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Nobody saw the Japanese coming in 1941, either. And yet, millions of Americans sacrificed, liquidated their businesses or shifted them to a war materiel produc

Nobody saw the Japanese coming in 1941, either. And yet, millions of Americans sacrificed, liquidated their businesses or shifted them to a war materiel production footing, changed jobs, bought war bonds, etc. Tens of thousands of diners and clothiers closed their doors in 1942, and Americans were largely happy to do it for the greater good. This is precisely the opposite of what is occurring now - demands of bailouts, monetization, handouts, 50+ person St. Patrick's Day parties still going, bitching about having to learn how to cook, etc. A complete and total unwillingness to accept even a modicum of pain or sacrifice.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
Wasn't there a bunch of huge government intervention during WW2? Businesses shifted to materiel production because they were told the have to, no? So it seems fair that people are demanding leadership now too, no?
vikramkr 7y ago
There was enormous government intervention - the military industrial complex basically revitalized the entire economy. And America didn't even want to join until we were attacked first, even with the threat the nazis posed. This was all happening in the middle of the new deal, one of the most significant, major government bailouts in all of american history, fundementally defining america as a welfare state. And what do you call the huge amount of sacrifice by employers taking lowered productivity by sending workers to be remote? Companies that have declared they'll continue paying workers even if business gets shut down? What do you call the enormous social effort to get people to understand social distancing and flattening the curve? Did the populace even know what those terms were a couple weeks ago? What about the thousands of students packing up and going home, evacuating campus while their graduation ceremonies that they've been looking forward to for 4 years are cancelled? And do you seriously think that in all of america during world war two, nobody was a bad person that didn't accept pain or sacrifice, or even actively make things worse? What about jsut a few years before int he spanish flu when government stupidity led to the streets of philadelphia being filled with corpses because people didn't want to call off a parade? What about all the nazi sympathizers and eugenecists in the US that supported hitler? If your bar for "society is just and moral" is that literally no idiots hold a saint patricks day parade out of 360 million people, we've never been at that bar. The only constant through history has been people with superiority complexes on the side moralizing about how people used to be so much more moral (just like themselves of course) in the good old days, and how much society has decayed today.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago

Wasn't there a bunch of huge government intervention during WW2? Businesses shifted to materiel production because they were told the have to, no? So it seems fair that people are demanding leadership now too, no?

vikramkr 7y ago

There was enormous government intervention - the military industrial complex basically revitalized the entire economy. And America didn't even want to join until we were attacked first, even with the threat the nazis posed. This was all happening in the middle of the new deal, one of the most significant, major government bailouts in all of american history, fundementally defining america as a welfare state. And what do you call the huge amount of sacrifice by employers taking lowered productivity by sending workers to be remote? Companies that have declared they'll continue paying workers even if business gets shut down? What do you call the enormous social effort to get people to understand social distancing and flattening the curve? Did the populace even know what those terms were a couple weeks ago? What about the thousands of students packing up and going home, evacuating campus while their graduation ceremonies that they've been looking forward to for 4 years are cancelled? And do you seriously think that in all of america during world war two, nobody was a bad person that didn't accept pain or sacrifice, or even actively make things worse? What about jsut a few years before int he spanish flu when government stupidity led to the streets of philadelphia being filled with corpses because people didn't want to call off a parade? What about all the nazi sympathizers and eugenecists in the US that supported hitler? If your bar for "society is just and moral" is that literally no idiots hold a saint patricks day parade out of 360 million people, we've never been at that bar. The only constant through history has been people with superiority complexes on the side moralizing about how people used to be so much more moral (just like themselves of course) in the good old days, and how much society has decayed today.