Comment by Terr_

Comment by Terr_ 2 days ago

10 replies

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> Conducting a military operation that has a fully predictable rate of civilian casualties is morally equivalent to targeting those civilians.

By that logic only the absolute number of (expected) civilian deaths matters... which can't be right.

If it were true, then exploding a city bus (1 soldier, 10 civilians) would be more moral than striking a military base (1,000 soldiers, 11 civilians.)

It would also suggest a kind of blame-shifting if one side decides to install their missile launchers in the playgrounds of elementary schools or whatever.

abalone 2 days ago

You are simply incorrect. “Rate” is a ratio, not an absolute number.

But to your point, Israel’s ratio in Gaza was as high as 100 civilians to 1 soldier in the shopping mall (or more accurately, refugee family shelters).

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  • Terr_ 2 days ago

    > “Rate” is a ratio, not an absolute number.

    No, you've cut off the crucial second half of the sentence, which says a military operation with known risks of civilian deaths "is morally equivalent to targeting those civilians."

    The phrase "those civilians" refers to a countable quantity of them.

    Perhaps you meant to write "morally equivalent to targeting that proportion of civilians"?

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    • beedeebeedee 2 days ago

      This isn't pedantry, but what are you arguing?

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      • Terr_ 2 days ago

        Assuming that's a plural "you", I would paraphrase the subthread like this:

        _________

        (1) zer0x4d: "Many people fail to see that morality depends on intent, there is a qualitative difference between deliberate and incidental collateral damage."

        (2) abalone: "No, only people suffering from broken moral cores think there's a difference. An attack when they knew a predictable rate of collateral damage is morally the same as deliberately targeting those civilians who died."

        (3) Terr_: "It's based on the number of civilians who die? That doesn't make sense. Consider these scenarios, where even though fewer civilians die, the intent/planning of the act makes us judge it as morally worse."

        (4) abalone: "Incorrect, I said it was about comparing the two rates of death."

        (5) Terr_: "Well, that's not quite what you wrote earlier, is this other version closer to what you meant to convey?"

        (6) beedeebeedee: "What is being argued?"

        (7) Terr_: [Error: Recursion depth exceeded]

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  • km3r 2 days ago

    [flagged]

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