You. You are the reason they need to point it out.

Just move on. You think no one cares, but I care infinitely less about your comment on it than I do learning the background of an elected official, especially given the situation in Gaza.

The average Israeli citizen has been fed propaganda that rivals Russia since day one framing all their nations actions as defensive and necessary. And (broadly speaking) until this war only a few states would argue against this.

It also goes deeper than I initially knew, and Israeli schools and Israeli media fully include Gaza and the west bank wholly as part of Israeli, leading to a belief it is “occupied” by Palestinians, as well as teaching and reporting on Palestine only as terrorists, while enforcing this apartheid state.

So you have now generations of Israelis raised on this, gleefully committing war crimes because they believe it is rightful and just because the Palestinians are all Hamas. Yes even the children.

The level of Propaganda and how successful it has been is horrifying. This was the deliberate goal of the extreme Zionists in Israel, and their success means horrifying things for the world.

Buddhist monks in Tibet have been martyred as China murders them systemically and tries to insist Tibet doesn’t exist, only west China.

Sihks in Punjab have many recorded martyrs and the Sihks killed in the Hindu-led ethnic cleansings in the 1984 Sihk massacre are considered martyrs of the faith.

It’s common, just not as common in Judeo-Christian based faiths.

I mean, I’m not religious or Muslim. I don’t believe in Martyrs really. But there aren’t really Atheist martyrs. I mean, I guess you could die for the cause of Abolition or something and rhetorically be a “martyr” in the anti-slavery cause, but it’s borrowing religious terminology.

That’s all I’m getting at. It’s a religious term.

It is a matter of faith, quite literally. But it’s just good to be aware that many other cultures don’t require a papal seal to acknowledge martyrdom. It’s been somewhat co-opted by the Taliban in headlines, but there are tons of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and other martyrs over time.

Tl;dr: these victims were innocent, and died because of their homeland and their faith. That’s why they are being called martyrs. It’s an apt descriptor.

This story is so sad it reads like a copypasta and I kinda of am hoping it is and is fake, because that is better than it being real.

Martyred also means died righteously in most faiths. As in, innocents who were murdered in the crusades were Martyred. This is less the case is Christianity (which names few martyrs) and more with other faiths.

So yes, many see the civilians who just wanted to live on their homeland and were bombed into kingdom come for existing just because of their faith, as martyrs.

I would love to go back to an artist release model and purchase model where non superstars (with big label circulation) can be successful again.

As is, the same corps own the radio and the venues and the ads. Spotify harms Mariah Carey for example by undervaluing her songs on streaming, but at a fraction of the harm it inflicts to smaller artists.