Quote:
Originally posted by Cowperson+Jul 20 2005, 04:28 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Cowperson @ Jul 20 2005, 04:28 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Agamemnon@Jul 20 2005, 04:07 PM
Totally agree w/ the Mayor, desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm sure a RAF pilot or two went up with a busted plane or not enough gas or something, knowing he wasn't going to make it back during the Battle of Britain. Sure, there's a difference, but is it a _huge_ difference? I dont' think so. We'll never know how intense British resistance would be to occupation, since the Germans never crossed.
I'm also inclined to believe that the Mayor of London has a better feel of the pulse of the British than, say... us.
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You're just "sure" or you "know?"
We certainly "know" suicide was common among Japanese ranks in the past and common today in the ranks of Islamic extremists. . . . . and we "know" in the case of the latter that many have come from middle class or even well-to-do families, not exactly the desperate being described by the Mayor of London.
But we certainly don't "know" anything of the kind about the British.
In WWII, a British commander asking for volunteers for a "suicide mission" wasn't uncommon but there was always a back door, wild-ass chance they would come back or live to tell about it after they were captured and more often than not an escape plan with resources would have been available.
Having your plane going down in flames from ack-ack and deciding to dive it into a German troop train at the last moment also doesn't qualify.
Its all a little different than strapping a bomb to your torso, walking into a pile of people and deliberately exploding yourself through forethought and planning, all in the belief that eternal paradise was awaiting you in the next instant as a reward.
No . . . . the Brits don't seem the "sort" who would do that. Nor many other European or Christian cultures, even under occupation.
The Mayor is out of line with that comment. Its a gross exaggeration.
Again, the rest of his statement is simply a political opinion and he's certainly entitled to it.
Cowperson[/b][/quote]
Fair enough. I don't 'know', but I am 'sure', for whatever that's worth, that British soldiers engaged in missions in which they knew they wouldn't return (as you point out).
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No . . . . the Brits don't seem the "sort" who would do that. Nor many other European or Christian cultures, even under occupation.
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Do you 'know' that they're not the sort, or do you 'think' they're not the sort? How would anyone know? Brtain has never been invaded, subjugated, and marginlized. We don't know how they would react in that situation. The Japanese engaged in suicide-attacks (again, as you point out), and they're not Muslim. Is it just non-Christians that are 'capable' of this sort of attack?
You're taking the same flying leaps here that I am.