Dear Banshee,
I blame nuclear bombs on pacifists. If not for them, someone woulda blown up Germany before they started the second world war. The War necessitated the exodus of european geniuses to the US to seek refuge and a lab where the US hired them to build nuclear weapons. What's the best way to deal with pacifists today?
~ Non Dove
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Dear Non Dove,
I'm guessing that when you refer to pacifists, you really mean appeasers. Pacifists are concientious objector types. Quakers and the like. Pacifists had very little to do with the decisions that led to World War II. You are correct that appeasers had a lot to do with the horrendous scope of World War II. Germany should have been stomped on when they first started violating the Treaty of Versailles. Appeasers allowed Germany to become a juggernaut rolling into Poland before anyone did anything. It is an interesting (and probably accurate) observation that appeasers actually accelerated the dawn of the nuclear age.
Heywood Broun once said, “Appeasers believe that if you keep throwing steaks to a tiger, the tiger will turn vegetarian.” Of course, that is silliness. You can throw steaks to a tiger for 100 days in a row, but if there is no steak on day 101, that tiger will bite your arm off first chance it gets. The appeasers of the 1930's threw Germany the steak of the Rhineland. And once that was eaten, Germany took all of France.
But back to your question. If you wanna know what to do with pacifists ... well, tell them watch Friendly Persuasion -- a fine film starring Gary Cooper as a Civil War era Quaker. If you're talking about appeasers ... well, I'd suggest sharing that Broun quotation with them. I'd also challenge them to cite a single example from history of a time when appeasing an aggressor actually worked out for the good of the world. After that, I'd just ignore them and out vote them.
~ Wild Banshee
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