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Everything we do that duhumanizes war comes with good ethical concerns (less loss of human life) but this doesn't make war any better. Drones - save our lives.

Everything we do that duhumanizes war comes with good ethical concerns (less loss of human life) but this doesn't make war any better. Drones - save our lives. Cruise missiles - save our lives. An A-bomb saved our lives. Not getting into as many wars would save the most lives. (Note: Some wars - like WW II are I admit unavoidable, but very few fall under this heading)

OstiaAntica 15y ago
World War II wasn't unavoidable. If the West, particularly France, had pursued a less vindictive peace with Germany after the first world war, the circumstances that brought Hitler to power would not have existed. Specifically, the unsustainable reparations on Germany, and the French decision to occupy the German coal regions in the 1920s, destabilized the German economy and destroyed the Weimar Republic.
- billswift 15y ago
  Actually, the French/UK and German powers were pretty much evenly balanced. Woodrow Wilson's meddling in the war and especially in the "peace conference" afterward was the major factors that led to World War Two. And on the Japanese front, it was the economic embargo by the US, as a punitive measure for Japan's attacks on China, that triggered Pearl Harbor. That may actually have been more or less inevitable, the Japanese military had too much influence in their society at that time and were seriously out of touch with reality.
- mseebach 15y ago
  Most bad things are avoidable if you are able to predict the future.
- spindritf 15y ago
  > If the West, particularly France, had pursued a less vindictive peace with Germany after the first world war, the circumstances that brought Hitler to power would not have existed. And if it wasn't for Appeasement, if the western powers made good on their promises (especially the Anglo-Polish military alliance), Hitler could have been defeated before Germans managed to set the whole continent on fire; and if the French didn't put so much trust in the Maginot Line...
  - dantheman 15y ago
    The French were outclassed in all ways, their techniques were completely outdated. For instance using motorcycle messengers to transfer orders instead of telephone/radio communications, they could not respond fast enough to German Blitzkrieg.
jpulgarin 15y ago
It does make war better. It doesn't make it better than no war in the case that the war was a net-negative though.
- 0x12 15y ago
  Almost all wars are net negatives.

OstiaAntica 15y ago

World War II wasn't unavoidable. If the West, particularly France, had pursued a less vindictive peace with Germany after the first world war, the circumstances that brought Hitler to power would not have existed. Specifically, the unsustainable reparations on Germany, and the French decision to occupy the German coal regions in the 1920s, destabilized the German economy and destroyed the Weimar Republic.

billswift 15y ago
Actually, the French/UK and German powers were pretty much evenly balanced. Woodrow Wilson's meddling in the war and especially in the "peace conference" afterward was the major factors that led to World War Two. And on the Japanese front, it was the economic embargo by the US, as a punitive measure for Japan's attacks on China, that triggered Pearl Harbor. That may actually have been more or less inevitable, the Japanese military had too much influence in their society at that time and were seriously out of touch with reality.
mseebach 15y ago
Most bad things are avoidable if you are able to predict the future.
spindritf 15y ago
> If the West, particularly France, had pursued a less vindictive peace with Germany after the first world war, the circumstances that brought Hitler to power would not have existed. And if it wasn't for Appeasement, if the western powers made good on their promises (especially the Anglo-Polish military alliance), Hitler could have been defeated before Germans managed to set the whole continent on fire; and if the French didn't put so much trust in the Maginot Line...
- dantheman 15y ago
  The French were outclassed in all ways, their techniques were completely outdated. For instance using motorcycle messengers to transfer orders instead of telephone/radio communications, they could not respond fast enough to German Blitzkrieg.

jpulgarin 15y ago

It does make war better. It doesn't make it better than no war in the case that the war was a net-negative though.

0x12 15y ago
Almost all wars are net negatives.