02-26-2003, 01:18 AM
Hi,
Inaction was a dire mistake and stalled our reaction to WWII. It did not start it.
What "started" WW II? The treaty of Versailles? The unresolved issues from WW I? The Serbian desire for independence from the Empire? The founding of the Empire with the coronation of Charlemagne? You can push it back as far as you want, with each effect having a cause.
I said "gave us WW II". The peace movement gave us WW II because they failed, over and over, to restrict Hitler. First by not enforcing the limitations on German armament (which, unlike the economic points of the treaty were *not* punitive, merely precautionary). Then by following a policy of appeasement when Nazi Germany was still weak enough that its expansionist policies could still be contained. That in spite of the repeated speeches by Hitler in which he detailed the plans for lebensraum. Speeches which were distributed throughout the world in newsreels. And the influence of the peace movement is seen in the lack of military buildup of the Allies in spite of the demonstration of what Germany's new forces were capable of in the Spanish Civil War.
What "started" WW II? In Europe, the invasion of Poland, September '39. In Asia, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, started almost exactly 8 years earlier and pretty well ignored throughout Europe. The causes are many, and different for different nations (after all it was *World* War II -- although WW I was pretty much a European skirmish). But the failure to stop it can be laid to a bunch of people lacking foresight or courage. Or both.
God forbid that emotion should taint their judgement.
You say that in sarcasm, but indeed, if there is a god, may he indeed forbid emotion overruling judgment. For emotion is seldom right and *always* wrong when it goes against judgment. That's why rational thought and not irrational feeling should be the guide in affairs between people.
As to the rest of the your post, you flatter yourself. You weren't the specific idiot I was thinking of when I answered Roland. But if it makes you feel good to think so, by all means go ahead.
--Pete
Inaction was a dire mistake and stalled our reaction to WWII. It did not start it.
What "started" WW II? The treaty of Versailles? The unresolved issues from WW I? The Serbian desire for independence from the Empire? The founding of the Empire with the coronation of Charlemagne? You can push it back as far as you want, with each effect having a cause.
I said "gave us WW II". The peace movement gave us WW II because they failed, over and over, to restrict Hitler. First by not enforcing the limitations on German armament (which, unlike the economic points of the treaty were *not* punitive, merely precautionary). Then by following a policy of appeasement when Nazi Germany was still weak enough that its expansionist policies could still be contained. That in spite of the repeated speeches by Hitler in which he detailed the plans for lebensraum. Speeches which were distributed throughout the world in newsreels. And the influence of the peace movement is seen in the lack of military buildup of the Allies in spite of the demonstration of what Germany's new forces were capable of in the Spanish Civil War.
What "started" WW II? In Europe, the invasion of Poland, September '39. In Asia, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, started almost exactly 8 years earlier and pretty well ignored throughout Europe. The causes are many, and different for different nations (after all it was *World* War II -- although WW I was pretty much a European skirmish). But the failure to stop it can be laid to a bunch of people lacking foresight or courage. Or both.
God forbid that emotion should taint their judgement.
You say that in sarcasm, but indeed, if there is a god, may he indeed forbid emotion overruling judgment. For emotion is seldom right and *always* wrong when it goes against judgment. That's why rational thought and not irrational feeling should be the guide in affairs between people.
As to the rest of the your post, you flatter yourself. You weren't the specific idiot I was thinking of when I answered Roland. But if it makes you feel good to think so, by all means go ahead.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?