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James Surowiecki
@JamesSurowiecki
The thing about Piker is that he's not smart. All else aside, he uses the phrase "pound for pound" exactly wrong here. "Pound for pound" means "adjusted for size." Obviously, even if you think that some of America's military attacks are "terrorist," pound-for-pound Al Qaeda is miles worse in terms of the deaths it's inflicted relative to its size.
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Alicka
@alickasebova
A pound for pound analysis strictly on frontline fighting forces and direct deaths, U.S. is worse. Al-Qaeda: ~15,000 operatives | ~15K direct deaths | 1.0 deaths per fighter U.S.: ~300,000 combat troops | ~940,000 direct deaths | 3.1 deaths per fighter
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James Surowiecki
@JamesSurowiecki
The US has not killed anywhere close to 940,000 civilians since 2001. Al Qaeda had 500 core operatives in 2001, not 15,000. And defining every Al Qaeda member as the equivalent of a combat troop, implying that it has no support staff, logistical operatives, etc., is silly.
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James Surowiecki
@JamesSurowiecki
His main point elides the difference between an organization like Al Qaeda that intentionally murders civilians and an organization like the US military that follows rules designed to limit civilian deaths, and rests on the assumption that all civilian deaths are equivalent. I
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dredgedskeleton
@dredgedskeleton
is it? what data are you using? per a simple google search, the US military has killed 400,000 civilians since 9/11 with munitions. Brown University estimates that the downstream effects of these attacks has resulted in almost 4 million deaths. Al Quada (not ISIS, not Hamas) is
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James Surowiecki
@JamesSurowiecki
You're calling all civilian deaths caused by US military action "terrorist," which is insane. Regardless, the US number is, according to your own screenshot, maybe 40-50x the Al Qaeda number, while the US military was 1000x bigger than Al Qaeda was in the 1990s and 2000s. So
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sloptimistic
@sloptimistic
You are doing to the midterms what people accused Piker of doing to the last election. Nice work. I bet you feel real proud. You are effectively pro-MAGA posting this drivel. Nothing has been learned, back to hell we go.
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Ready 🇺🇸
@ReadyToWin2026
Raw numbers, we have killed more civilians on this planet by force than any other country. Except China. And poissiblr the Khmer Rouge. The fact so many of us Americans think this is some badge of honor is fucking disgusting.
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Shivura Comment Co.
@ShivuraC
you are strange…try this: over the last 80 years how much suffering has the usa inflicted on innocents and their families and their futures total, then compare it to islamic extremism…see what answer you get…pound for pound
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infinitepain
@infinitepa94961
Yeah that is because america is a state actor so obviously it's terrorism will be different. And also since I have never questioned u u r not allowed to talk about other people's intelligence. U american imperialist pigs crybabies
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Joseph Fay
@joe_fay1
You're misunderstanding that he doesn't care what the phrase means or whether gross or per capita America is worse that al qaeda. This fundamentally is not about facts. It's about the feeling that the United States is evil and everything else flows from the subjective belief.
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ctoma7
@ctoma7
Oh shit James! You fucking got him here! Used “pound for pound” incorrectly? Wow, Hasan Piker will probably never be online again after this takedown. Nicely done, James.
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Gary Busey
@Notbillbusey
Someday we’ll emerge from this era where social media influencers who have never done anything other then created and maintained an online click bait personality have one single iota of influence in the world.
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Ben Johnson
@benjohnsonmusic
Will you engage with the substance of the argument, or simply criticize the misuse of a colloquialism by an ESL person? US military interventions have led to MILLIONS of deaths.
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🇺🇸Jackie S 🇺🇦🙏🏻4️⃣☮️
@KaysGramma
The thing about social media users/influencers — they’ll say anything for likes, RTs and engagement How about you STFU about a Twitch streamer and start focusing on the actual candidates
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🇺🇸Jackie S 🇺🇦🙏🏻4️⃣☮️
@KaysGramma
Newsflash — Hasan Piker IS a streamer Hasan Piker is NOT a political figure The fact you’re all out there trying to make him the issue makes me think many of YOU are the bad figures out here Maybe its YOU that should shut the hell up Focus on the candidates & the issues
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Ryan Kingston
@ryanjkingston
The thing about Suroweiki is that he's not smart. All else aside, he uses the phrase "miles worse" exactly wrong here. "Miles worse" isn't a phrase, usually people say "miles ahead" to mean something is better or more advanced. Is he trying to say Al-Qaeda is better than the US?
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Alberto C. Medina
@AlbertoMedinaPR
So he used an idiom wrong—though everyone still understood what he meant. Is that more indicative of “intelligence” than the substance of his point? Unless you’re trying to distract from it… Maybe you’re “smarter” than
@hasanthehun
but you’re also more intellectually dishonest.
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rupertnewton
@bklyn_newton
I think he knows peoples response to what he says is principally emotional, and many will interpret that expression as comparing tons of explosives fired.
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Leftist Lawyer
@leftist_lawyer
Even adjusting for size Al Qaeda simply doesn’t come close to the atrocities the US has committed since its inception. The genocide of native Americans, the dropping of atomic weapons, the slaughter of civilians in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It’s not even close.
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frogged
@BecomeFrogged
Pound for Pound would relate to the amount of damage they do, and America does a lot more all things considered. Especially since America, created, funded, and trained Al Qaeda. Why are you pretending like their blood isn’t on our hands???
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