< Hey Sports Fans! >

[rayheinrich]

I wonder how far removed you are from the conflict that you could write something so cheeky about it xD

Then again, I suppose those attempting to be poets have to be cheeky, one way or another.

Still, I think this poem is a little too equivocal, not so much with the causes or the knotty nature of the conflict, but with the proportions of dead. Since I don't really engage with the world of sports, the most specific I could go is to refer to this comic, the tenor of which I find to be more accurate: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/273

The poem is pretty much a bitter, sarcastic comment on war in general and this war in particular.
It addresses how removed most people are to the very real suffering and death of the individuals
involved. They treat it as entertainment, as a game, and have decided to root for one side or
the other and use the body count as a sports score. The poem is a parody of their viewpoint and
how they treat the war.

The use of irony always involves the danger of being taken literally, but because of this ambiguity,
it can sometimes make the point more powerfully. (Reminds me of the quote: "Irony is a sword
without a handle." Meaning that those who use it run the danger of cutting their own hands.)

True disrespect is to use the suffering of the humans involved as an argument for one's side.
I have contempt for the people on both sides that use violence to win what they consider a
game and are indifferent to the suffering they cause.

The right-wing leadership in the Israeli government and the right-wing leadership of Hamas
know of what they are doing: They're fighting to maintain their control of their respective
governments and know the only way to stay in power is to continue the conflict. To them it is
only the power that matters, the suffering of individuals is just another tool to maintain it.
They directly support each other; their explicit and implicit cooperation is required to continue
this war. At the very heart of it, they are one and the same.