I was asking to try to quickly work out if he was actually involved in this conflict in a meaningful way or if he was using his military expertise to speak about the conflict more broadly. I still need to watch the full clip (which I will) to work out whether I think he’s a good source but I would only disregard him if he assumes his position in the military and experience makes him an expert in a totally different conflict to the ones he served in. I will withhold judgement until I’ve watched it
I have dismissed one individual who left Islam totally based on his comments about Muslim people. I’m sure other Muslims have questioned their faith or converted /become atheist and wouldn’t say such things. And in my previous post I said I can understand if he feels he has to say those things so that everyone knows he is definitely not affiliated with Hamas anymore but I still cannot put up with Islamophobia just as I wouldn’t put up with any other hate speech. If he’s directed all that hate at Hamas and not Muslim people, I’d not disregard him so quickly. Because directing hatred at Hamas makes totally sense.
I also haven’t dismissed any people who want to support Israel because they are Jewish. I have no idea what religion or ethnicity people are on here. There was an interesting discussion about Jewish children singing anti-Palestinian songs and someone explained that it was people massively affected by 7/10. In that context, I can understand the hatred and whilst I don’t agree with someone teaching children such things, it doesn’t make me feel differently about the ordinary Israelis caught up in this conflict.
All I’m looking for is where everyone is getting their info from. The only person who I have dismissed who I know is definitely Jewish is the X account that was shared (apologies, I thought that was you). I dismissed it after looking through and seeing that almost every post was about Muslims and terrorism and it didn’t feel like the best place for me to be getting my news.
There is a difference between saying Muslim people who conduct honour killings or Muslim people who become extremists are terrible people vs ALL Muslims are antisemitic or I’d pick one cow over X number of Muslims. I will always disagree with religious extremism and I certainly question elements of Islam. But that’s the same for any religion - Islam has some very sinister elements that some people follow. There are groups of Christians who also have very sinister views and I’d call them out too. So no, I don’t think Islam is a perfect religion but plenty of the millions of Muslims
in the world follow it peacefully, without hurting anyone.
And yes, I agree that any photo shared in this conflict needs to be checked and keep an eye out for retractions or suggestions that misinformation is being shared.
Everyone has bias. We grew up at a certain time, with certain world events going on and with our family’s influence. We have different backgrounds, traumas, experiences. We meet different people. All of those things are present when we are forming an opinion. The important thing is to be aware of our own bias as far as we can and also look out for other people’s bias when trying to form an opinion. Obviously not everyone is too biased to take into account. I’ve listed the types of sources that I tend to use and try to figure out what bias is coming in to their reporting/opinions. I’m always open to new sources but if I look into them (or know them already) and I find that they are racist, I won’t follow them, if I find they are involved in one side of the conflict, I will be cautious and look for other sources to corroborate what they are saying, if they are a charity with a good reputation and a long track record in the region, I will take their info/opinions more seriously.