On the Morality of War Crimes

since there seems to be some confusion among Christians about this

Some reminders this Juneteenth because there seems to be some confusion about war crimes out and about, i.e. if they're really all that bad in all instances or not:

1. knowingly bombing a hospital (or a school) is a violation of the Geneva Convention and is a war crime.

2. war crimes are heinous evil and as a Christians I denounce them.

3. no matter what country commits a war crime i'm against it, as a Christian, on matter of principle because Jesus Christ is anti-war crimes.

((4. pretty sure Christ anti-war as well but let's just keep this to war crimes atm cause that's enough to deal with since we have millions of people denying they're happening or attempting to justify them as necessary or a moral good even.))

5. Ok so: I'm against all war crimes...but especially against war crimes that my tax dollars help pay for - because my money is in some sense an extension of my agency (there's much more to say on this point; it's one reason why living under the dominion of Mammon is such a bummer cause the pecuniary regnancy in our political economy is ubiquitous and touches every evil on the planet). I have a greater proximity and complicity - in some sense responsibility - to the war crimes committed with my money than I do to war crimes not committed with my money.

6. so for example:
- an important similarity to me between Israel bombing hospitals and Iran bombing hospitals is: they're both war crimes and I'm fundamentally opposed to both.
- an important difference is: my tax dollars directly fund Israel's war crimes, whereas my tax dollars do not directly fund Iran's war crimes.

7. Consider: most of the people in history who have committed war crimes had "good reasons" in their mind to do so and those reasons usually include some sort of 'imminent threat' that 'necessitate a war crime' which ends up making the war criminals 'the good guys' who just had to do the war crimes to save everyone from those bad guys.

8. So even if someone has a 'good reason', it's still not morally justifiable to do a war crime. Cause all war crimes **are war crimes** (<-- this seems difficult to remember these days so let's lock that one in so we don't forget it)

9. It's human nature to invent reasons why **"my war crime is unlike all other war crimes: my war crime is necessary and morally justified"**.

10. War criminals always seek to justify their war crimes. That's just what they do. That's what makes them war criminals, beloved: they call good what is evil and call evil what is good.

11. So, Christian: let us denounce war crimes wherever they happen, and renounce the propaganda and disinformation that would seek to ameliorate or justify any war crime as 'justifiable' or 'regrettable but necessary' or 'just a part of war' or 'recompense'. And commit to agitating - as long as we have some semblance of a democracy on life-support - to funnel our tax dollars away from bombing sick kids in hospitals so they can be used to feeding hungry kids so they can keep from getting sick and stay out of hospitals.

That last sentence is a riff on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quote (see screenshot). Let's be anti-war crime on this Juneteenth for MLK's sake.

And for Christ's sake.