# Smapti is Pitted **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 21, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907 "2014-05-21T08:14:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 95
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1881 "2024-12-29T00:25:10Z")
So, being better is just right out the fucking window, and you are falling back on the that old reliable (and _ever_ so mature) “If they capitulate first, and I think they are sincere enough, I’ll be nice”. Want to play a guessing game? I would love you to shove your notice where the sun don’t shine. Can you guess where that might be? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1882 "2024-12-29T00:33:06Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > My statement was not about “Gazans”. It was about Hamas, which is a political group and specifically exempt from the rule. No, your statement was about the group of people that the Israeli military are killing. Some of the people the Israeli military are killing are Hamas. Possibly even most of them (I don’t know the exact statistics, and probably neither does anyone else). But certainly not all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1883 "2024-12-29T00:37:38Z")
> [@What were you THINKING?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/3813): > > So, being better is just right out the fucking window, and you are falling back on the that old reliable (and _ever_ so mature) “If they capitulate first, and I think they are sincere enough, I’ll be nice”. LOL. So much for > [@Czarcasm](#): > > If you claim this of them and ask them to stop, then it logically follows that you stop also. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1884 "2024-12-29T00:46:51Z")
Nobody here is LOLing at the amount of vague “No-You _first_!” Bullshit you spew. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1885 "2024-12-29T04:48:11Z")
How many times do the two of you need to be told to take the Gaza/Hamas stuff elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1886 "2024-12-29T06:27:55Z")
Yeah, please take it elsewhere. There’s a whole pit thread for that. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1887 "2024-12-29T11:01:05Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > This might be one of the most disgusting things I’ve read from a regular poster. This is where this topic was dragged improperly into this thread. What was TroutMan thinking? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1888 "2024-12-29T16:43:53Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > This is where this topic was dragged improperly into this thread. > > What was TroutMan thinking? Mea culpa! I didn’t notice he had his own pit thread, which should have been very obvious in retrospect. Thanks **WE** for moving the posts. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1889 "2024-12-30T00:24:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > No, your statement was about the group of people that the Israeli military are killing. Some of the people the Israeli military are killing are Hamas. Possibly even most of them (I don’t know the exact statistics, and probably neither does anyone else). But certainly not all of them. “Kill them all and let God sort them out” is a longstanding popular methodology for this sort of thing. At least with some people. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1890 "2025-12-19T23:51:26Z")
I shouldn’t be surprised by now, but Smapti’s complete lack of human decency (in this case about the complete lack of Israeli explanation for the prominent death of a 5 year old Gazan child) continues to shock me: > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5784): > > Apples and elephants. ICE isn’t defending this country against an existential threat. According to Wikipedia, which as I cited has an anti-Israel bias. I don’t have to trust them. I don’t see that there’s any reason they need to explain anything about this to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1891 "2025-12-20T00:32:45Z")
Smapti thinks that distributing aid in a war zone doesn’t require any “special level of competence”: > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5792): > > According to who? Wikipedia? I’m not taking anything Wikipedia says about Israel at face value these days. I’m curious about why you think Hamas stealing food aid intended for civilians is a non-factor. Handing out MREs doesn’t usually require any special level of competence. I’m not sure if he actually believes what he is saying, or he’s just constitutionally incapable of accepting any fact that conflicts with his strange notions about the moral perfection of Israel and the IDF. Apparently it’s even stronger than his disdain for Trump and Trumpers (since those incompetent boobs failing to distribute needed aid were evangelical pals of Trump). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1892 "2025-12-20T00:42:16Z")
Long ago, he was a boot-licking fascist. Then he had an awakening and actually became a thinking, empathetic person – one with some blind spots, but a decent human overall. Unfortunately, in the last two years he’s reverted to his fascist tendencies while also turning into an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1893 "2025-12-20T01:43:09Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > the prominent death of a 5 year old Gazan child) From what little you’ve given me to work with, since you expect me to take Wikipedia’s framing at face value and refuse to offer any other source, the only thing “prominent” about it is that antisemites have decided to exploit her death to convince naive western liberals that Israel is bad. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Smapti thinks that distributing aid in a war zone doesn’t require any “special level of competence”: It wouldn’t be a war zone if Hamas hadn’t decided to launch a pogrom. > [@TroutMan](#): > > Unfortunately, in the last two years he’s reverted to his fascist tendencies If I were a fascist I’d be supporting Hamas. The allegation is rich, though, considering your claim that “Jewish sources” can’t be trusted. > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5794): > > In your attempt to prove that Wikipedia is biased, you cited nothing but Jewish sources. > [@Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-hamas-attacks-israel-thread-october-2023/991317/5796): > > I am suggesting they are not free of bias. You didn’t say “Israeli sources”, or even “Zionist sources”. You said that “Jewish sources” in general are incapable of being objective about Israel. And you balked when I asked you to explain that, presumably because you realized that was some antisemitic bullshit. If I said that “Muslim sources” couldn’t be trusted to be unbiased about Israel (which I do not believe) I’m sure you’d have plenty to say about it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1894 "2025-12-20T01:49:39Z")
