re: #38 Sergey Romanov

You make a fair point about the media failing to point out the darker sides of the Palestinian culture. My point is larger than that. I cringe whenever Southerners are being beaten up here, though I understand the point of those making these comments. I cringe whenever someone accuses “the Germans” of the Holocaust. The comments about dysfunctional culture are fair and necessary. E.g. I think it’s not racist to point out the dysfunction in the African American culture. But it’s bad to say something negative about “the blacks”. That’s the whole of my point.

I’m very uncomfortable with the idea of collective guilt as well.

But is collective guilt always wrong, or is there a point at which it becomes correct to say that a society in general, collectively, must bear some guilt for terrorist crimes like this?

This incident really brings the question into sharp relief, because no one can deny that both the Hamas and Fatah governments do engage in near-constant, mind-blowingly hateful incitement — and they start indoctrinating their populace at a very early age.