‘We Are a World Awash in Weapons and Grievances’

NYT Now

‘We Are a World Awash in Weapons and Grievances’

By LELA MOORE, SONA PATEL and MICHELLE BARUCHMANJULY 16, 2016

Here are the top 10 comments of the week on our digital platforms, as selected by our readers and the journalists who moderate nearly every comment.
Photo
Credit Yasin Akgul/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Attempted Coup in Turkey

1. The Turkish military has a history of overthrowing regimes that are not to its liking. The Turkish military is also filled with staunch secularists for the most part, seeing their role as the watchdogs that keep Turkey nationalist and areligious, just like the founder of the modern republic, Ataturk, would’ve wanted.

So the fact that it took the Turkish military this long to go hard against the soft Islamism of Erdogan, as well as Erdogan’s increasing willingness to usurp more and more state power, is surprising to me.

I guess they didn’t want to ruffle E.U. feathers as they sought the greatest seal of approval for modern secularism — acceptance to the E.U. But now that they see Brexit and the massive trouble caused by the E.U.’s common currency, the bloom is off the rose.

So the Turkish military finally had space to act against Erdogan, and act they have done.

— Luboman411 in New York, reacting to an article about an attempt by factions of the military in Turkey to seize control of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Terrorist Attack in Nice, France
Photo
Credit Eric Gaillard/Reuters

2. The natural human reaction is to scream “do something to make this stop.” It is the same instinct George W. relied on to get the American public to support a war in Iraq.

We were going to depose a tyrant and make everybody’s life better. We were going to put a stop to brutality.
Continue reading the main story

What we should have learned is that some problems don’t have quick answers that don’t create worse problems. So jumping on the Trump wagon, or telling Hillary and Obama to do something, anything, ignores the gravity of a situation that won’t get better tomorrow no matter how loudly we yell or how many people we detain or bombs we deploy.

We are a world awash in weapons and grievances.

Take them on directly if you want real change. But be prepared for it to take time.

— Paula in New York, reacting to an article about the terrorist attack in Nice, France, which killed more than 80 people and left more than 200 wounded.

This comment had more than 300 reader recommendations.
Photo
Credit Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

3. The only way we can respond effectively to such acts is to keep living life to the fullest — keep going to cafes, beaches, fireworks displays, concerts and parks; keep working; keep celebrating liberty; and keep caring deeply when families lose loved ones because of a senseless, calculated, revolting act of violence.

Otherwise, we cede control of our lives to men like the driver of the death truck.

— Katz in Tennessee.
Photo
Credit Andrew Testa for The New York Times

4. I am afraid to turn on the TV anymore. It’s one tragedy after another. I’ve tried to shield my young kids from this horror, but it’s become so commonplace that it is not possible to do so.

And yet — what do I say to them? I don’t want my children to live in fear and think the world is a scary, horrible place — but I am secretly terrified for their well being.

— Dana in Santa Monica, Calif.

This comment received more than 240 reader recommendations.
Black Lives Matter
Photo
Credit Jonathan Bachman/Reuters

5. Why does everyone assume that “Black Lives Matter” is followed by “more?” It’s not. It’s followed by “as much.” As much as yours and mine. Why on earth would that be racist?

— Susan Stein Pszenitzki on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about Rudolph Giuliani’s criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.

This comment received more than 2,300 likes.
Donald Trump Chooses Mike Pence
Photo
Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

6. Thousands of teachers will thank Donald Trump for taking Mike Pence out of Indiana. He is against public education and all that it stands for in our state.

What Trump doesn’t realize is that he will lose many votes for picking Pence. There may be many happy Indiana citizens tomorrow!

— R. Easton in Indiana, reacting to an article about Donald J. Trump’s choice of Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana as his running mate.
Theresa May
Photo
Credit Frank Augstein/Associated Press

7. I followed British media’s Brexit coverage for weeks and have fingers crossed for this mix of fiscal responsibility and social conscience.

It also has me wishing the American conservative movement could also avoid the divisiveness of so-called family values and other social issues which have torn this country apart for years.

Years ago, Ms. May campaigned against police profiling, a stance viewed as heretical to the now-purified American conservative movement.

A refreshingly thoughtful, balanced individual. Good luck to the Brits.

— Tes in Reno, Nev., reacting to an article about Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May, who took office Wednesday.
Photo
Credit Neil Hall/Reuters

8. As a lifelong Labour supporter, I am permanently skeptical of Conservative politicians.

Nevertheless, there seemed to be a lot to like about Theresa May. Very hard-working, refuses to yuck it up with the boys, has plenty of steel in her character, and — unlike Margaret Thatcher — has made real efforts to help other women succeed in politics.

Then she blew it for me on her first day by appointing the discredited and demonstrably untrustworthy clown Boris Johnson as foreign secretary.

That’s the rough equivalent of America’s secretary of state. Appoint him court jester or tea maker, but come on — foreign secretary?

So much for any hope she’d be a serious, pragmatic P.M. Very disappointing.

— Dan McS in New York.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg vs. Trump
Photo
Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times

9. What’s so ironic in the era of Trump is how everyone thinks he’s more dangerous than all of the precedent and tradition we’re throwing aside when we have people like Supreme Court justices making completely inappropriate, politically driven comments not becoming of their offices.

Why is everyone more concerned about a man that is not even in power than people in positions of power that continue to overstep and abuse that power at a seemingly increasing rate?

We just saw [Attorney General Loretta] Lynch and Bill Clinton meet at the Phoenix airport to comment on an ongoing investigation of which the latter’s wife was the main subject; now we have an “apolitical” Supreme Court justice making strong political comments outside of the courtroom.

This is a democratic republic, not an aristocracy.

— Mike Ellis on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s criticism of Donald J. Trump. She called him a “faker,” then later expressed regret for her remarks.
Pokémon Go
Photo
Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times

10. I’m already thinking of ways I can take my dog out and we can go Pokémon hunting.

I absolutely loathe walking as exercise, and it’s only bearable if I’m doing something else at the same time or if I’m walking my dog because he needs it. Pokémon Go makes my walks less dull, and gets me moving more places than my usual rut.

If my dog and I go out for a few hours of walking and playing Pokémon Go, everyone wins: He gets exercise, I get exercise, and we both have fun.

— Rebecca in Seattle, reacting to an op-ed about the new augmented-reality game, now available as a smartphone app.
Continue reading the main story