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"‘What did I do to the Americans?’ she would often say, ‘Why did they do this to me?’" I could imagine a German thinking the same thing during conventional bom

"‘What did I do to the Americans?’ she would often say, ‘Why did they do this to me?’" I could imagine a German thinking the same thing during conventional bombings.

foogazi 3y ago
Or a Jew on Kristallnacht, or Chinese in Nanjing
- Affric 3y ago
  It’s easy to say “I was a three year old and did not deserve this” but this is what happens in a total war, 3 year olds are rarely the primary targets of bombing but when the scale of conflict is so great their moral weigh becomes a rounding error compared to those who would use them as a shield. At the start of the war civilian bombing campaigns were unthinkable. By the end they were standard operating procedure. There hasn’t been a daring war since. Now everyone knows the costs. No one is safe.
  - Affric 3y ago
    On reflection I think I have read too much into this one small quote inside the article.
  - ChainOfFools 3y ago
    For that matter in 2023 every single day there is probably at least one three year old whose daddy (or mama) is abruptly taken away for any one of a number of reasons completely opaque to a toddler. Some parents disappear by blind chance, but mostly it happens because some other adult strangers decided that their father or mother needed to be ripped away from them and put in a box somewhere. The child did nothing to deserve this, but has to live knowing one of the most important people in their lives is rotting away in a cell instead of pushing them on the swing or teaching them to make spaghetti or just being there to help stabilize the family even if it's only financially. It's a wonder that we don't have more instances of anger-fueled violence against prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges by children whose lives were deeply scarred by their deliberately harmful actions. And before the obvious remarks come about how these parents could have been abusive to the child or deadbeats or otherwise fall far short of being the parent the child needs, well no shit. The appropriately shallow answer to such a shallow remark is that not all convictions are deserved, but this argument is beside the point. The child doesn't comprehend what happened, all they know is the trauma. Trauma for which, if it had happened to anyone else under similarly innocent circumstances would be grounds for millions in damages for the psychological harm caused, but in this case society just collectively shrugs "huh. well that's too bad I guess." And goes about their day.

"‘What did I do to the Americans?’ she would often say, ‘Why did they do this to me?’" I could imagine a German thinking the same thing during conventional bombings.

foogazi 3y ago

Or a Jew on Kristallnacht, or Chinese in Nanjing

Affric 3y ago
It’s easy to say “I was a three year old and did not deserve this” but this is what happens in a total war, 3 year olds are rarely the primary targets of bombing but when the scale of conflict is so great their moral weigh becomes a rounding error compared to those who would use them as a shield. At the start of the war civilian bombing campaigns were unthinkable. By the end they were standard operating procedure. There hasn’t been a daring war since. Now everyone knows the costs. No one is safe.
- Affric 3y ago
  On reflection I think I have read too much into this one small quote inside the article.
- ChainOfFools 3y ago
  For that matter in 2023 every single day there is probably at least one three year old whose daddy (or mama) is abruptly taken away for any one of a number of reasons completely opaque to a toddler. Some parents disappear by blind chance, but mostly it happens because some other adult strangers decided that their father or mother needed to be ripped away from them and put in a box somewhere. The child did nothing to deserve this, but has to live knowing one of the most important people in their lives is rotting away in a cell instead of pushing them on the swing or teaching them to make spaghetti or just being there to help stabilize the family even if it's only financially. It's a wonder that we don't have more instances of anger-fueled violence against prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges by children whose lives were deeply scarred by their deliberately harmful actions. And before the obvious remarks come about how these parents could have been abusive to the child or deadbeats or otherwise fall far short of being the parent the child needs, well no shit. The appropriately shallow answer to such a shallow remark is that not all convictions are deserved, but this argument is beside the point. The child doesn't comprehend what happened, all they know is the trauma. Trauma for which, if it had happened to anyone else under similarly innocent circumstances would be grounds for millions in damages for the psychological harm caused, but in this case society just collectively shrugs "huh. well that's too bad I guess." And goes about their day.