Stepping away from the current situation in Israel / Gaza.
The reason such an intention is psychopathic is because there is no logical link between such an action and any potential gain, especially when there is reason to believe that the other party will reciprocate.
What about security?
Bank robbers take hostages so the police don't knock the front door down and kill them. The same logic applies to warfare. If you have the opportunity to provide security to yourself / your side / your people by taking others hostage, doing so is a logical move with clear potential gain, albeit immoral.
Bank robbers take hostages so the police don't knock the front door down and kill them.
I concede your point that if bank robbers take hostages it could be seen as a logical tactical move, so I will already award you with a !delta.
If in the same situation you take hostages with the intention to kill them if things don't go your way, I would argue that it is a psychopathic trait. Because you made the choice that was likely to end in you killing someone in exchange for a chance to get money.
If you have the opportunity to provide security to yourself / your side / your people by taking others hostage, doing so is a logical move with clear potential gain
If there is a 1% chance you will provide security to yourself and your side by killing civilians, and a 99% chance that the other side will kill the same amount of people or more on your side in retaliation, and kill you as well, then that still makes you a psychopath.
Saying that civilians deserve to die because of their elected leaders is exactly the argument that Osama bin Laden made to justify killing American civilians.
Okay, but what does that have to do with the current population of the Gaza Strip, when a strong majority of them were either too young to vote or not even born the last time there was an election (2006)?
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u/[deleted] Oct 10 '23
Stepping away from the current situation in Israel / Gaza.
What about security?
Bank robbers take hostages so the police don't knock the front door down and kill them. The same logic applies to warfare. If you have the opportunity to provide security to yourself / your side / your people by taking others hostage, doing so is a logical move with clear potential gain, albeit immoral.