Russian invasion of Ukraine | Fewer tweets, more discussion

nickm

Full Member
Joined
May 20, 2001
Messages
9,173
There looks to be 3 big craters in this photo, the fact that all 3 seems to be the same size indicates some kind of missile strike.
Judging by the size of the craters a warhead of a considerable size must have been used, this is Kalibr, Tomahawk, ATACMS or Iskander sized craters in my opinion.
Not trying to be rude, but what relevant expertise do you have to support this?
 

alexthelion

Full Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Messages
3,624
It's a bit distasteful having videos of people fleeing, including children, while shit is blowing up in the background, to the sound of silly tunes.

Reporting stuff is one thing, making silly videos with silly music and reading tons of comments (not here, on social media) about how soon the russians will suffer like the ukranians are suffering, is something quite different.

Loads of people sharing and celebrating this will also be cheering with we start registering russian civilian casualties? It will happen, it's a matter of time.

Will it be ok because the dead are orcs?
Yes.
 

the hea

Full Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
6,330
Location
North of the wall
Not trying to be rude, but what relevant expertise do you have to support this?
I have no expertise what so ever, I'm just a regular guy with a slightly unhealthy interest in military stuff. I wrote it was just my own opinion and I don't make any claimes about being an expert.
 

maniak

Full Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
9,999
Location
Lisboa
Supports
Arsenal
And I’ll continue to believe that the opinion of the Ministry of Defense actually dying for their homeland trumps Yours on this issue
OK, so are you going to comment all the posts where someone isn't in line with the ministry of defense or did I win some kind of raffle?
 

maniak

Full Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
9,999
Location
Lisboa
Supports
Arsenal
You keep complaining about the "funny music" so just mute it if you don't like. Meanwhile we will celebrate Ukraine's success with sound on.
I think I was clear about not liking the entertainment aspect of this war, but I guess I wasn't.
 

dove

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
7,899
I think I was clear about not liking the entertainment aspect of this war, but I guess I wasn't.
Seeing some entitled people bursting into tears once they get karma they deserve is quite entertaining, not gonna lie.
 

NotThatSoph

Full Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Messages
3,781
Close the thread! Everyone has been proven wrong.
I think it's a bit weird that when a poster straight out comes out saying that it's ok to celebrate dead civilians as long as they're Russians (or evil corrupted monsters, which is what orcs canonically are), the reaction is to make fun of another poster who doesn't like the fact that a deadly war is serving as entertainment competing with Netflix and cat videos.

From quite a few posters I expect this, so it's maybe not weird in that sense, but from other posters it's very surprising.
 

ColoRed

Full Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
667
Location
deep in the west where the sun gets dusty
Supports
Cologne / Manchester
I think it's a bit weird that when a poster straight out comes out saying that it's ok to celebrate dead civilians as long as they're Russians (or evil corrupted monsters, which is what orcs canonically are), the reaction is to make fun of another poster who doesn't like the fact that a deadly war is serving as entertainment competing with Netflix and cat videos.

From quite a few posters I expect this, so it's maybe not weird in that sense, but from other posters it's very surprising.
A deadly war is serving as entertainment behause tourists feck off from an occupied area of a Country at war ? Oh and if you don‘t like this „fact“ don‘t watch these videos.
 

Frosty

Logical and sensible but turns women gay
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
17,241
Location
Yes I can hear you Clem Fandango!
I think it's a bit weird that when a poster straight out comes out saying that it's ok to celebrate dead civilians as long as they're Russians (or evil corrupted monsters, which is what orcs canonically are), the reaction is to make fun of another poster who doesn't like the fact that a deadly war is serving as entertainment competing with Netflix and cat videos.

From quite a few posters I expect this, so it's maybe not weird in that sense, but from other posters it's very surprising.
By 7 August official figures estimate at least 28,500 Ukrainian civilian casualties.

