What are Americans supposed to think about the conflict in Lebanon?

Question

One of my Lebanese-American friends is stuck in Beirut now because he went there on vacation. He went to school with me in Georgia my whole life. Also, I feel bad for those silly Jews because they want to have a country, even though everyone hates them. (I don't think Israel should have ever been made a country--they don't need a country; they could just as easily live in America.) But, Israel is a country, so why can't everyone just get over it? Why do people in the Middle East not just worry about buying a new sofa instead of fighting? What the hel is wrong with them? Do they need some diversity training or what? Please tell me--what is thisboy from Georgia supposed to think about the crazies over there?

Answer 1

Too many Americans don't think. They let the corporate media think for them.

Answer 2

You can't tell a nation what to think. But overall I think Americans are concerned for the Americans trapped in Lebanon. In the larger picture I hope that Americans are aware that this could further destabilize the Middle East and widening the conflicts there. This would be horrible and every Americans and person in the world should realize that. You need to be careful saying things like "silly Jews" this is the way Nazis used to talk.

As for your buy a sofa comment, you are lacking a lot of knowledge about this region. Things don't just heal and forget over there. The Middle East has history going back to 5000BC and most of it is thought of as still affecting the people of this region. Unlike the American way of thinking that 10 years ago was ancient history. In the Middle East time is much more fluid. People aren't interested in buy sofas since they are being blown apart! OR they are more interested in not being blown apart.

To the United States answers are too easy to the Middle East answers are meant to be debated and sometimes fought over for 100's of years.

PS gizathecat: great answer, I'm voting for you!

Answer 3

Middle Easterners for one thing don't think like people of Western European ancestry. The personality of people from the Medditerainean region is very "up" - hyper compared to us mellow Western Europeans.

Oh, and the Jewish people are not silly! That was a very biogoted thing to say, bigoted and ignorant!

The Lebanese Arabs are both Christian and Muslim. Their country has a weak government inflitrated by Hizbollah. Hizbollah is a puppet of Iran. Iran's leader, a very dangerous madman - a modern day Hitler has made it no secret he would like to see Israel wiped off the map.

The Muslim Arabs are trained from childhood to HATE anyone not of their faith. And the Shiia are taught from childhoood to hate Suni Muslims. Islam is not a very friendly religion. Muslims kill fellow Muslims all the time, but Al Jezzra won't air that dirty linen. For that matter neither will ABC, CBS or NBC or CNN.

Israel is in a fight for its existance. The Israeli government and military has every right to fight for a victory over the Islamo-facists. The terrorists use civilians as human shields. The terrorists use ordinary neighborhoods for their bases of operation. The Israelis do NOT target innocent civilians. The innocent civilians are getting out of targeted areas. The terrorists are on the run.

Okay? Hopefully there have been other well reasoned answers.

Answer 4

Ok, let's lay down some ground work. Yes, they are a country. And you know why? Because they are a people. And every people should have a right to govern themselves without interference. And for whatever it's worth, you could use this same logic for us. We don't need a country. Why, we could just as easily live in Great Britain. These people are hated, yes. Therefore, they must be on guard at all times. This is a concept we Americans are not familiar with. So when someone continues to infringe their borders, lob rockets at their people, and capture their soldiers in a time of peace, Israel, as well as any other people, has the right, and the obligation, to fight back...to defend liberty. Why can't we encourage them? Why do we always have to look down on those in a life-and-death struggle? These are patriots. They should be honored. THAT'S what Americans should think about this conflict. After all, we used to be in their shoes.

Answer 5

Here's the BIG mistake that we in the West often make.
Many in the West (as portrayed in the media and in questions here on Yahoo) think that because the West has figured out the "tolerance" thing, then the whole rest of the world "ought" to think the same. But that's not how the world and world cultures think. And it's rather egotistical to think that others "ought" to think like us.

Why CAN'T they just think about buying a sofa?

Well, here's the problem. The government of one side supports a very dangerous group who believes, along with other governments in the Mid-East, that Israel has no right to exist. Did you notice Iran's threats of a few weeks ago? The president said that "very soon" he will "punish" Israel for all it's sins against Islam. When the U.S. put economic sanctions on Hamas--a group that boldly states what Israel (and I and others who have kept up) have known all along---and that is that their goal is to wipe out the existence of Israel.

