More On "The War": FUBAR
Dean
I'm still riveted by Ken Burns' PBS series, The War. Young people especially should see it. Some of the later episodes have such eerie similarities to things we hear in the news today it's weird--and obviously not forced or contrived. The episode "FUBAR" is the one I'm watching now, and it's the best yet I think (I DVR them and watch them a day or two later, and if you have a DVR you should set to record this if you haven't already).
I'm particularly impressed with Burns' telling of the somewhat shameful but greatly inspiring tale of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
People who, in war time, insist on distinguishing the enemy by race or religion are f**king idiots. Even if they might be smart in other areas. What they do is so unnecessary and so destructive, it's just shameful.
Related Posts (on one page):
- More On "The War": FUBAR
- "The War"
That may well be true in the war against terror (where one could add nationality as well, interestingly enough) and was partially true for WWII as the example above shows, but it certainly isn't true as a blanket statement, as many wars have been based on race or religion. These classifications are human constructs, and when those constructs are used to create rational for war, it is idiotic to ignore those constructs as being an essential component of the conflict.
And even in wars based on race and religion, there are so often those of the "enemy" race who want no part of the war or are actively sympathetic to you, it's still foolish to make blanket assumptions.
We weren't dumb enough in World War II to treat all German and Italian immigrants as enemies--although we did round up and intern thousands of them, it was at nowhere near the level we did to the Japanese Americans--the only reason seems to have been that it was impractical because there were so many more of them.
More people need to read military history. Modern warfare is bureaucracy taken to actual physical violence.
BTW, Dean - I think you do and aren't surprised.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot indeed.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.