The Wikipedia article describes facts reported by journalists. Each one is linked. That’s how Wikipedia works. Trumper organizations like the ADL, which defended Elon Musk, of all people, are far less trustworthy than Wikipedia, which cites every single assertion made. You’ve outsourced your decency and intellect to Netanyahu and Trumper bozos on this issue. If you trust the Trumper/Musker ADL more than Wikipedia, we live in such different factual universes that discussion is no more possible than trying to reason with a QANON-zealot. It shouldn’t make a difference, but I descend from Holocaust survivors - my grandmother, a German Jew, escaped from Germany in the 30s. Most of her extended family were killed. “Never again” isn’t just for Jews, it’s for all humans, including Gazans, and especially children like Hind Rajab. Just like you eventually realized that your knee-jerk blind trust for police was unwarranted and harmful, eventually you’ll realize the same for the IDF and Israeli government. When you do, you should feel great shame. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1895 "2025-12-20T01:54:25Z")
TroutMan, I love you, but IMO the “Jewish sources” quip was dumb. Not remotely as dumb as Smapti’s blind trust in the proven liars from the IDF, but still dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1896 "2025-12-20T01:56:18Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > From what little you’ve given me to work with, since you expect me to take Wikipedia’s framing at face value and refuse to offer any other source …in a direct response to you I cited Sky News and Forensic Architecture. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1897 "2025-12-20T01:56:35Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The Wikipedia article describes facts reported by journalists. Each one is linked. Then cite the journalists. I’m not digging through a Wikipedia article to do your homework for you. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If you trust the Trumper/Musker ADL more than Wikipedia, we live in such different factual universes that discussion is no more possible than trying to reason with a QANON-zealot. I wouldn’t trust the ADL if they were the only source claiming an anti-Israel bias on Wikipedia. I cited three other sources that found the same thing. You know who else thinks Wikipedia is biased against Israel? The founder of Wikipedia! > **[Wikipedia co-founder says page on ‘Gaza genocide’ locked due to anti-Israel bias](https://www.timesofisrael.com/wikipedia-co-founder-locks-edits-on-gaza-genocide-page-citing-anti-israel-bias/)** > > Jimmy Wales notes that claim Israel committing genocide is 'highly contested,' and says article in question is 'particularly egregious example' of non-neutral content on site > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > my grandmother, a German Jew, escaped from Germany in the 30s. Most of her extended family were killed. That’s terrible and I’m very sorry to hear that, but to compare the war in Gaza to the industrialized mass murder of an entire civilization cheapens that loss and stretches the definition of the word “genocide”, which was coined specifically to describe the Holocaust because _no evil of such a scale had ever been committed before nor has it since_, to the point of being so meaningless that every single war in human history could be described as a “genocide” by that standard. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1898 "2025-12-20T02:01:18Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If I were a fascist I’d be supporting Hamas. Holy shit, you really are an idiot. > [@Smapti](#): > > considering your claim that “Jewish sources” can’t be trusted. Did I really say that? Try reading it again, slowly this time. > [@Smapti](#): > > You said that “Jewish sources” in general are incapable of being objective about Israel. Again, not what I said. Biased is not the same as untrustworthy or incapable of being objective. We all have biases – you, me, Jewish media, Muslim media. If you want to maintain an open mind, it’s best to look at a variety of sources. And if the only ones you can find making an argument are those with a bias, maybe question if you need to branch out > [@Smapti](#): > > And you balked when I asked you to explain that, presumably because you realized that was some antisemitic bullshit. Nah, I just didn’t want to play the game of you just asking questions instead of saying what you thought, with me not being to call you out for it properly. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1899 "2025-12-20T02:02:41Z")
Hind’s story: > **[Hind Rajab’s death has already been forgotten. That’s exactly what Israel...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/18/hind-rajab-israeli-state-atrocity)** > > The Israeli state has applied its usual strategy after this atrocity: deny, deflect, deceive, and wait for attention to move elsewhere, writes Guardian columnist Owen Jones > **[In Gaza, a six-year-old lies before a tank among the bodies](https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-02-05/ty-article/.premium/in-gaza-a-6-year-old-lies-before-a-tank-among-the-bodies/0000018d-78b1-d4f1-a18d-fcf145400000)** > > The Name Hind Hamada Won't Mean Anything to Israelis. And Why Would It? But Her Smiling Face Is Probably Now Familiar to Every Palestinian Household. > **[Killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza may constitute a war crime, experts say](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/killing-six-year-old-hind-rajab-war-crimes-rcna162824)** > > Hind became one of the conflict’s most high-profile victims, and her case highlights the difficulty in bringing accountability for the deaths of civilians in Gaza. > **[Where is Hind? Calls for answers more than a week after rescuers go missing...](https://web.archive.org/web/20240207114549/https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/06/middleeast/israel-gaza-hind-missing-girl-prcs-intl-hnk/index.html)** > > Demands for answers are mounting over the fate of 6-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, who became trapped in a car with her dead relatives after it came under Israeli fire in Gaza more than a week ago. [https://archive.ph/20240216132251/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/02/gaza-city-rescue-palestine-red-crescent/](https://archive.ph/20240216132251/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/02/gaza-city-rescue-palestine-red-crescent/) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907/1900 "2025-12-20T02:05:42Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > TroutMan, I love you, but IMO the “Jewish sources” quip was dumb. Not remotely as dumb as Smapti’s blind trust in the proven liars from the IDF, but still dumb. Feedback taken. As I said above, I use “biased” as a more neutral term than you might be reading it. But I remain unconvinced by smapti’s cites about Wikipedia untrustworthiness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907.md?page=94) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smapti-is-pitted/688907.md?page=96)