This wonderful article gives me yet another opportunity to talk about something I love, the concept of nuance. I’ll admit I’m almost fresh out of examples. But Daniel provided us with a good one here in his invaluable and must read article! Pedro Sanchez is hard-left and Bibi Netanyahu is hard-right, yet they are guilty of many of the same sins. Both are also corrupt criminals run by very unpopular governments that are absolutely insane.
Let’s say I’m living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I. I would be absolutely appalled by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by the Black Hand, condemn Gavrilo Princip’s actions and call for him to be brought to justice, marvel at the amazing diversity of peoples and languages in the empire, love visiting beautiful cities like Vienna, Prague and Budapest, admire Marie Teresa and Joseph II, and praise the Hapsburgs for all they had accomplished. But I would also feel it was time for the empire to peacefully dissolve, advocate for an Austrian republic and self-determination for all the people’s of the empire, oppose discrimination against ethnic minorities, oppose the empire joining the Central Powers, oppose the empire joining World War I, disapprove of our alliance with Germany, be disgusted by the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbia, condemn the atrocities committed by the empire against the Serbians and the Galicians in the strongest possible terms, defect and fight as a foreign volunteer in the French Army in World War I, have no love for Emperors Franz Joseph I or Charles I and IV and would be glad when the empire ceased to exist.
Let’s say I was a Jew living in the British Mandate of Palestine in the late 1940s. I would be a proud and pious Jew, would be a staunch Zionist, serve in the Haganah and later in the IDF, revere David Ben-Gurion, celebrate the UN’s vote to create a Jewish state in Palestine, be overjoyed when the state of Israel was declared, celebrate independence, hate the British and be glad to see them go, lobby the United States, France, the Soviet Union, and Iron Curtain countries to send us aid and weapons, welcome foreign volunteers, despise the Arabs for invading our country, deeply admire Harry S. Truman for recognizing Israel, marvel at the courage of Holocaust survivors fighting in our army, be appalled by Arab atrocities against Jews, would rejoice at our victory, and be glad when Israel refused to allow the Palestinian refugees to return. At the same time, I would loathe the Irgun, welcome the Druze, Circassians and Bedouins assisting us, be shocked by and condemn the Deir Yassin and Lydda Massacres, condemn the King David Hotel Bombing, pray for the British and Arab victims of the bombing, protect Arab civilians from harm, I would feel empathy for all those fleeing in the Nakba, be sad that in some cases Arabs had to be expelled by the IDF, and would champion the cause of the Palestinian refugees at the UN and demand the Arab countries take them in and integrate them.
Let’s say I’m the living in Germany in the 1940s as commander of the infamous German Police Reserve Battalion 101. I would despite not liking Hitler and the Nazis, be proud of serving my country, I would be a staunch German patriot, be happy to meet my men and build a rapport with them, spend many a night laughing and joking around with them, pray for the safety of their families back home, pray for them to survive the war, and want to do the best job I could for my country. But at the same time, when I found out what we were being tasked with doing mass executions of Jews I would have no part of it, would order my men to not to report to duty, make every excuse I could think of to my superiors as to why we hadn’t done anything, quietly help evacuate Jews from the city, bribe German officials to turn their back and let families escape, order my men to fire over the heads of Jews and then let them get away, purposely jam guns, steal ammunition, sabotage vehicles, and break military equipment, bald faced lie to the SS and give them false information about what we were doing, pray for the Jews of the surrounding area that they would all make it clean away and that I’d meet them again at the end of the war, be shocked by the Holocaust, feel that it was un-German, un-Christian and immoral to do what this regime was doing, court-martial any of my men who dared even think about participating in the mass executions, still love my country but feel it was going down a dark path, save potential victims by persuading the authorities to put them on work detail instead, and would wait until as many Jews as possible were rescued before defecting to the Allies with my men.
👏👏👏 A terrific piece, Daniel! Benjamin Netanyahu and Pedro Sanchez are both human garbage and need to go for the good of their people! Vote Likud and PSOE out! I encourage all Spaniards and Israelis to vote for Albert Núñez Feijóo and Gadi Eisenkot in the upcoming elections!
This wonderful article gives me yet another opportunity to talk about something I love, the concept of nuance. I’ll admit I’m almost fresh out of examples. But Daniel provided us with a good one here in his invaluable and must read article! Pedro Sanchez is hard-left and Bibi Netanyahu is hard-right, yet they are guilty of many of the same sins. Both are also corrupt criminals run by very unpopular governments that are absolutely insane.
