Reminder that this is actually, literally, a Geneva Convention violation. https://twitter.com/KnowParty/status/1279193542469079042

Many people have pointed out that so is the use of tear gas. And yes, it is, but unfortunately governments weasel out of that all the time because of the way the Geneva Protocols define "combat" and "enemies" and "war".

Misusing the universal medical symbol, on the other hand, is EXTREMELY CLEAR CUT. If you play video games, you may have noticed that health stuff is never marked with the red cross symbol! Why not? Because EVEN USING IT IN A VIDEO GAME IS AGAINST THE GENEVA PROTOCOLS.

And the reason for that is SUPER FUCKING OBVIOUS: because if that medic symbol isn't completely inviolate, LOTS OF PEOPLE WILL DIE.

If people can't trust that a truck marked with that symbol is transporting medics and not soldiers, it's going to get blown up.

If people can't trust that a tent marked with that symbol has doctors in it, they won't go for help, and they'll die of disease or injury.

Transporting armed soldiers in medic vehicles is, in fact, one of the VERY VILEST things that has been done by this vilest of governments, because even though it's harmed fewer people up front, it harms BASICALLY EVERYONE in the long run.

This is going to get medical personnel killed. It is going to get innocent victims in warzones and disaster areas killed. (It is also, if you care about that sort of thing, going to get American soldiers killed.)

And i understand that a thread focused on this runs the risk of getting me yelled at -- "there are babies in cages, why do you care about some red paint?" -- but i'm talking about this precisely because i don't see anyone ELSE talking about it, and IT IS IMPORTANT.

Obviously i care about babies in cages (and everyone else in cages too; i am 100% against locking ANYONE in cages, and i've definitely said so many times). But i wanted to yell about this PRECISELY BECAUSE the sheer horror of it is getting lost in all the other horrors.

Because it's EASY to say "it's just a symbol. Who cares?" but symbols are integral to the systems that keep the world from being worse and scarier than it is.

The world is bad and scary enough, we don't need assholes in power actively making it worse.

Also, it's been pointed out that this isn't the first time in the past month that the government has done this. It's clearly a pattern at this point. And this really, seriously, is going to get a lot of people killed.

https://twitter.com/hkcorresponds/status/1279217587910402048 https://twitter.com/soursaltysweet/status/1279218093022117889

Oh, and I'd forgotten but someone else pointed it out: this is also explicitly against US FEDERAL LAW, as well as against international law. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/706