Some people, communicating via satellite phones, have described the attack as the “heaviest bombardment yet,” according to independent journalist Sharif Kouddous.
“People can’t call ambulances or civil defense. We are being bombed in an unprecedented manner,” said an unidentified journalist at a Gaza hospital, according to a translation by The Nation’s Palestinian correspondent, Mohammed El-Kurd. “The sky around us just lights up [with explosions], and no one knows what’s going on.”
Until I experienced violence myself, I was unwilling to process the logic or think it through. Then I lived a portion of my life where I was in physical danger from very bad people, and I was forced to think it through.
Being prepared to retaliate is the most effective defense against those who are not sympathetic to your needs, whom you cannot avoid. It’s why animals demo their weapons when cornered. It’s why plants “waste” energy producing toxins that harm would-be eaters.
Every organism has weapons, and evolution’s been optimizing for over a billion years. Like, a little flap of skin no longer used is selected out over the course of a million years because it provides a disadvantage against those not wasting the energy to grow the little flap of skin. But nature spends energy putting claws on kittens. Why?
It’s logical; it’s just ugly and unpleasant to acknowledge. The only time people acknowledge it is when their circumstances change such that not acknowledging it is worse. ie when they are faced with the necessity of dealing with violence.
Yes, bombing children is simply the way the world works. Nothing we can do to stop genocide I guess. /s