Fatah. But no one in the mainstream in the Twiterrati, Facebook and other social media will know that, because they get junk food information from fake news and propaganda or their own bubble in those social platforms.
The PLO was voted out in Gaza because they were nothing but Israeli puppets. They actually lost the entire election, but Israel and the US blocked Hamas from taking control of the government in West Bank too. And now there’s this narrative that Hamas violently seized power without acknowledging that there was an election and the result was not honored without that seizure.
The PLO isn’t worth supporting at all. It’s worth tearing down and starting over.
Many Palestinian protests have people cosplaying Hamas and waving Hamas flags.
Hanging out with people that like to dress up as a member of a group that wants to kill Jews makes someone a little antisemitic I think.
Denying that there’s an antisemitism problem in the Palestinian movement doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. In fact that’s the sort of attitude that allows it to persist.
Denying that there’s an antisemitism problem in the Palestinian movement doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Uh… Did you expect them to not be antisemitic? I mean it’s not a good thing but what other outcome did you expect from 75 years of Apartheid and genocide?
That aside, Hamas is the only viable resistance group in Palestine, other than maybe PIJ (which is more extremist). What do you expect them to do?
Edit: Oh I misread and thought they were talking about the resistance movement in Palestine. Nevermind this guy is just making shit up.
Please point to where the anti Israeli movement hates All Arab and Hebrew speakers?
Jews are not the only semites and yes everything I’ve seen in the US is directed at the country, not the people.
Jews are not the only semites
Okay this only really works as a gotcha. It doesn’t do anything to address the point being made. That aside,
Please point to where the anti Israeli movement hates All Arab and Hebrew speakers?
I misread their comment and thought they were talking about Palestinian resistance in Palestine, not the worldwide Anti-Zionist movement so nevermind anything I said up there.
It is a gotcha, but it’s also important to understanding Israel’s victim propaganda. They’re not being truthful. They’re trying to paint any opposition as racist.
Do you ignore the majority of Palestinians support Hamas? It’s factual reality the majority of Palestinians democratically voted and elected Hamas which ran on a destroy Israel agenda. In reality they asked and started this war due to that election. It’s not because it’s so easy to say they are antisemitic it’s because it is factually correct to say it.
So all Americans are dickheads because Trump won democratically in 2016?
What if you changed that statement to all conservatives instead of all Americans? Because not all conservatives support Trump or voted for him in 2016. But he is now representative of them.
Like. Hamas wouldn’t exist without the actions of Israel. And that is exactly why so many Palestinians have thrown their support behind Hamas. But that doesn’t mean Palestinians, Hamas, or even conservative Americans are a monolith.
The point is rather that the group is being labeled in such a way to discredit efforts to give Palestinians the human rights everyone should have. It’s the same thing that happened with the Black Community in the US and the black Panthers. This has been a thing for centuries with just about every grass roots or guerilla militia in existence. At some point if you buck the ruling classes power, you become a target and the propaganda follows.
I don’t know why you replied to me.
I agree with you is impossible to say ALL people from a country is something based on who wins a election. Sometimes the winning candidate doesn’t have the majority if you count the opposition + people who do not vote.
My original comment is sarcastic, it seems that I need to add /s to be clear.
Every sentence in your comment is another israeli propaganda lie. None of them are factually correct. Congrats on a new Hasbara record.
From river to sea, right? They can’t even make it past the river though.
They didn’t actually support Hamas in 2023, until Israel bombed them into the stone age and supported shifted. Which is the same phenomenon we’ve seen in every war with a massive bombing campaign since 1936. They did vote democratically, and that vote was blocked by Israel and the US. The platform though was a moderate one in which they drew a line between Israel and people. They very much want to destroy the country but they believe they can live with the people as long as there’s not an apartheid power structure. A line they still have in their doctrine today, a line people like you blithely ignore. Also that election was nearly 20 years ago. Are you admitting that Hamas and Israel were already at war? Usually the party line is there was peace and doves and olive trees until the barbarous Hamas blew it all up. And the people in Hamas are also semites. They are literally semites.
Do you ignore the majority of Palestinians support Hamas?
Imagine supporting the only viable resistance organization when you’re subjected to a slow-burn genocide. The humanity!
This guy answered “what would you do?” with “enthusiastically support the Nazis”
Probably the first time they have paid attention to Skype.
Meanwhile we get banned here for saying war crimes bad.
Here? On Lemmy? Where did you get banned for saying that?
Imaginationland.
Hexbear and Lemmy.ml
How dare you speak ill of Daddy War Crimes
I’ve mostly seen comment removals. Mods seem to use the option to remove comments instead of the downvote button… I tried to make a forum for mod abuse and discussions about how forums are moderated, but so far nobody is using it.