There are also estimates of around 850 civilian casualties in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

There have been Russian reports of two civilians killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Belgorod Oblast and a further seven workers reported missing after an alleged Ukrainian attack on Crimea.

Every deliberate targeting of Russian civilians by the Ukrainians is a war crime. Every Russian civilian casualty caused by Ukrainian military action is a tragedy. I don't condone anyone who would celebrate a Russian death, and that includes the thousands of young men and boys who are being pretty much press ganged and forced into serving and dying in a war they know nothing about and care even less about.

I grow frustrated when an individual's response to a post (to which my first reaction was that he must have misunderstood, but is in no way defensible on any level) is somehow implied to stand for the rest of our views on this conflict.
 

NotThatSoph

Full Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Messages
3,781
By 7 August official figures estimate at least 28,500 Ukrainian civilian casualties.

There are also estimates of around 850 civilian casualties in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

There have been Russian reports of two civilians killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Belgorod Oblast and a further seven workers reported missing after an alleged Ukrainian attack on Crimea.

Every deliberate targeting of Russian civilians by the Ukrainians is a war crime. Every Russian civilian casualty caused by Ukrainian military action is a tragedy. I don't condone anyone who would celebrate a Russian death, and that includes the thousands of young men and boys who are being pretty much press ganged and forced into serving and dying in a war they know nothing about and care even less about.

I grow frustrated when an individual's response to a post (to which my first reaction was that he must have misunderstood, but is in no way defensible on any level) is somehow implied to stand for the rest of our views on this conflict.
I'm very well aware of all the civilian deaths, and the seemingly endless line of Russian war crimes. Everyone (with one exception) in this thread is. If people were posting memes about those I'm sure people would object, and if they didn't I would.

At no point was that user's stance implied to stand for the rest of the thread. Not only that, the topic we're talking isn't even close to cover people's overall view on the conflict, it's about one small part of it. If you've actually read the comments over the last pages there's no reasonable way for you to interpret it like that, and you're a very reasonable person.
 

neverdie

Full Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2018
Messages
2,388
A deadly war is serving as entertainment behause tourists feck off from an occupied area of a Country at war ? Oh and if you don‘t like this „fact“ don‘t watch these videos.
it's serving as entertainment in general terms. @calodo2003 made the point earlier that war has been entertainment since 1991 and the gulf war. he was right. that marked a new period in war as entertainment because of 24/7 coverage. it had been entertainment before that but it was never on that continuous scale. and this one is different because it's being driven by social media and weird memes which, at times, make the serious and heavy very blasé and light. i think it's aimed at the tiktok generation but who knows. i've personally never seen war marketed like this before outside of israel which seemed to pioneer it some years back.

on earlier topic, just a small snippet.
Third, propaganda heavily relies on simple slogans and visuals, which produces memorable and easily understood messages that reduce the complexity of nuanced policy issues. Simple slogans like ‘we can do it’ or ‘join and fight’, for example, distil complicated issues into simple, repeatable ideas. Fourth, propaganda creates an ‘us versus them’ mentality, dividing individuals into groups. The first group, the ‘in-group’, consists of those individuals who support the ideas and policies of the propagandist. The second group, the ‘out-group’, consists of those who do not support the policies. Moreover, this out-group also consists of those who question the ideas of the propagandist. Propaganda seeks to remove nuance or any sort of grey area.

Hall, Abigail R. "State of deception: Propaganda in the war on terror." Economic Affairs 42.1 (2022): 168-178.
it's the "out-group" which also "consists of those who question the ideas of the propagandist" that i've frequently noticed in play throughout this thread. if you're questioning this or that or running against the grain, then you're not with us on every point and so must be russian or anti-west. it's the product of intense propaganda barrage. useful in ukraine which has to fight an actual war but destructive outside it.
 
