Melissa Louise
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Posts posted by Melissa Louise
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I'm not anti prep. It makes a lot of sense for people who live where they will regularly deal with short term disasters. I did some limited prep during Covid and swine flu.
I'm just very cynical about the ability of the average person to prep for WW3. Or for the long term effects of climate change.
And I guess it raises questions of how we use our time - maybe we should be out protesting against fossil fuels, for example, instead of canning. Idk.
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4 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:
It is always good to grow some of your own food, not only is it better for the environment, but just the process of gardening has huge mental health benifits. Getting food out of it is just the bonus.
Many people don't have the capacity to do this.
Personally, I have found that once labour, water, and soil remediation (ours is high in lead) is taken into account, it's more expensive to grow food than to buy it.
It's a great hobby for people with the space, soil, time. Agreed.
Also agreed that it has mental health effects for those who enjoy it.
It's just not going to help anyone survive WW3!
I am definitely pro-gardening (for other people) though.
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Just now, Terabith said:
I have TONS of empathy for Israel. Loads and loads.
I just also have empathy for the other people, too?
OK, well this just feels like fuel on the fire to me. I have explained that where I live, it is not the Jews who are safe on the streets, as per the police. That is the context in which I feel reactive. Suggesting that it's lack of compassion for Palestinian civilians is....OK. As I said, I'm out.
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OK, banning myself now, or trying to - I tried to get back on track re history resources. Don't really trust myself not to be reactive given context here as above.
Hope you get some more good resources, Terabith.
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1 minute ago, Heartstrings said:
There have been a lot of terrorism events globally in the past 20+ years, plus all sorts of other stuff. We were at war, we have a new school shooting every few days, etc. A terrorism event 6 years ago in another country is just not going to stick, any more than I expect people in Manchester to know what I mean if I say Columbine or Uvalde.
But we would know.
'We' being university educated women with an interest in current affairs.
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2 minutes ago, Terabith said:
Oooohh, that sounds awesome! Thank you!
You will see more books than you can responsibly buy 🙂 Just a heads up!
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1 minute ago, BronzeTurtle said:
It is not hard to believe that people don't know that much about this stuff.
The Manchester bombing was a major global news event that happened 6? years ago. A major American pop star was performing. And people don't remember it.
1948 and previous may as well be prehistoric.
I think it's really understandable people don't know much about the establishment of Israel as a modern nation state. History education is poor, generally, and I know from personal experience how many gaps I have. Many, so many.
I'm surprised people don't know about contemporary terror attacks, though. Bataclan interests me as a comparator - there was no hand-wringing about standing with the French people, or cities displaying the French flag etc. And yet, there is surely 'context' re Algeria. It is hard not to think that yet again, Israel is singled out as an exception to empathy.
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4 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:
If security was the goal then I’m not sure it was achieved. Settling the Jews in the midst of historical enemies doesn’t scream SECURITY to me. I’m sure security was a goal, but what about this location made them think it was meeting that goal, or could eventually meet that goal?
The world is full of historical enemies of the Jews, sadly.
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4 minutes ago, Terabith said:
Oh, for sure. Massive need for safety.
Existential need for safety + massive failure of the West to grapple with their own antisemitism.
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3 minutes ago, Terabith said:
I honestly have no idea what they should have done. It is entirely very possible that what they did absolutely was the best thing to do. I really don't have any opinions on the matter, because I am aware that my ignorance is vast and that this is a topic with many, many, many layers. And God knows the Jews absolutely needed a homeland after surviving extermination by the skin of their teeth. I just have a lot of confusion and questions.
I honestly think that it's a good idea to do an overview of world history of the region before trying to understand the detailed complexity. It's hard enough to assess sources for bias with an overview, let alone without one.
I really like the links above. I also did not get a great history education (though I did study Modern History), and I have appreciated filling in many gaps over time using those resources and more. More and more I think we need to understand all antecedents. For example, if you don't know anything about the Ottomans (I didn't, for a long time), how can you know anything about, say, the birth of Turkey as a nation state?
There is a site I really like called Five Reads. They have experts recommend five books on a topic - a mix of fiction and non-fiction. That can be a really good supplement to history studies. There will be Five Reads on Israel-Palestinians, I'm sure.
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2 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:
I’ve thought about that and I honestly don’t know, but it seems predictable that never ending war would be the result if this. At the very least this particular plan seems not great in hindsight.
Maybe this was the best option, but should have been approached slower or differently ? I don’t know, and feel limited in discussing it here instead of on the Politics bard.
I think we need to remember, speaking of context, of the reasons why there may have been a rush to find security for Jews, post WW11.
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https://www.facinghistory.org/
This is a good history site, aimed at secondary. I think you would like it, Terabith.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history
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2 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:
Never heard of them either. 🤷♀️
Perhaps I ought to have used Pulse attack as a comparator for Re'im.
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Just now, Heartstrings said:
I understand the basic historical machinations. I’ve just never fully understood why they thought it was such a great idea, or how they ever thought a peaceful resolution would come from it. A bunch of supposedly smart people just sort of said “nah, it’ll be fine, what could go wrong?” and we’re still living with it.
What do you think they should have done instead?
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Just now, Terabith said:
Currently googling Bataclan and Manchester. Honestly never heard of them. I mean, I knew Manchester was a city in England?
