Iranian mindgames

[TteFAboB]

Setting my timer. Let's see how long untill the first Human Rights organization cries foul.

[Rykaird]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

Setting my timer. Let's see how long untill the first Human Rights organization cries foul.

Hope your timer is calibrated in geologic ages and not weeks or months.

A couple of questions. Are these folks in the military? Is the British military not voluntary? Why is it that they are under 'a lot of stress'? Do the Brits not train their soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen?

Stop treating these people as civilians. It was their job to go in harms way. This 'OMG' my poor child syndrome has to end. These people knew or should have known that their job will put them in danger. This isn't a game we play on our computers. It is real life.

[Skybird]

What have you all expected - that they would be kept in a five-star hotel with room service and Geishas on call? If one is defending the practices at Guantanamo, one can hardly complain about the treatment of the sailors in Iran. If it is no bad treatment here, then it cannot be called bad treatment there.

The public has no evidence of what happened during the incident. the public also has not seen evidences concerning the accusations of the prisoners in Guantanamo. A photo showing a hand holding a GPS device is simply no evidence, it could have been taken anywehre, after the incident, with a manipulated device. We (the public) simply don't now, and will not know as long as there is no analogue air or satellite picture showing the boats and the coastline so that the exact position can be calculated. And even that could be forged. Even easier with digital images.

I don't trust anybody concerning this incident.

[RedMenace]

Y'all do realize that the US does the exact same thing, right? This isn't anything new or unsual folks, go back to bed.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by waste gate

A couple of questions. Are these folks in the military? Is the British military not voluntary? Why is it that they are under 'a lot of stress'? Do the Brits not train their soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen?

Stop treating these people as civilians. It was their job to go in harms way. This 'OMG' my poor child syndrome has to end. These people knew or should have known that their job will put them in danger. This isn't a game we play on our computers. It is real life.

This is not an "if-or" statement. I'd argue that they made the smart and equally courageous choice. It is not physically courageous, certainly. But then, physical courage is easy (relatively) or at least common. Countless Japanese died showing how common it is in WWII, as do Palestinian car-bombers, 9/11 kamikaze hijackers ... etc.

Their decision to talk was not only self-preserving, but morally courageous. Freeing yourselves from the shackles of ironbound rules and traditions to make an intelligent decision requires this moral courage. Loss of telling to country = minimal to none. Loss of not cooperating = great personal pain, probable eventual acquiesance and damage to national morale from loss of personnel. Decision = Cooperate.

In pure quantity, moral courage may or may not be higher than physical courage. What's definite is that it is a much rarer trait. Countless Japanese died because they lacked the moral courage to buck their tradition and laws. Moral courage is generally so lacking it can't be invoked in experimental situations (see, Milgram).

No doubt self-preservation played a part, but this moral courage might have been the other part of it too.