God of the Dead from Hades!

I think you could just ask something like “what are some of your favourite world cuisines excluding the obvious ones?” and then explain what you mean.

Apologies though, I guess this is just because it’s not your first language, what you said makes sense it’s more the connotations of the phrase. I think someone also posted a gif making a similar joke. Probably the best straight up alternative without the connotations would be “world food/cuisine.”

North Korean! Would love to try it but I guess similar to South Korean food?

I don’t want to go through all but some of the more interesting ones:

Ethiopian - delicious stew/curry type food with this fermented flatbread stuff that almost smells a bit like beer. Way better than this makes it sound, lol

Vietnamese - if you like Chinese food you will love it. It’s somewhere between Thai and Chinese. They have an awesome beef noodle soup called pho

Jamaican - my family is partially from here so bias but jerk chicken is worth a mention alone. Very well spiced and usually super juicy chicken. Meat and rice type of stuff. But ackee and saltfish is interesting too, very salted cod mixed with this subtle flavoured fruit that looks a bit like eggs? Again better than it sounds.

Moroccan - If you’re interested in Egyptian food (I also have no idea what that would be, lol) Morrocan is probably a good recommendation. They have a dish called tajine which is a well spiced chicken stew, they cook it in a special pot I think

Mexican! - I know it’s obvious but in Europe Mexican restaurants are very basic. Tacos, burritos etc. But there are so many amazing dishes like mole (chocolate and chilli sauce, fucking delicious) that always get missed. There’s one called queso relleño (?) That is basically like a very rich Bolognese wrapped in cheese and FRIED. Probably best not to eat too often. But maybe you guys in the US get more authentic Mexican food anyway

Also, saying “ethnic foods” comes across a little odd. Makes you sound like a 50 year old white guy who’s never left his home town and isn’t so sure about all this weird food these strange brown people eat. Nothing wrong with being white or culturally insulated of course, but probably not the look you were going for. Might explain the downvotes.

The wiki says they are accused of it but lists many reports which found no evidence of this. In the current conflict there are apparently a couple of cases with hostages.

The big problem with most of these claims is that it’s “proximate” shielding being alleged, which is not when you are literally shielding someone (as in the recent cases with Israel using Palestinians, and assumedly those with Hamas using the hostages), but when you are just sat at home, in school, whatever, going about your usual business totally unaware. But you are a “shield” because the enemy decides they want to attack something near you.

This quote really sums up the rhetorical strategy:

“Israeli citizens in Tel Aviv are not classified as shields when Hamas launches rockets towards the Israel Defense Forces military command headquarters located in the city center. By sharp contrast, Palestinian civilians are cast as human shields when Israel bombs Hamas command centers and military infrastructures in Gaza. In other words, if Hamas kills Israeli civilians, it is to blame, and if Israel kills Palestinian civilians, then Hamas is also to blame, since, at least ostensibly, it is Hamas that has deployed these civilians as shields.”

It is a trick so that Israel can avoid responsibility for it’s actions. I’m not saying you are supporting Israel or denying their crimes (I know you explicitly didn’t), but this rhetoric is WAY more common than genuine instances of human shielding, which thus far has primarily been done by Israel, not Hamas.

Likewise, this isn’t excusing Hamas. Fuck them. But aside from the case with the hostages (didn’t check the reference but I trust it), there is very little evidence that Hamas does this. Most of the time it is an outright deception.

Edit: this is from the report cited by wikipedia:

A witness said that as Israeli forces advanced, the fighters phoned the Israeli police using one of the hostages as an interpreter, identified themselves as from the Qassam Brigades, and told the police that they would shoot those they held if the Israeli forces fired on them. During the standoff, the attackers forced about half the hostages into the yard of the home between Israeli forces and the fighters, according to two witnesses the New York Times interviewed. A man the attackers said was their commander took off his clothing and took Yasmin Porat, one of the hostages, outside to shield him as he surrendered to the Israelis. After the fighters fired again at the Israeli forces, an Israeli tank opened fire on the home. The fighters were killed, as well as 12 hostages who were killed in the crossfire.

So clearly it does happen. But cases are rare and on both sides of the conflict

They have a “no go” zone in the city where I live. I went there. It is nice. The people are poor by Swedish standards but if you’re not from here you would not bat an eye. The only way you believe this is if you have never been to Sweden, or at least not a “no go” zone and/or you get all your news from racist right wing fuckwits who desperately try to convince you that Arabs are destroying European society.

OP Sweden is nice, even Stockholm and Gothenburg, just a bit expensive

This strategy of the government calling every troublesome minority ethnic group anywhere “terrorists” got kicked into high gear when the US government started using 9/11 as an excuse to commit war crimes and remove restrictions from police forces (like the right of habeas corpus), and it has been a constant slippery slope since then.

Yeah we apparently did not learn a single fucking thing from 9/11 and the shit show that followed.

“Terrorism is ok when we do it”

Agree 100%. I don’t think the people you were arguing with really want to engage on these points, their entire position only applies in the voting booth. They’re right, in pure Biden vs Trump there is only one reasonable choice. I just wouldn’t gamble so hard on the population being reasonable, otherwise Trump would have never won in 2016 either.

When the genocide started? Gosh yeah you’re right what a mystery

They are avoiding the question.

I think since the scales are tipped in republicans’ favour (e.g. losing popular vote but winning presidency always goes one way - Trump, Bush), not voting likely benefits them over the dems. Depending on your state of course.

No worries. Mistakes happen. I won’t be a prick about it.

But not anti Biden. Anti genocide. I can see why you might get those two confused, lol

Thank you for putting this so well.

Never mind. I made a mistake trying to follow the thread.

Well if you’re going around making up what people are saying then you’re doing a pretty horrifically bad job of having a conversation.

Where did I defend third party votes? NOWHERE

Because this comment chain stems from my reply? Not complicated. But yes my apologies for getting the wrong idea.

I cared the whole time.

Honestly as someone who isn’t American, this is more important to me than economic policy or whatever. I want Biden to win, Trump winning would be awful for everyone, basically worldwide. But most of all I want the kids to stop dying. I really don’t think this is so unreasonable.

Trump won’t be convinced. Biden might be. And this “less important” issue could still cost him swing states. I think maybe not supporting a genocide could be a vote winner.

But if someone criticises the “meh,” this is somehow an issue with the person and not the “meh”?

This one guy posts several times every single day about the war and often lays it all at Biden’s feet. If he’s paid, Putin or whoever it is truly does get their money’s worth with so many posts and comments essentially indirectly supporting trump.

Are you talking about me? Do you seriously think someone pays me to post rather than me just being a person who is horrified about what’s happening?

Just because it’s been happening for a while doesn’t make it right.

Why was Rafah a red line until all of a sudden it wasn’t? Because he knows it’s morally wrong and will lead to a lot of death but is too much of a coward to stand up for what he believes.

The Trumpists are ecstatic how easy it was to flip these morons.

I would never vote Trump. “Morons” for having criticism of a president supplying weapons that have killed over 10k children?

These centrist democrats are ecstatic how a substantial number of their voters have no standards whatsoever and will defend anything as long as it keeps Trump out.

Downvote all you want. If you can’t criticise Biden for this you’re a piece of shit