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The New Coffee Room

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  3. The True Nature of the World is Savagery

The True Nature of the World is Savagery

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  • JollyJ Jolly

    Sometimes, those who are doomed to remain ignorant, often repeat it.

    Consider what was said:

    What happened over the last 70 years or so was an interregnum of peace in the West, created by violence against barbarians and facilitated by people willfully looking away from the butchery still continuing at the fringes of the map. The West managed to build a civilization that was – for the first time in history since perhaps the Pax Romana – generally internally peaceful. And the West convinced itself that this was normal.

    That's the premise. The premise is correct. Since WW2, there has been no major conflict in the West. There have been some internal conflicts, but no multinational war or a major war between great powers.

    The question then becomes, can we continue this new description of normality?

    If not, is the Hamas attack on Israel typical of the barbarity of man? If it is, we must effectively learn to deal with it.

    Doctor PhibesD Offline
    Doctor PhibesD Offline
    Doctor Phibes
    wrote on last edited by Doctor Phibes
    #17

    @Jolly said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

    Sometimes, those who are doomed to remain ignorant, often repeat it.

    And it strikes me that some people have a hard-on for repeating it and writing articles in the same way.

    As awful as the current conflict is, it's certainly no worse than the 10 years of bloodshed that occurred in Yugoslavia, where over 100,000 people died.

    Yugoslavia was actually in Europe at the time.

    I can keep writing about awful things that have happened since WW2 all day. The article wasn't very well thought out.

    I was only joking

    1 Reply Last reply
    • RenaudaR Renauda

      @Jolly

      That's the premise. The premise is correct. Since WW2, there has been no major conflict in the West. There have been some internal conflicts, but no multinational war or a major war between great powers.

      Yes. It is called nuclear deterrence.

      MikM Away
      MikM Away
      Mik
      wrote on last edited by
      #18

      @Renauda said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

      @Jolly

      That's the premise. The premise is correct. Since WW2, there has been no major conflict in the West. There have been some internal conflicts, but no multinational war or a major war between great powers.

      Yes. It is called nuclear deterrence.

      Bingo. Say, how did the world change during and after WWII? The stakes went up dramatically.

      "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

      1 Reply Last reply
      • RenaudaR Renauda

        @Jolly

        That's the premise. The premise is correct. Since WW2, there has been no major conflict in the West. There have been some internal conflicts, but no multinational war or a major war between great powers.

        Yes. It is called nuclear deterrence.

        AxtremusA Offline
        AxtremusA Offline
        Axtremus
        wrote on last edited by
        #19

        @Renauda said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

        @Jolly

        That's the premise. The premise is correct. Since WW2, there has been no major conflict in the West. There have been some internal conflicts, but no multinational war or a major war between great powers.

        Yes. It is called nuclear deterrence.

        Works for me.

        1 Reply Last reply
        • RenaudaR Offline
          RenaudaR Offline
          Renauda
          wrote on last edited by Renauda
          #20

          There’s also another aspect. Specifically, the growth of liberal democracy in Europe. Democracies tend not to go to war against one another. They settle their differences through negotiated diplomacy, third party arbitration or the courts. Prior to WWII, liberal democracies in Europe were in the minority. When war did break out there was always a dictatorship in one form or another involved as an active belligerent and then, usually as the initiator of the conflict. This behaviour pattern between states has continued into the present.

          Elbows up!

          1 Reply Last reply
          • Doctor PhibesD Doctor Phibes

            @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

            I think we generally stopped after Vietnam.

            How many people died in the Iraq war? Afghanistan?

            I'm left with the implication that what this writer seems to ignore is any war that didn't take place in what he considers a 'civilized' country.

            I'm not saying this is his point, but if WW3 started tomorrow and the USA had to fight China, Russia, Iran, and others... do you think Gen Z college kids are ready to pick up a gun and shoot the enemy?

            I would honestly rather die than watch my son go and fight in some stupid foreign adventure. For too long have old men sent young men to die because of their own mistakes.

            When people say 'We need to be willing to....', they generally don't mean themselves. They mean our children. Fuck that.

            89th8 Offline
            89th8 Offline
            89th
            wrote on last edited by
            #21

            @Doctor-Phibes said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

            @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

            I think we generally stopped after Vietnam.

            How many people died in the Iraq war? Afghanistan?

            Like 300,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam and like 4,000 in Iraq. I believe 600,000 enemy fighters were killed in Vietnam, although I'm sure civilian deaths are hard to calculate but I'd imagine are in the hundreds of thousands in both Vietnam and Iraq.

            Anyway, I appreciate your replies here and generally agree, especially the idea of my son fighting in one of these modern wars where it's really the US playing policeman in a foreign country.

            George KG CopperC 2 Replies Last reply
            • 89th8 89th

              @Doctor-Phibes said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

              @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

              I think we generally stopped after Vietnam.

              How many people died in the Iraq war? Afghanistan?

              Like 300,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam and like 4,000 in Iraq. I believe 600,000 enemy fighters were killed in Vietnam, although I'm sure civilian deaths are hard to calculate but I'd imagine are in the hundreds of thousands in both Vietnam and Iraq.

              Anyway, I appreciate your replies here and generally agree, especially the idea of my son fighting in one of these modern wars where it's really the US playing policeman in a foreign country.

