Dear naked nurse,
Whenever i get into a debate with someone about war, i usually reason them into a corner until...out comes the hitler card! What about hitler, they say! What about hitler??? Can you help a pacifist out?
-exasperated in Evanston
-exasperated in Evanston
Dear exasperated,
The hitler card can be beaten.
The Holocaust was so awful? You bet. Yet there's no small amount of self-righteous tunnel vision in even allowing that capital H. Every day of our lives, some ethnic group somewhere has been culled by genocide's bloody scythe. But 6 MILLION, your friend says? They want a numbers game - fine (and this will be particularly pertinent if your debate partner is european-american, though other examples abound).
In 1492, there were over a hundred million natives in the "Americas".
Seen many lately?
The eradication of various cultures on this continent dwarfs any similar undertaking in human history. Genocide is just business as usual for the human race, and the nazis? Just U.S. wannabes with a blonde fetish. But more to the point, we didn't go to war with hitler because of genocide. We did so because we didn't cotton to the thought of a country the size of New Mexico conquering the world.
If your friend calls the american genocides ancient history, here are some others the U.S. has dabbled in lately - Bangladesh, Guatemala, Iraq, Rwanda...and those are just the biggies.
At this point, your friend may be chastened. But most non-pacifists are of the "never say die" persuasion (as long as someone else is doing the dying). They might finally have nothing to throw out but the "kill or be killed" dilemma. And there's an easy answer - you kill. But that's a dilemma so specious as to be worthless. In any non-military reality (with humble apologies to domestic abuse victims), the odds of being in a bona fide "kill or be killed" situation are statistically almost nil. Fight or die? Sure. Incapacitate or die? Yeah. Maim or die? It could happen. But don't give me "kill or die" - it's a child's argument. And more to the point, it's got nothing to do with war. War is impersonal. Tribal.
And hitler? He's in the house next door...or in your pants.
War is self-perpetuating.
Greed and exploitation will keep donning religion's cloak, and the killing will go on...
Until we decide to do the obvious.
Make everyone well-fed and well-sexed.
Well-fed, well-sexed folk don't hurt, steal, or kill.
I mean...why would they?
sublime slumbers,
the naked nurse
Send queries to nakednursing@yahoo.com!
The Holocaust was so awful? You bet. Yet there's no small amount of self-righteous tunnel vision in even allowing that capital H. Every day of our lives, some ethnic group somewhere has been culled by genocide's bloody scythe. But 6 MILLION, your friend says? They want a numbers game - fine (and this will be particularly pertinent if your debate partner is european-american, though other examples abound).
In 1492, there were over a hundred million natives in the "Americas".
Seen many lately?
The eradication of various cultures on this continent dwarfs any similar undertaking in human history. Genocide is just business as usual for the human race, and the nazis? Just U.S. wannabes with a blonde fetish. But more to the point, we didn't go to war with hitler because of genocide. We did so because we didn't cotton to the thought of a country the size of New Mexico conquering the world.
If your friend calls the american genocides ancient history, here are some others the U.S. has dabbled in lately - Bangladesh, Guatemala, Iraq, Rwanda...and those are just the biggies.
At this point, your friend may be chastened. But most non-pacifists are of the "never say die" persuasion (as long as someone else is doing the dying). They might finally have nothing to throw out but the "kill or be killed" dilemma. And there's an easy answer - you kill. But that's a dilemma so specious as to be worthless. In any non-military reality (with humble apologies to domestic abuse victims), the odds of being in a bona fide "kill or be killed" situation are statistically almost nil. Fight or die? Sure. Incapacitate or die? Yeah. Maim or die? It could happen. But don't give me "kill or die" - it's a child's argument. And more to the point, it's got nothing to do with war. War is impersonal. Tribal.
And hitler? He's in the house next door...or in your pants.
War is self-perpetuating.
Greed and exploitation will keep donning religion's cloak, and the killing will go on...
Until we decide to do the obvious.
Make everyone well-fed and well-sexed.
Well-fed, well-sexed folk don't hurt, steal, or kill.
I mean...why would they?
sublime slumbers,
the naked nurse
Send queries to nakednursing@yahoo.com!
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