• intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    “Collective punishment” is when you punish an entire group for the infractions of a subset of that group.

    calling for mass deportation

    The idea here is to punish the same set of people seen as breaking the law. “Collective punishment” in this case would be like deporting an entire neighborhood if an undocumented immigrant is discovered in that neighborhood.

    Eleven thousand air traffic controlers were asking for a fair wage, reduced mandatory overtime and higher safety standards that all Americans could rely on. Reagan fired them all. Seems like collective punishment to me.

    Firing someone for asking for something is obviously wrong. Not familiar with the case but I assume they actually broke some kind of rule such as not showing up for work? Was it a strike, this event?

    If they literally only asked for these things, then it’s wrong to punish them for that. I doubt this is the case, and it’s just a matter of minimizing language.

    But if the set of people actually breaking the agreements was the same set of people who got fired, then it’s not an example of “collective punishment”.

    If Reagan fired entire teams of air traffic controllers, whenever any subset of any of those teams broke the agreement, then it would be collective punishment.

    Post 9/11 there was a surge in crimes and incidents of discrimination against Muslims, Sikhs, and persons of Arab and South-Asian descent, as well as persons perceived to be members of these groups. Where? Largely in conservative stronghold red states.

    Yeah that’s collective punishment. That violates the conservative value.

    More recently, didn’t Donald call for a “total and complete shutdown” of the borders to Muslims? Smells like collective punishment to me.

    Smells like, except that coming to the US is not something anyone is entitled to. It’s definitely religious discrimination, which is against the values of our country. Any kind of ethnic or religious discrimination violates the values of our country.

    Opposition to decriminalization of homosexuality and denial of rights for LGBTQ people is a pretty well known conservative position.

    Assuming we are talking about the same rights as non-LGBTQ people are afforded, this isn’t conservative at all. It’s a place Republicans diverge from conservative values.

    Republicans are often not conservative.

    Conservative-led legislation to deny lifesaving gender affirming care looks like collective punishment to me.

    Again, sloppy with the concept of “punishment”. Making an act illegal is not punishment.

    Furthermore the legislation I’ve heard of is about denying this “care” to children. Same way we deny alcohol, guns, and driver’s licenses to children.

    If trans adults are being targeted with a ban on surgical procedures on their bodies, then while technically not “punishment”, it’s still discrimination and it’s wrong.

    Both democrats and republicans alike have been complicit in the collective punishment of Palestinian people. According to U.N. data, of the casualties in Gaza, over 57% deaths were combined women and girls over 14, and children under 14.

    I don’t know enough about the situation to know whether this is “punishment” or not.

    I’ve heard reports both ways. I’ve heard both:

    • Munitions are being dropped on Hamas targets and civilians are getting hit because they’re there
    • Munitions are being dropped on non-Hamas targets and civilians are getting hit because civilians are the targets

    The latter is definitely collective punishment. But furthermore there’s nothing even remotely conservative about sending weapons to Israel. Insofar as Republicans are voting for it, those Republicans are violating conservative values.

    These days, conservative values just aren’t very present in how the US government works, period.

    The systematic killing of unarmed noncombatant civilian women and children continues.

    “systematic” killing is a precise term about a precise thing. It refers to efforts like the Nazis or the Japanese undertook with their camps during WW2.

    In Gaza there is indiscriminate killing. You said the set of (women, girls over 14, and children under 14) accounted for 57% of Gazan deaths during the Israeli campaign. Is that the same proportion that this subset of people makes up in the population? If it’s a larger proportion, then yes it’s evidence that women, girls over 14, and children under 14, are being targeted systematically.

    But the munitions being used aren’t targeted at these groups. They’re indiscriminate.

    The deliberate choice to use indiscriminate munitions, when more targeted methods are available, would definitely be collective punishment. I don’t know enough about the situation to know.

    I would suspect that if any demographic group is being systematically targeted for elimination, it would be the complementary set of (males over 14).

    The ratio of that group in the population, compared with the ratio of the deaths, would give an indication of whether there is indeed demographic targeting happening.

    I know that systematic slaughter of fighting age males is a common trope of history, so it wouldn’t surprise me if these guys make up less than 43% of the population of Gaza despite accounting for 43% of the deaths.

    • Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

      You make a good point that there is a difference between republican and conservative. It reminds me of those who confuse democrats with leftists, and conflate liberals with socialists.

      I see that some of the examples given are not collective punishment, just good old fashioned persecution.

    • Neuromancer@lemm.eeM
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      3 months ago

      If they literally only asked for these things, then it’s wrong to punish them for that. I doubt this is the case, and it’s just a matter of minimizing language. They did an illegal strike and were fired. It wasn’t collective punishment. Those who did not strike were not fired.

      More recently, didn’t Donald call for a “total and complete shutdown” of the borders to Muslims? Smells like collective punishment to me.

      No.