Last edited:

4bars

Full Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Messages
4,906
Supports
Barcelona
I will celebrate their victories, just not with stupid social media tweets with funny music mocking random civilians.
They are not random civilians. They are civilians entitled enough to go to an occupied region from a country that they are in a war that their government started. They knew were they were going, and they had little regard (bordering insult) for the Ukranian Crimean's that they don't want them there. I don't want them any harm but distress and kharma? all the way

Should I feel pity for the Russian woman that was mocking Ukranians on the streets in Vienna? not at all. I enjoyed when they cancelled their bookings? absolutely. Do I want any physical harm happen to her? not at all

But hey, I guess you have a holier than thou approach. Good for you
 

maniak

Full Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
9,999
Location
Lisboa
Supports
Arsenal
They are not random civilians. They are civilians entitled enough to go to an occupied region from a country that they are in a war that their government started. They knew were they were going, and they had little regard (bordering insult) for the Ukranian Crimean's that they don't want them there. I don't want them any harm but distress and kharma? all the way
Yeah looking at the videos, I'm sure the kids know what the feck is going on and adults are all collectively guilty of russian imperialist policies. I'm also sure there were absolutely no locals in those videos, 100% of the people are evil russians who moved in 2014 to steal from ukranians and insult them.

You see, that's how generalizations work, and because I know jack shit about the individual circumstances of people, I prefer not to cheer their misfortune and distress. I would definitely not turn them into memes on social media.

I want russia to lose and be embarassed, but in a general way, with their military and political forces being pushed back to russia, but I take no joy in looking at individual civilians and turn their suffering (big or small, deserved or not) into twitter entertainment.

Even if I can recognize the karma that's falling on some people who might deserve it, and I don't feel any sympathy for them, my main point is that taking these individual incidents and use them to make memes, viral videos, and jokes turns war into something you'd follow online like a reality show. I don't like it and I find it distasteful.

I've donated to help ukraine, I've been in front of the russian embassy in lisbon with ukranian protesters, I am happy when I read news ukraine is gaining ground and my eyes water when I see the news and ukranian civilian suffering. But I won't dehumanize the other side and turn them into jokes and someone you can use to go viral with a funny clip on instagram.

If this is what passes for being holier than thou in this thread, than so be it.
 

dove

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
7,899
I think it's a bit weird that when a poster straight out comes out saying that it's ok to celebrate dead civilians as long as they're Russians
Again, will you show us those posters or just continue inventing your stories and convince yourself it’s true? Just quote, shouldn’t be that hard unless you imagined it in your head.
 

dove

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
7,899
I seriously believe this thread is in need of maintenance before we can carry on.
Really does. We are in the loop. Someone can't stop talking about Iraq and the US, someone creating their stories in the head about people celebrating the deaths of Russian civilians ("future civilians potentially dying because no one has died yet"), a few others who cannot handle seeing a random video which happens to show 5 seconds of some explosions of a military base in the distance while people are sunbathing basically on the frontlines of the biggest military conflict in decades, and then you have a few like me who are wasting their time here replying to those. Need a reset.
 

4bars

Full Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2016
Messages
4,906
Supports
Barcelona
Yeah looking at the videos, I'm sure the kids know what the feck is going on and adults are all collectively guilty of russian imperialist policies. I'm also sure there were absolutely no locals in those videos, 100% of the people are evil russians who moved in 2014 to steal from ukranians and insult them.

You see, that's how generalizations work, and because I know jack shit about the individual circumstances of people, I prefer not to cheer their misfortune and distress. I would definitely not turn them into memes on social media.

I want russia to lose and be embarassed, but in a general way, with their military and political forces being pushed back to russia, but I take no joy in looking at individual civilians and turn their suffering (big or small, deserved or not) into twitter entertainment.

Even if I can recognize the karma that's falling on some people who might deserve it, and I don't feel any sympathy for them, my main point is that taking these individual incidents and use them to make memes, viral videos, and jokes turns war into something you'd follow online like a reality show. I don't like it and I find it distasteful.