Israel is surrounded on all sides by Muslim governments who feel the Jewish state has no right to exist. These governments will proceed to try and destroy Israel with or without the rest of the world's approval.

Israel is defending it's right to exist.....Hezbollah committed an act of war in kidnapping Israeli soldiers....Israel is right to take the war to Hezbollah, rather than waiting for them to come and take more Israeli lives.

If you do a study of Israel, you will see that the Jews have actually lived there for many, many years...they actually BOUGHT the land they are on for a good price (good at the time).

As for who should go live where....Why doesn't Saudi Arabia open up its borders to the Palestinians? They have room, but do not let them in.

But, again...trying to understand a Middle East conflict with only a limited Western perspective is like trying to make sense of Hebrew as though it were English letters. You have to understand the entire culture, in order to understand the conflict.

An old African saying....when two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled....it is sad that innocents on any side of a war have to suffer.

Answer 6

My opinion of the Middle East, in general, is there is sure a whole lot of religious wars over there and for some reason, it never is. It's just an excuse, in my opinion.

Israel has been a country for probably as long as Lebanon. I don't understand, though, why Syria has to be involved. It is my belief to just let the two countries battle it out between them (much like a fist fight, if you please....let the bully and the hero fight it out amongst themselves and everyone else just stand back).

Hope that helped. I get started and forget to shut up sometimes. Hope your friend gets home soon, safely.

Answer 7

The government of Lebanon is to blame for not reining in the paramilitary groups in southern Lebanon.
They should have worked harder to disarm Hezbollah.
Now their country's citizens are dying because the government didn't do more to quell the terrorists who live there.
Israel is trying to stop the missiles and send a message that you can't cross the border into Israel and kidnap its soldiers.
What would we do if the Mexican army came across the border and started picking off cops in Brownsville or El Paso?

Answer 8

We aren't supposed to think anything in particular.

One of the strengths of this nation is that, despite the naysayers and America-haters, that we CAN disagree and do so vocally, sharing all sorts of views. The minority often get upset, and think it's all unfair, and throw fits, and say it SHOULD GO THEIR WAY OR IT IS RACIST/STUPID/ANTI-AMERICAN/SEDITIOUS, or whatever. Regardless, it works. We get to see more views and ideas than any other country in the world, and it continues to work.

The System works.

We don't owe anyone to think any way. To all who think those who disagree with them are abridging their free speech rights, you are being foolish. They have a right to respond as well with THEIR free speech. You have the same right. Don't stop.

I just recently chatted with a woman who totally disagrees with me. She did not call me names, she did not make up rumors about me ("you must be a ..."), she dealt with me in a civil way, and discovered that I felt the same. It was a proud moment for a U.S.A. citizen like myself.

Oh, we still don't disagree. But if people on such opposite sides of issues as WE were and are can SEE the person on the other side, we will remain the strongest country in the world, save for the citizens and the countries who can do the same (JOIN US! FREE SPEECH! DIFFER IN YOUR VIEWPOINTS!)

I'm sorry if I only answered the first part of your question. Find out all sides, and make up your own mind. You might read a bit about the history, read their holy books (a major motivator), and keep asking questions. Good luck to you.

A fellow American.

Answer 9

I don't know what others think, but Israel seems to be over reacting. Our government is just sitting by watching innocent people being killed and a country in which we are trying to create a democracy be destroyed because our President enjoys having Iraq out of the headlines and others fighting those ellusive "terrorists". If the conservative right wants the ten commandments in the court houses, I think they would want to change it to say "Thou shall not kill anyone other that those the American President believes are "terrorists". That would conform more closely to our practice.

Answer 10

Israel is not the problem, and if everyone used your opinion to determine who should have a country and who shouldn't then no one is entitled to have one, because every one of them was established via war, with that said, lets proceed to the actual problem in the middle east, of which is a murderous genocidal gang of subhuman terrorists that are attempting to convert the entire population of the planet to their insane twisted 7th century so-called religion where as men rule all, women wear black tents and walk 6 ft behind the men, all non-Muslims die by beheading, and the camel replaces the car...

Answer 11

Muslims are evil.
Jews are good.

What is so hard to understand about this. The struggle of good versus evil has been going on since Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

Oh, FYI...the jews were there first. I'm not talking about thousands of years ago (which, of course they were there first too). I'm talking recent history. No muslims had any interest in living there until the jews moved in.