Let’s say I’m living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I. I would be absolutely appalled by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by the Black Hand, condemn Gavrilo Princip’s actions and call for him to be brought to justice, marvel at the amazing diversity of peoples and languages in the empire, love visiting beautiful cities like Vienna, Prague and Budapest, admire Marie Teresa and Joseph II, and praise the Hapsburgs for all they had accomplished. But I would also feel it was time for the empire to peacefully dissolve, advocate for an Austrian republic and self-determination for all the people’s of the empire, oppose discrimination against ethnic minorities, oppose the empire joining the Central Powers, oppose the empire joining World War I, disapprove of our alliance with Germany, be disgusted by the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbia, condemn the atrocities committed by the empire against the Serbians and the Galicians in the strongest possible terms, defect and fight as a foreign volunteer in the French Army in World War I, have no love for Emperors Franz Joseph I or Charles I and IV and would be glad when the empire ceased to exist.
Let’s say I was a Jew living in the British Mandate of Palestine in the late 1940s. I would be a proud and pious Jew, would be a staunch Zionist, serve in the Haganah and later in the IDF, revere David Ben-Gurion, celebrate the UN’s vote to create a Jewish state in Palestine, be overjoyed when the state of Israel was declared, celebrate independence, hate the British and be glad to see them go, lobby the United States, France, the Soviet Union, and Iron Curtain countries to send us aid and weapons, welcome foreign volunteers, despise the Arabs for invading our country, deeply admire Harry S. Truman for recognizing Israel, marvel at the courage of Holocaust survivors fighting in our army, be appalled by Arab atrocities against Jews, would rejoice at our victory, and be glad when Israel refused to allow the Palestinian refugees to return. At the same time, I would loathe the Irgun, welcome the Druze, Circassians and Bedouins assisting us, be shocked by and condemn the Deir Yassin and Lydda Massacres, condemn the King David Hotel Bombing, pray for the British and Arab victims of the bombing, protect Arab civilians from harm, I would feel empathy for all those fleeing in the Nakba, be sad that in some cases Arabs had to be expelled by the IDF, and would champion the cause of the Palestinian refugees at the UN and demand the Arab countries take them in and integrate them.
Let’s say I’m the living in Germany in the 1940s as commander of the infamous German Police Reserve Battalion 101. I would despite not liking Hitler and the Nazis, be proud of serving my country, I would be a staunch German patriot, be happy to meet my men and build a rapport with them, spend many a night laughing and joking around with them, pray for the safety of their families back home, pray for them to survive the war, and want to do the best job I could for my country. But at the same time, when I found out what we were being tasked with doing mass executions of Jews I would have no part of it, would order my men to not to report to duty, make every excuse I could think of to my superiors as to why we hadn’t done anything, quietly help evacuate Jews from the city, bribe German officials to turn their back and let families escape, order my men to fire over the heads of Jews and then let them get away, purposely jam guns, steal ammunition, sabotage vehicles, and break military equipment, bald faced lie to the SS and give them false information about what we were doing, pray for the Jews of the surrounding area that they would all make it clean away and that I’d meet them again at the end of the war, be shocked by the Holocaust, feel that it was un-German, un-Christian and immoral to do what this regime was doing, court-martial any of my men who dared even think about participating in the mass executions, still love my country but feel it was going down a dark path, save potential victims by persuading the authorities to put them on work detail instead, and would wait until as many Jews as possible were rescued before defecting to the Allies with my men.
Very healthy article. I needed that.
The Official Guerre & Shalom Book Club 🇮🇱✡️🕎🕍📚📖 Today’s Theme: Japanese History 🇯🇵🎌🗾🏯👹
* The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War by S.C.M. Paine
* The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy by S.C.M. Paine
* The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 by Peter Duus
* Brokers of Empire: Japanese Settler Colonialism in Korea, 1876–1945 by Jun Uchida
* Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism by Louise Young
* Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy by Eri Hotta
* Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower
* Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix
* The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture by Roger J. Davies
👏👏👏 A terrific piece, Daniel! Benjamin Netanyahu and Pedro Sanchez are both human garbage and need to go for the good of their people! Vote Likud and PSOE out! I encourage all Spaniards and Israelis to vote for Albert Núñez Feijóo and Gadi Eisenkot in the upcoming elections!
The assumptions made cannot be substantiated so the hypothesis is false.