I've donated to help ukraine, I've been in front of the russian embassy in lisbon with ukranian protesters, I am happy when I read news ukraine is gaining ground and my eyes water when I see the news and ukranian civilian suffering. But I won't dehumanize the other side and turn them into jokes and someone you can use to go viral with a funny clip on instagram.

If this is what passes for being holier than thou in this thread, than so be it.
So be it
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,160
Again, will you show us those posters or just continue inventing your stories and convince yourself it’s true? Just quote, shouldn’t be that hard unless you imagined it in your head.
There was a poster who confirmed it was okay to celebrate dead Russia civilians briefly before his post
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,160
This tweet is about the consequences for civilians in Crimea. Not just from the recent attack, but from the ones that haven't happened yet. It's not hitting the military targets that's being celebrated and ridiculed, it's the civilians running for their lives.

You can celebrate hitting the air base if you want, that's not what this video is about. This is celebrating the fates of German civilians in Dresden 1945 rather than celebrating the strategically important military victory it was.
When no civilians died I think its really really difficult to draw parallels to the bombing of dresden in this case. Dresden was horrific. This wasn't not in anyway in terms of scale and essentially no warcrime in a conventional sense was committed.
 
Last edited:

massi83

Full Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,596
There was a poster who confirmed it was okay to celebrate dead Russia civilians briefly before his post
Any proof of this? Sure as hell it isn't there now, and unless it was deleted by mod in less than 15mins I doubt it happened at all. And even if there was 1 poster doing that, she was generalising way beyond it involving only 1 poster. And given zero Russian civilians died or injured or were even in any sort of danger, it is totally disingenuous comment in relation to the tweet by dove, that started the whole conversation. But that is what she does, we knew that already.
 

NotThatSoph

Full Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Messages
3,781
When no civilians died I think its really really difficult to draw parallels to the bombing of dresden in this case. Dresden was horrific. This wasn't not in anyway in terms of scale and essentially no warcrime in a conventional sense was committed.
I was trying to illustrate the mechanism of cheering the military achievement vs cheering the consequences for civilians, and I wanted an example where the Russians are compared to the Nazis because people here are so incredibly quick to baselessly label people as Russian propagandists.

But yes, I of course agree that there's no comparison between this and Dresden in magnitude, and I guess the example might have been counterproductive. The attack itself was perfectly legitimate and in no way a war crime, I have no criticism of that. I also don't think Dresden was a war crime.

I don't think the fact that no civilians died makes this not about celebrating death, though. The meme is not just about this attack, it's about all the coming ones as well. They say that Russians shouldn't come to Crimea because of the danger, but the attack already happened so they're obviously not in danger from that anymore. The coming attacks will also be dangerous, and as (if, but that's the promise here) the likelyhood of civilian deaths increases, and it's all part of the meme.

This is also released at a time when Zelensky has started talking about how this war isn't won before Crimea is back in Ukrainian control, and when we're talking about a promised invasion (or re-invasion, or whatever else you want to call a large scale offensive against a huge geographical territory, once again to walk on egg shells I'm not saying that this would be illegitimate), then the number of civilian deaths will inevitably be substantial. In the Donbas conflict, thousands of civilians have died so far. This is of course partly a consequence of the fact that the conflict has lasted for eight years, but also because of the sad inevitable fact that civilians die in wars. That, for me personally, is not something to celebrate. It doesn't really matter to me if the victims are Ukrainian or evil corrupted monsters as the Russian apparently are with the whole orc thing, and it doesn't really matter to me if they're unfortunate victims of legitimate attacks.

Also, though, even though I find it distasteful and wrong, it's not really about that for me. People do things I find distasteful and wrong all the time, and of course in the context of this war it's pretty irrelevant. What gets me, or interests me, is how weird it is. And what it says about us as a society that we're watching this stuff as a form of entertainment. Several people in here are talking about this being holier than thou or high horsy or whatever, which makes sense because of how extremely defensive people are here, but it's really not about that. I'm not immune to it myself, not here or in general, and e.g. on the Syrian civil war I took it way too far, and I don't particularly care about the morality of some people I don't know on an internet forum.

