69 million page views

Discrepant Punctuation

Reader comment on item: Debate about possible war between Israel and Hamas

Submitted by Joel M Miller (United States), Nov 13, 2012 at 18:20

Daniel -

You reasonably declined to get into a contest of "who hit who first" (sometimes called the problem of "discrepant punctuation"), to focus on what's happening now and what's likely to follow. But the image of an overwhelming wrong committed in the past, sustained by crass power, tolerated by an uncaring world, and in urgent need of redress, is enormously compelling to most people, who are simply not going to examine circumstances closely. It's probably worthwhile to develop succinct and emotionally appealing explanations of Israel's historic and legal claims, the moral difference between offensive and defensive war (and the consequent legality of territorial claims), the sorts of societies that are in conflict in the ME, etc.

Do you know "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt? His analysis of the multiple psychological foundations of morality is eye-opening, and goes a long way to explaining why even half-crazed rants (backed by inflammatory stock imagery!) tend to win over reasoned argument. Basically, according to Haidt, an appeal to "Care/harm" (of individuals) covers most of what Westerners feel as morality, with "Freedom/opression" covering most of the rest. These themes were, of course, beaten to death by "Gaza" and "London". (A caveat: Haidt's multiculturalist conclusions from his analysis seem not to follow at all - his lefty-liberal past are not as far behind him as he imagines).

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (41) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
2Ah yes, stupid fury. [95 words]AHHH...noDec 3, 2012 11:31201125
Prophectically Speaking [127 words]TomDec 4, 2012 05:08201125
the story has a continuation to it [76 words]slayhyDec 12, 2012 20:33201125
Minds of the Debaters [186 words]Stephen B.Nov 24, 2012 10:57200905
The Palestinians elected Hamas [571 words]Lujack SkylarkNov 20, 2012 02:11200805
1The Truce [253 words]TomNov 22, 2012 13:52200805
1"human rights" for the murderers [82 words]BenNov 17, 2012 12:24200736
1Hamas can stop the bloodshed today! [41 words]RobinozNov 15, 2012 17:19200653
2Robinoz is absolutely correct [113 words]PrashantNov 17, 2012 01:07200653
Debate?? [17 words]zabaNov 14, 2012 02:23200568
usual anti semitism coming from England [13 words]TrevorNov 13, 2012 21:22200561
The IRA are still a terrorist organisation [78 words]Peter, ScotlandNov 13, 2012 18:36200547
Firing tiny rockets at the 4th largest military in the world would be INSANITY [169 words]Abu NudnikNov 13, 2012 18:34200546
Liars [19 words]Abu NudnikNov 13, 2012 18:24200541
Discrepant Punctuation [223 words]Joel M MillerNov 13, 2012 18:20200540
Poor Palestinian's. & their supporters. [257 words]Gerald KreadenNov 13, 2012 18:08200539
discussion scripted? [78 words]mythNov 13, 2012 17:35200537
2bravo Mr Pipes [96 words]Anne JulienneNov 13, 2012 17:01200533
just a clarification [55 words]Anne JulienneNov 14, 2012 21:16200533
Nothing new was learned [165 words]Nick WiesenfeldNov 13, 2012 16:46200527
10Outrageous is an understatement [119 words]Michael Hanni MorcosNov 13, 2012 16:26200525
Vile Propaganda Aimed at Israel [84 words]jan deierlingNov 13, 2012 16:23200524
11Too Late to be Fair [336 words]BeatrixNov 13, 2012 16:01200523
10Passionate but Ignorant of History and Facts [159 words]LilyNov 13, 2012 15:50200522
Practising what you preach [207 words]Amin RiazNov 14, 2012 18:09200522
2Ignorance [87 words]Irvin ShiffmanNov 14, 2012 20:24200522
Evidence? [170 words]Amin RiazNov 14, 2012 20:49200522
3Israel vs the Islamic world [286 words]PrashantNov 15, 2012 01:21200522
Israel the best country [26 words]AnDec 30, 2013 05:16200522
9Arab-Israel Conflict [108 words]Ilbert A. PhillipsNov 13, 2012 15:35200521
What would happen to Israeli's should Hamas have its' way? [206 words]Verne SimonNov 13, 2012 16:50200521
1Anti American , Anti Israeli [83 words]Irvin ShiffmanNov 13, 2012 18:33200521
Israel wasnt Westbank [153 words]Amin RiazNov 14, 2012 19:39200521
Who Owns Palestine [349 words]Ilbert A. PhillipsNov 14, 2012 23:39200521
9Crocodile tears [71 words]Lee KaplanNov 13, 2012 14:42200519
Go figure. [124 words]Amin RiazNov 14, 2012 18:13200519
5Your replies are simply lies and disinformation. [418 words]Lee KaplanNov 14, 2012 20:31200519
Evidence? [651 words]Amin RiazNov 14, 2012 21:34200519
1Evidence and reply to Amin Riaz and his propaganda [1352 words]Lee KaplanNov 15, 2012 20:16200519
Amin Riaz - your opinion is worthless [28 words]SteveNov 19, 2012 08:36200519
Cop out [27 words]Lee KaplanNov 19, 2012 23:13200519

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)