Post to !mods@sopuli.xyz if you notice patterns of that sort of thing, maybe we can get it going.
I have some notes:
None of what you’ve posted in that community includes enough context for me to make an informed opinion about the mod actions themselves.
The first post you made 7 months ago includes a screenshot, but it doesn’t include the OP, so I have no idea what the Mod is even reacting to. For all I know I might agree with them. You also say it is on the “main meme sub”, but I have no idea what that means, you really need to indicate the exact community you are talking about.
The next two posts don’t include anything tangible. No screenshots, no permalinks, not even usernames for the allegedly misbehaving mods. Only one of them actually says what community you’re talking about.
None of what you’ve posted so far constitutes a “pattern” either. You’re mostly just complaining about one-off disagreements that you’ve had with Mods. This isn’t really doing anything to help hold mods accountable.
And in your posts so far, you make a lot of extremely suspect complaints:
In your first post you claim that a mod removed a meme for being “not funny to feminists”, which kinda sounds like code for “sexist meme”. You then go on to say that the mod “is surprisingly tolerant for a feminist”.
In your second post you say that a mod “removed comments that weren’t feminist”, and sarcastically bemoan “so much for politics”.
In your third post claim that a mod removed a comment for “not voting left”, but then go on to complain that others in the thread (not mods) called this person a Nazi. I don’t see what any of the other users comments have to do with anything if your goal is to hold mods responsible, but it’s also fairly telling that you think being called a Nazi is disagreeable, but won’t provide the context…
Quite frankly you come across as a anti-feminist shitlord who has decided to be a busybody and make a whole community for you to be butthurt about feminist and anti-fascists mods. The reason nobody else contributes to the community you started is because you’ve set the bar so miserably low.
Those are great notes, thank you! It’s kind of a low-effort community though, I must confess. I figured if more people wanted to be part of it, it could become more serious with better formatting. Since that hasn’t happened, I just threw in some stuff now and then to have any content at all.
Quite frankly you come across as a anti-feminist shitlord who has decided to be a busybody and make a whole community for you to be butthurt about feminist and anti-fascists mods. The reason nobody else contributes to the community you started is because you’ve set the bar so miserably low.
But yeah, you’re right that might have meant I set the bar low. I was never much of a content creator. As for anti-feminism, yeah I am anti feminist. Not because I don’t support and respect womens rights, but because under the guise of feminism, men become second-class citizens, due to the unfaultering belief that women always deserve more, and that being a man is a sin that should be punished. But that’s not what the community is about. Anybody is free to post there.
You can’t say war crimes are bad, because that helps Trump win. Trump will do more war crimes. Ergo, saying war crimes are bad means you’re in favor of war crimes.
You can’t say war crimes are bad, because that helps Trump win.
So am I supposed to root for Putin now?
That phrase reminds me of a book worth a read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21935933-keep-rootin-for-putin
You need to root for Joe Biden, because he is the only man who has ever beaten Donald Drumpf.
If you are not rooting for Joe Biden, you are anti-American.
Can I root for Bernie and begrudgingly vote for Biden at least? This lesser of two old white evils shit is exhausting
Nobody is stopping you.
Removed by mod
Just eat more pineapple.
Everything in this comment is true.
Just missing something about Nazis and voting for blue colors.
Guess that officially adds Microsoft to the BDS list? Unless it’s already on the list.
BDS?
Boycott Divest Sanction
Good luck? They effectively have a monopoly on large portions of the market.
Have to start somewhere, for example, instead of throwing a Microsoft based PC at your kids to do their school work, have them use Linux. Phase Microsoft products out of your homes/lives.
Microsoft are terrorists.
Microsoft is a private company and they can ask you to leave, no reason given, anytime.
And they have a history of over 30 years of being evil, manipulative and anticonsumer. If you base your online life on the good will of Microsoft you will be very disappointed sooner or later.
Uh so where do we go for email that’s not a private company and not something that requires tech knowledge to setup your own email server?
Where do i buy a car that’s not a private company? Where do I get internet service?
You can’t. Choose a reputable one. And pay for it, so you are a customer, not the product. Aaaaand I lost 95% of lemmy.
Nowadays we are the customer and the product. Paying doesn’t guarantee you anything.
Of course it doesn’t, I said that just above. Gets you a better chance tho.
don’t ever forget that microsoft is evil
As if I needed another reason to hate Microsoft.
Time to build federated alternatives.
To email? Has being possible to host your own email server for decades. Don’t need to over complicate it with federation, also what would that even look like?
No, Skype.
Email is the original federated social network.
better do not hate, just make them irrelevant for yourself.
NOT hating is good for health and not depend on abusers is good for you too ;-)
It’s all to stop terrorism!
So much bs in the name of justice is just laziness
Fuck Microsoft and all Big Tech corporations
