60 years after the Nuremberg trials
Have we learned anything?
Or are we taking a step backwards?
You know, I get tired of the same old 'greatest generation' shtick, I really do. It grates on me actually, as no enemy has come close to task us on the same level since. All the enemies of my time have been insidious little pissants and not much more.
Nothing even approaching the fanaticism and horror of the Nazi's has come along since. Saddam is nothing compared to Hitler. Iraq is nothing compared to WW II Germany. The 'war' on terrorism is nothing compared to the scope and totality of WW II.
So was it, while certainly not easier, but at least somewhat more reasonable and logical to rise to the hights they did to combat an evil on that scale?
The Nuremberg trials were unprecedented, a whole world united in trying history's most heinous criminals for crimes largely unspeakable on an almost unimaginable scale.
The world as a whole has not learned from history. Never Again fails to rally when everything after simply pales in comparison. Rwnada is a black, black stain on humanity's conscious. After all, 600,000 is only 10% of 6,000,000, did it warrant total commitement and immediate action? Nay, let it play out, not our problem, not spilling over to us, not disrupting the worlds oil supply.
Today the US refuses to join the International Court for fear of losing sovreignity, even though more then enough safeguards are built into the law. Instead of leading the world in human and civil rights we let the UN HRC be taken over by despotic, tyranical regimes. We aren't even on the council anymore, and the Bush administration shows no real concern about ever being on it again. Guess it's inconvenient to argue human and civil rights when your're one of a handfull of countries who refuse ot ratify the land mine ban or the child labor agreement.
We lack a level of clarity and purpose our fathers before us and their fathrs before them had in spades. We know the truth now and it's made us cynical. Even the good guys can be bad, so why should we care about the bad guys as much? I mean, we're arguing over whether torture should be allowed or not. WE shouldn't even be having this discussion. It should be a no brainer. Instead the administration is pushing to officialy sanction what all world treaties agree consitute torture.
The more technology advances, the more we learn, the more we're exposed to, the more we deal with, the less we can work up the indignation to carry us through to a resolution of what we've learned.
Tsunami in Aisa, flod in New Orleans, quake in Pakistan, quake in Iran, world flu pandemics, world wide war against an enemy that doesn't exist in any traditional sense. No wonder we shut down, it's called denial, it's a basic human defense mechanism. Without it we'd be frozen with inaction over the supreme realization that we will die no matter what we do about it. A heavy burden for the only senient race on the planet to not only comprehend it but to express rage, acceptance and abviliance all at once about it.
But often we rise as a people to confront and beat back the insidious nature of our base mammalian selves and prevail for our ideals over our instincts. At least once, in WW II, we rose such not as just a people, but as a race. We held ourselves accountable for our crimes against ourselves in a truely remarkable fashion.
But was it an abberation? Was it simply the circumstances that took us to that lofty hight? Could we do it again? Would it take a threat on that same level again? Honestly the next time mankind rises as a race on that scale will be either when Jesus Christ decends from the Heavens to call us home, or we're invaded by aliens. If not for Rwanda, what less could move us, then?
I don't envy the 'greatest generation' the cost of their humility, however, even though I do admire it. And I also hold them responsible in no small part of belittling everything that came after. Too many WW II generations fathers did all they could to get their Vietnam generation sons out of the same selfless service to their country they so proudly wear on their sleeves. And today too many of those sons who were never tasked by service and sacrifice now call on others to do what their fathers did, even couching it in like, stark contrasts of black and white evil and good.
And so we try to emulate them, but on the cheap. We want to make the stand but we don't want to pay the price. No sacrifice. Go about your daily lives. Don't let the enemy win. Tax cuts during war time.
Sorry, that one slips out now and then. It really rankles me.
And so we are a product of our times, defined by our enemies, and failing as ever to learn from history. Rather then lead we trip up those in line. Rather by example instead we choose exemption of ourselves from the same calls of justice and right we impose on others, forever living in the shadow of the greatest sacrifice a generation has ever been called on to make, bereft of the kind of enemy that could raise us to the same level. Instead we wallow in our piety and point to past glories as justification and proof of our current actions, never asking of ourselves the same accountability our fathers held themselves to.
And that's my Sunday rant for today, November 20th, 2005, this day in history.