I've taken up enough space, though. I'll let the future memification pass with no comment.
 

Simbo

Full Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
5,228
There was a poster who confirmed it was okay to celebrate dead Russia civilians briefly before his post
I think some are confusing 'orcs' with Russian civilians, that is not what the term is meant for, though I expect it has been used also for those Russian civilians that fervently support the war.
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,160
Any proof of this? Sure as hell it isn't there now, and unless it was deleted by mod in less than 15mins I doubt it happened at all. And even if there was 1 poster doing that, she was generalising way beyond it involving only 1 poster. And given zero Russian civilians died or injured or were even in any sort of danger, it is totally disingenuous comment in relation to the tweet by dove, that started the whole conversation. But that is what she does, we knew that already.
Post 34,206 I think.
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,160
I was trying to illustrate the mechanism of cheering the military achievement vs cheering the consequences for civilians, and I wanted an example where the Russians are compared to the Nazis because people here are so incredibly quick to baselessly label people as Russian propagandists.

But yes, I of course agree that there's no comparison between this and Dresden in magnitude, and I guess the example might have been counterproductive. The attack itself was perfectly legitimate and in no way a war crime, I have no criticism of that. I also don't think Dresden was a war crime.

I don't think the fact that no civilians died makes this not about celebrating death, though. The meme is not just about this attack, it's about all the coming ones as well. They say that Russians shouldn't come to Crimea because of the danger, but the attack already happened so they're obviously not in danger from that anymore. The coming attacks will also be dangerous, and as (if, but that's the promise here) the likelyhood of civilian deaths increases, and it's all part of the meme.

This is also released at a time when Zelensky has started talking about how this war isn't won before Crimea is back in Ukrainian control, and when we're talking about a promised invasion (or re-invasion, or whatever else you want to call a large scale offensive against a huge geographical territory, once again to walk on egg shells I'm not saying that this would be illegitimate), then the number of civilian deaths will inevitably be substantial. In the Donbas conflict, thousands of civilians have died so far. This is of course partly a consequence of the fact that the conflict has lasted for eight years, but also because of the sad inevitable fact that civilians die in wars. That, for me personally, is not something to celebrate. It doesn't really matter to me if the victims are Ukrainian or evil corrupted monsters as the Russian apparently are with the whole orc thing, and it doesn't really matter to me if they're unfortunate victims of legitimate attacks.

Also, though, even though I find it distasteful and wrong, it's not really about that for me. People do things I find distasteful and wrong all the time, and of course in the context of this war it's pretty irrelevant. What gets me, or interests me, is how weird it is. And what it says about us as a society that we're watching this stuff as a form of entertainment. Several people in here are talking about this being holier than thou or high horsy or whatever, which makes sense because of how extremely defensive people are here, but it's really not about that. I'm not immune to it myself, not here or in general, and e.g. on the Syrian civil war I took it way too far, and I don't particularly care about the morality of some people I don't know on an internet forum.

I've taken up enough space, though. I'll let the future memification pass with no comment.
No I agree that there is something distasteful about turning wars into entertainment, but I think in the case of this war its the least polemic war in my lifetime in terms of people in the west rooting for the good guys and cheering any demise of the bad guys. But in any case war always makes well a lot of people fecked up in the sense that a lot people have a inner warmonger inside them. My half-brother served in the 1st gulf War and he essentially doesn't even feel the west should supply arms to Ukraine for the fear of escalation into a nuclear war. Having witnessed his best friends being blown to bits I doubt veterans who have kept their moral compass intact can find any entertainment in war at all. I presume most of us havnt witnessed war 1st hand and find it easier to have a more lax approach to well for instance the meme of Crimea. In some ways it's to be expected on essentially a social media site with keyboard warriors including myself. But yeah I don't disagree with anything in the post I'm responding to.
 

