circuscritic

The Confederate statues were errected during the Jim Crow era, and memorializing those men wasn't their primary purpose. It was to remind those uppity coloreds that they were still living in the white man's world, and they best not forget that, or their place in it.

I can't speak to the specifics of the monuments taken down in El Salvador, and whether their destruction more closely mirrors Nazi book burnings, or the destruction of Jim Crow Confederate statues.

My point, sarcastic as it was, was that the tearing down of monuments should be judged on their own individual merits, because there isn't one right answer.

I agree with everything you said, until the end, but only because it's inaccurate.

He's casting a very wide net, that a lot of innocent people have been caught in.

Now, given the circumstances that might be understandable, and it seems that a majority of their voting citizens believe that's an acceptable cost.

I'm not going to cast any moral judgement on them for that, but I think we should be honest about the totality of his policies.

We shouldn't lie and call him a dictator, but we also shouldn't lie and say that only criminals have been caught up in his policing actions.

I agree, I'm also ashamed that my country has been tearing down our monuments. They're real historical and shit to, going back a couple hundred years I reckon.

Well, they were only put up in the last century, but they celebrated the lives of men from the 1800s.

Yessir, a real impressive group of guys, a confederation of great men, if you will.

And like you said, when countries tear down their monuments, it's a real bad sign. I couldn't agree more, that is a universal truth.

If he doesn't, and he retains power, only then are we at a dictatorship.

Duarte wasn't a dictator, but that doesn't change the fact that he oversaw an epic extrajudicial bloodbath during his term.

Point is, words matter and there are plenty of impactful words to describe the situation in El Salvador that are accurate, let's use those ones.

Everyone here is acting like a dictatorship is worse than gangland anarchy, it's not. Nor has he reached dictator status, yet.

That DOESN'T mean dictators are good, or that this can't get worse, but context matters.

Saying Team USA doesn't get government funding is inaccurate.

It's not a holistic nationalized system like many other countries have, but that doesn't mean Team USA athletes and athletic programs aren't direct recipients of government financial support.

For example:

Team USA athletes have access to some of the best training facilities and coaching teams in the world, many of which get direct, or indirect government funding e.g. grants, subsidies, tax incentives, etc.

On a side note, that's a great graphic. I was going to mention the hole in the wall in my other comment, but I was too lazy to go grab a source. Kudos.

The issue wasn't athletes cheating individually. The issue was that Russia had a state sponsored doping program from top to bottom. That is significantly different than one off athletes, or one off coaches.

War crimes have nothing to do with honor, and everything to do with horror. It's product of statecraft, not a code chivalry.

Also, white phosphorus is a legal illumination munition, but becomes illegal/warcrime when used as an incendiary device. It has nothing to with asphyxiation, or chemical warfare.

The border towns had armed security and IDF soldiers lived within them. Does that make them legitimate targets as well?

Pretty sure you mean his mommy dearest, Pinky MacArthur.

I only play 5d chess.

"Ukraine sunk their battleship, so why hasn't the war ended?"

If you're going to insist on learning the realities of war from a boardgame, at least use Risk.