 Editor in Chief Bill   | 28 Dec 2018 3:05 p.m. PST |
You were asked – TMP link According to historian Roger J. Spiller, fighting for a 'great and moral cause' makes no difference.…Soldiering is a morally neutral act, so designed by centuries of tradition. Soldiers have fought bravely and well for the most despicable of causes, and the Second World War lasted for six years because millions of soldiers did exactly that… Do you agree? 46% said "yes, I agree"
38% said "no, I disagree" |
| Winston Smith | 28 Dec 2018 3:33 p.m. PST |
Meaningless.
How many German soldiers thought they were not fighting for a "good cause"? |
| Editor in Chief Bill | 28 Dec 2018 3:45 p.m. PST |
How many German soldiers thought they were not fighting for a "good cause"? I know of one who knew it was wrong, he said he always fired to miss.  |
| goragrad | 28 Dec 2018 8:13 p.m. PST |
Exactly Winston – between patriotism and propaganda the majority of soldiers believe in their cause. |
| Winston Smith | 29 Dec 2018 9:48 a.m. PST |
How do you survive the war if you shoot to miss all the time? |
| Dynaman8789 | 29 Dec 2018 9:53 a.m. PST |
If your squad mates are shooting and hitting helps. |
| Korvessa | 29 Dec 2018 11:21 a.m. PST |
I think lots of people shoot to miss in a war.
If it is true that it takes 1000s of rounds fired for every one killed by small arms, I suspect that most infantrymen didn't kill anyone. |
| Aethelflaeda was framed | 29 Dec 2018 12:48 p.m. PST |
In theory, one who shoots to miss, is not really fighting for the cause his uniform may indicate. He might well be construed as fighting for the other side. Fighting is never morally neutral. You either agree that the end has justified the need for war or you don't. Whether you have the power to not fo fight in a conflict is the only real problem. Just following orders is not an excuse but it can be mitigated sometimes if you are forced to follow orders and lack the power to rebel. |
| Tom D1 | 31 Dec 2018 7:40 p.m. PST |
I knew a Hungarian, an ethnic German. The German army came into his town and took all the Germans in his high school class. Next thing he knew he was on the Russian front. No moral choice, just survival. An American of the same generation, in fact his co-worker, landed in North Africa with a card in French and Arabic (Morroccan?) saying the Americans were their friends, but " We were gonna shoot anything that moved". War is Hell. |
| Aethelflaeda was framed | 01 Jan 2019 12:20 p.m. PST |
The fact that he did not volunteer, but was coerced is a slight mitigation but showed he had still made a moral choice: cooperate and possibly kill some one else, or be killed himself. He could have fled to the mountains. He had a choice but granted a tough one. |