I also didn't know Khan had anything other than math and SAT prep. I should have figured they did though.
Two terrorist massacres that also took place at music events.
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I'm not being rude, but if people actually haven't studied much history, Khan Academy has free resources that give an overview of how, for example, the Middle East ended up where it is today.
Not talking about this thread, but I am struck by the lack of historical literacy among many - many, many people seem to believe that there has long been a nation-state called Palestine, and that Jews came and invaded this land and are now settler-colonialists. That's not correct.
ETA I think this is why history study is so important. We understand the past to better understand the present. Khan is good, it really is. I'd go back to ancient history and work my way through the history of the region from there.
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1 minute ago, kbutton said:
I’m with @regentrude on this for the most part, but I think it’s good to have basic camping equipment and some good options for fleeing (if given options) and for supplementing the food supply. Also weather.
I’ve thought of this scenario many times, especially since Ukraine was invaded.
I also feel rather helpless about meds and disasters—it’s become a lot of red tape to just get prescription medication on time without shortages much less to have it before a big storm. There is very little to be done about our need for them—genetic stuff, hereditary stuff, weird stuff (MCAS), and a fair amount of non-modifiable risk factors (history of pre-eclampsia, for instance) mean that other than maybe ADHD meds, we’re not going to be our best selves health-wise. I almost had a crisis this summer with OTC allergy meds that had at least a sudden and local shortage that I don’t recall facing other years. I can’t function without them, and there aren’t good substitutes.
Yes - our family too.
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You can't prep your way out of climate change, nor out of a world war.
Prep is useful for short term issues eg a weather event, where you can expect to be without access to normal resources for a few days/weeks.
I'd suggest that people with the capacity to prep for longer instead help their local communities prep for those short term issues - the ability to prepare for a weather event is a privilege that many people don't have.
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Going by yesterday's WTM discussion, this does belong in politics, unless you are literally just asking for sources for books by subject experts etc.
The other thread was locked.
As a bonus, if you discuss in politics, you won't attract our resident holocaust denier/Nazi.
However, I won't be reporting the thread. It's an extremely complex area of history, however, and I really hope it doesn't veer into falsehood and anti-Semitic tropes.
(I may be sensitive - men in a suburb 2 min from here were out celebrating Hamas' great victory with fireworks, pro-Palestinian marches went ahead last night with police warning Jewish people to stay home, people burning Israeli flag at the Opera House, man arrested for carrying an Israeli flag etc).
I do think it's interesting to compare how soon people were 'asking questions about context' after Bataclan, for example, or Manchester. There's always context. Be careful it doesn't become more about blaming the victims.
Blood barely dry in this particular terrorist massacre.
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26 minutes ago, Scarlett said:
This feels like an echo chamber, but there are still people who believe that the Word of God does not support practicing homosexuality. I don’t base my beliefs on what my kid or my sister or my brother or mother is feeling. I base it upon the word of God.
The OP wanted a church that doesn't practice homophobia, though.
So knowing there are plenty of people/churches that do doesn't really help her.
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Yeah, definitely some can live with what others can't.
I wouldn't go to a church that was 'working towards' gay equality, for example.
I'd choose a church that would marry my dd and be happy about it, because hey, it's 2023.
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5 minutes ago, Amira said:
A Jewish friend of mine who was in Gaza visiting his wife's family was able to fly out this morning, but they had to leave her parents behind. There really is no place safe to go in Gaza, and the vast majority of people living there can't leave. My friends had no idea yesterday why there were missiles coming down around them until they were able to get news reports.
I have Israeli and Palestinian friends, and I hate to think of what is happening there. I also have Filipina and American friends living in Israel now (although not in southern Israel, so they are currently out of harm's way).
The attacks by Hamas were absolutely horrific. I am concerned that many Palestinians are not really seeing how awful Hamas's actions were, and that this will not help the Palestinian cause at all.
I hope your friends and their families will be ok.
This last paragraph.
100%.
Israel will not allow itself to be destroyed.
Nobody should be cheering on the destruction of an (imperfect) democracy that provides refuge from one of humanities oldest and most enduring forms of prejudice and hatred.
Action predicated on the basis that it must be destroyed will not win human rights for Palestinians.
After Hamas murdered and desecrated the corpse of a young German woman, Germany is rethinking ALL its aid to the Palestinians.
How does that help Palestinian women and children?
I'm appalled that there were people in my city out celebrating Hamas last night. They had the same access to news I did. No decent human celebrates terror.
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6 minutes ago, Condessa said:
Though apparently they are sending out mass text messages to evacuate, first.
I think the problem is, there is nowhere safe to go.
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12 minutes ago, Starr said:
And now in retaliation civilian Highrises and communities are being bombed. 😞
What did Hamas expect?
Regardless of the justice of Palestinian human rights, Hamas knew this would be the outcome, not only for Israelis, but for ordinary Palestinians.
Terrorists cause terror, and it is indiscriminate.
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Remember predicting the pandemic? What about WWIII?
in The Chat Board
Posted
I am also terrible at it.
In a Zombie apocalypse, I'd be zombiefied in two minutes flat - I'm just not going to run, even for a zombie. I apply this sense of resignation to all major world-altering events.