TwoSheds

More sheds (and tiles) than you, probably
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Messages
12,967
I was trying to illustrate the mechanism of cheering the military achievement vs cheering the consequences for civilians, and I wanted an example where the Russians are compared to the Nazis because people here are so incredibly quick to baselessly label people as Russian propagandists.

But yes, I of course agree that there's no comparison between this and Dresden in magnitude, and I guess the example might have been counterproductive. The attack itself was perfectly legitimate and in no way a war crime, I have no criticism of that. I also don't think Dresden was a war crime.

I don't think the fact that no civilians died makes this not about celebrating death, though. The meme is not just about this attack, it's about all the coming ones as well. They say that Russians shouldn't come to Crimea because of the danger, but the attack already happened so they're obviously not in danger from that anymore. The coming attacks will also be dangerous, and as (if, but that's the promise here) the likelyhood of civilian deaths increases, and it's all part of the meme.

This is also released at a time when Zelensky has started talking about how this war isn't won before Crimea is back in Ukrainian control, and when we're talking about a promised invasion (or re-invasion, or whatever else you want to call a large scale offensive against a huge geographical territory, once again to walk on egg shells I'm not saying that this would be illegitimate), then the number of civilian deaths will inevitably be substantial. In the Donbas conflict, thousands of civilians have died so far. This is of course partly a consequence of the fact that the conflict has lasted for eight years, but also because of the sad inevitable fact that civilians die in wars. That, for me personally, is not something to celebrate. It doesn't really matter to me if the victims are Ukrainian or evil corrupted monsters as the Russian apparently are with the whole orc thing, and it doesn't really matter to me if they're unfortunate victims of legitimate attacks.

Also, though, even though I find it distasteful and wrong, it's not really about that for me. People do things I find distasteful and wrong all the time, and of course in the context of this war it's pretty irrelevant. What gets me, or interests me, is how weird it is. And what it says about us as a society that we're watching this stuff as a form of entertainment. Several people in here are talking about this being holier than thou or high horsy or whatever, which makes sense because of how extremely defensive people are here, but it's really not about that. I'm not immune to it myself, not here or in general, and e.g. on the Syrian civil war I took it way too far, and I don't particularly care about the morality of some people I don't know on an internet forum.

I've taken up enough space, though. I'll let the future memification pass with no comment.
I don't get how someone can get so upset by the music choice of a propaganda video that doesn't show any crimes or anything particularly upsetting in it that they are willing to write this many words in the subject. What does that say about us as a society?
 

NicolaSacco

Full Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2016
Messages
2,321
Supports
Ipswich
No I agree that there is something distasteful about turning wars into entertainment, but I think in the case of this war its the least polemic war in my lifetime in terms of people in the west rooting for the good guys and cheering any demise of the bad guys. But in any case war always makes well a lot of people fecked up in the sense that a lot people have a inner warmonger inside them. My half-brother served in the 1st gulf War and he essentially doesn't even feel the west should supply arms to Ukraine for the fear of escalation into a nuclear war. Having witnessed his best friends being blown to bits I doubt veterans who have kept their moral compass intact can find any entertainment in war at all. I presume most of us havnt witnessed war 1st hand and find it easier to have a more lax approach to well for instance the meme of Crimea. In some ways it's to be expected on essentially a social media site with keyboard warriors including myself. But yeah I don't disagree with anything in the post I'm responding to.
Yeah, they say that people who have served in active wars and become prime ministers or presidents are far less likely to start wars or risk escalation. They’ve seen the human cost, they’ve probably met the wives and young children of soldiers who they knew and saw killed in graphic and horrible ways. But you’re right, it’s only a proportion. So many ex-soldiersgo into private armies (Wagner etc) after serving, so maybe they enjoy the violence, or maybe it’s the camaraderie and adrenaline. Difficult to pinpoint a single reason.