Or are we taking a step backwards?
You know, I get tired of the same old 'greatest generation' shtick, I really do. It grates on me actually, as no enemy has come close to task us on the same level since. All the enemies of my time have been insidious little pissants and not much more.
Nothing even approaching the fanaticism and horror of the Nazi's has come along since. Saddam is nothing compared to Hitler. Iraq is nothing compared to WW II Germany. The 'war' on terrorism is nothing compared to the scope and totality of WW II.
So was it, while certainly not easier, but at least somewhat more reasonable and logical to rise to the hights they did to combat an evil on that scale?
The Nuremberg trials were unprecedented, a whole world united in trying history's most heinous criminals for crimes largely unspeakable on an almost unimaginable scale.
The world as a whole has not learned from history. Never Again fails to rally when everything after simply pales in comparison. Rwnada is a black, black stain on humanity's conscious. After all, 600,000 is only 10% of 6,000,000, did it warrant total commitement and immediate action? Nay, let it play out, not our problem, not spilling over to us, not disrupting the worlds oil supply.
Today the US refuses to join the International Court for fear of losing sovreignity, even though more then enough safeguards are built into the law. Instead of leading the world in human and civil rights we let the UN HRC be taken over by despotic, tyranical regimes. We aren't even on the council anymore, and the Bush administration shows no real concern about ever being on it again. Guess it's inconvenient to argue human and civil rights when your're one of a handfull of countries who refuse ot ratify the land mine ban or the child labor agreement.
We lack a level of clarity and purpose our fathers before us and their fathrs before them had in spades. We know the truth now and it's made us cynical. Even the good guys can be bad, so why should we care about the bad guys as much? I mean, we're arguing over whether torture should be allowed or not. WE shouldn't even be having this discussion. It should be a no brainer. Instead the administration is pushing to officialy sanction what all world treaties agree consitute torture.
The more technology advances, the more we learn, the more we're exposed to, the more we deal with, the less we can work up the indignation to carry us through to a resolution of what we've learned.
Tsunami in Aisa, flod in New Orleans, quake in Pakistan, quake in Iran, world flu pandemics, world wide war against an enemy that doesn't exist in any traditional sense. No wonder we shut down, it's called denial, it's a basic human defense mechanism. Without it we'd be frozen with inaction over the supreme realization that we will die no matter what we do about it. A heavy burden for the only senient race on the planet to not only comprehend it but to express rage, acceptance and abviliance all at once about it.
But often we rise as a people to confront and beat back the insidious nature of our base mammalian selves and prevail for our ideals over our instincts. At least once, in WW II, we rose such not as just a people, but as a race. We held ourselves accountable for our crimes against ourselves in a truely remarkable fashion.
But was it an abberation? Was it simply the circumstances that took us to that lofty hight? Could we do it again? Would it take a threat on that same level again? Honestly the next time mankind rises as a race on that scale will be either when Jesus Christ decends from the Heavens to call us home, or we're invaded by aliens. If not for Rwanda, what less could move us, then?
I don't envy the 'greatest generation' the cost of their humility, however, even though I do admire it. And I also hold them responsible in no small part of belittling everything that came after. Too many WW II generations fathers did all they could to get their Vietnam generation sons out of the same selfless service to their country they so proudly wear on their sleeves. And today too many of those sons who were never tasked by service and sacrifice now call on others to do what their fathers did, even couching it in like, stark contrasts of black and white evil and good.
And so we try to emulate them, but on the cheap. We want to make the stand but we don't want to pay the price. No sacrifice. Go about your daily lives. Don't let the enemy win. Tax cuts during war time.
Sorry, that one slips out now and then. It really rankles me.
And so we are a product of our times, defined by our enemies, and failing as ever to learn from history. Rather then lead we trip up those in line. Rather by example instead we choose exemption of ourselves from the same calls of justice and right we impose on others, forever living in the shadow of the greatest sacrifice a generation has ever been called on to make, bereft of the kind of enemy that could raise us to the same level. Instead we wallow in our piety and point to past glories as justification and proof of our current actions, never asking of ourselves the same accountability our fathers held themselves to.
And that's my Sunday rant for today, November 20th, 2005, this day in history.
posted by opus512 at 4:31 PM
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