Quote:
Originally Posted by AngusJS
Especially those who were drafted, or who joined the military before 1933, right?
So I assume that if this were to happen to American soldiers, you'd have no problem with it? Serves em' right, I suppose?
Exactly, because access to unbiased sources of information is easy and unfettered in totalitarian states, and the price of dissent is minimal. 
So EVERYONE in Germany knew exactly what was going on all the time. ANYONE who wasn't willing to risk his family and friends being arrested after he opposed the regime bears full responsibility. |
It sometimes happens that people who've never actually lived through a particular type of experience prefer to believe that, if they did, they would do the "right thing" (usually determined to be "right" by virtue of their own hindsight) without question and without regard to the sacrifices it would entail. Consequently, they tend to judge very harshly anyone who actually did live through that experience and didn't do what they believe they would have had the knowledge, foresight, determination, and courage to have done themselves. Doing that is much easier than admitting that we are all subject to the same human frailties, failings, and limitations.
The reality is that none of us who weren't and aren't there can ever know what we would have done, even if we had been party to all the available information. Would I have had the courage to resist and fight back if it were only my life that was put at risk? Maybe. I would hope so. Would I have been willing to risk the lives of my friends and loved ones as well? I don't know. Nobody does, unless they've done it.
I like to believe that if my life were threatened, or if I saw someone's life being threatened, that I'd immediately take action and do whatever was necessary to defend those that needed defending. It's something I believe is the right thing to do, and it's something that I have been training myself to do for several years now. Do I think I could live with the consequences of doing what seemed necessary? Absolutely. Do I know for sure that I would actually step up and do it? No. The truth is, no matter how hard I train, and no matter how noble my intentions, when push came to shove I might freeze up entirely or misjudge the situation until it was too late to for me to do anyone any good.
You don't get the "A" until you've passed the test, and there are some tests that no one should ever have to take, and some that none of us will ever be required to take. Some people take them, or have the tests forced on them, and - by our standards - fail. But our standards are often based on a virtue we believe we possess even though it has never been tested to the same extreme, if at all. It's far too easy to condemn others for not making the choices we think they should have made when we have never been faced with making them ourselves.