              George KG Offline
              George KG Offline
              George K
              wrote on last edited by
              #22

              @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

              300,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam

              What?

              "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

              The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.

              W RenaudaR 2 Replies Last reply
              • George KG George K

                @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                300,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam

                What?

                W Offline
                W Offline
                Wim
                wrote on last edited by
                #23

                @George-K I thought it was appr. 60,000.
                Which is horrible just as well.

                1 Reply Last reply
                • MikM Away
                  MikM Away
                  Mik
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #24

                  I think it was around 56,000. It certainly wasn't 300,000.

                  "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • George KG George K

                    @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                    300,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam

                    What?

                    RenaudaR Offline
                    RenaudaR Offline
                    Renauda
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #25

                    @George-K said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                    @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                    300,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam

                    What?

                    Try 59,000.

                    Still a lot of humanity.

                    Elbows up!

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • 89th8 89th

                      @Doctor-Phibes said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                      @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                      I think we generally stopped after Vietnam.

                      How many people died in the Iraq war? Afghanistan?

                      Like 300,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam and like 4,000 in Iraq. I believe 600,000 enemy fighters were killed in Vietnam, although I'm sure civilian deaths are hard to calculate but I'd imagine are in the hundreds of thousands in both Vietnam and Iraq.

                      Anyway, I appreciate your replies here and generally agree, especially the idea of my son fighting in one of these modern wars where it's really the US playing policeman in a foreign country.

                      CopperC Offline
                      CopperC Offline
                      Copper
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #26

                      @89th said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                      I believe 600,000 enemy fighters were killed in Vietnam

                      Rambo killed that many in a week.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      • Doctor PhibesD Offline
                        Doctor PhibesD Offline
                        Doctor Phibes
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #27

                        The point of the article wasn't that we should learn how to die again, it was that we should learn how to kill and destroy, so surely the important statistic for this guy is how many foreigners died, rather than Americans?

                        Personally, I think the writer's a bit (I'm being kind) of a dickhead, but that's just me. I don't see how lots of Germans dying in Germany is really that different from lots of Iraqis dying in Iraq.

                        I was only joking

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • 89th8 Offline
                          89th8 Offline
                          89th
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #28

                          Oops sorry, my google included allied forces too. I was just making sure you were paying attention.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          • JollyJ Offline
                            JollyJ Offline
                            Jolly
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #29

                            53,000,000 deaths, WW2.

                            Been nothing remotely like it since. Especially in the West, as the author has noted.

                            “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                            Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                            Aqua LetiferA Doctor PhibesD 2 Replies Last reply
                            • JollyJ Jolly

                              53,000,000 deaths, WW2.

                              Been nothing remotely like it since. Especially in the West, as the author has noted.

                              Aqua LetiferA Offline
                              Aqua LetiferA Offline
                              Aqua Letifer
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #30

                              @Jolly said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                              53,000,000 deaths, WW2.

                              Been nothing remotely like it since. Especially in the West, as the author has noted.

                              Oh I dunno, my uncle spent some time in Bosnia. Long enough to know playing death count games is what you do if you have the luxury of never being in a conflict.

                              I mean neither have I but I know what that does to my credibility when playing armchair general.

                              Please love yourself.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              • JollyJ Jolly

                                53,000,000 deaths, WW2.

                                Been nothing remotely like it since. Especially in the West, as the author has noted.

                                Doctor PhibesD Offline
                                Doctor PhibesD Offline
                                Doctor Phibes
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #31

                                @Jolly said in The True Nature of the World is Savagery:

                                53,000,000 deaths, WW2.

                                Been nothing remotely like it since. Especially in the West, as the author has noted.

                                By death count alone, WW2 really wasn't a western war. China lost 20 million, and Russia another 24 million, although admittedly they were fighting a western nation.

                                I was only joking

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                • CopperC Offline
                                  CopperC Offline
                                  Copper
                                  wrote on last edited by Copper
                                  #32

                                  What is a war?

                                  War is defined as an active conflict that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.

                                  Has the world ever been at peace?

                                  Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.

                                  How many people have died in war?

                                  At least 108 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century. Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1 billion.

                                  https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/books/chapters/what-every-person-should-know-about-war.html#:~:text=How many people have died,150 million to 1 billion.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • JollyJ Offline
                                    JollyJ Offline
                                    Jolly
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #33

                                    Si vis pacem, para bellum

                                    “Cry havoc and let slip the DOGE of war!”

                                    Those who cheered as J-6 American prisoners were locked in solitary for 18 months without trial, now suddenly fight tooth and nail for foreign terrorists’ "due process". — Buck Sexton

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • Doctor PhibesD Offline
                                      Doctor PhibesD Offline
                                      Doctor Phibes
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #34

                                      Nosferatu Bellendium

                                      I was only joking

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • RenaudaR Offline
                                        RenaudaR Offline
                                        Renauda
                                        wrote on last edited by Renauda
                                        #35

                                        @Jolly

                                        Si vis pacem, para bellum

                                        Alicuius filius sufficiet

                                        Elbows up!

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • 89th8 Offline
                                          89th8 Offline
                                          89th
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #36

                                          Lingua utere ut canetis captiosus

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