forgive me for phrasing "at least they didn't drop a nuke" in a way you felt is appropriate.jfish26 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2023 2:23 pmMore hyperbole.ousdahl wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2023 2:08 pm Dude, again, I’m not going for hyperbole! I think the word applies!
You’re doubling down on semantics and fussing about “hyperbole” and giving all the benefit of the doubt to a radical militant ethno-religious gummint, trying to argue they’re being at least somewhat discriminating by offering the evidence that…
…wait for it…
at least they didn’t drop a nuke.
But please, do go on about how I’m the hyperbolic one.
I explicitly set aside the ability Israel does have to level all of Gaza with nuclear weapons. It's right there in words and everything. I did that SO THAT no mistake could be made about what I meant by, "Israel clearly has capacity for doing a LOT more damage than it has chosen to do. Whether you like it or not, that means Israel is in fact being at least somewhat discriminating."
But now, hyperbolically, you straw man me by arguing against something I clearly and intentionally did not say. I did not say "at least they didn't drop a nuke." But, for whatever reason, you need to say that I said that, in order to make the point you want to make.
This is EXACTLY why I said that hyperbole weakens and cheapens your points. If you have to resort to hyperbole (or straw man arguments), it suggests you need rhetorical tricks to make your points. I don't think you do. And so I wish you wouldn't.
what you did say, copy-and-pasted verbatim, is this:
I read that as, you think Israel is in fact being at least somewhat discriminating (in their bombing of Gaza) because even setting aside the nuclear option, Israel clearly has capacity for doing a lot more damage than it has chosen to do.I will add, though, that even setting aside the literal nuclear option, Israel clearly has capacity for doing a LOT more damage than it has chosen to do. Whether you like it or not, that means Israel is in fact being at least somewhat discriminating.
So, forgive me if perhaps I took you as hyperbolic in mentioning even setting aside the nuclear option offered as fact that Israel is being at least somewhat discriminating in their attacks.