• MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
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    3 hours ago

    And that, children, is why the international landscape isn’t much different to the 1700 one, just bigger entities.

  • Maroon@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Top right panel:

    Guy in green: Adolf, we spoke about this. No killing.

    Adolf: B-But the Polis-

    Guy in green: Your army is nearly gone and you’re losing territory. Is this what you wanted? Ugh, you’re embarrassing yourself and your country.

    Adolf: :( click bang

  • AeonFelis@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Top-right is the correct one. Hitler realized the whole thing was a mistake and stopped the war by putting a bullet through his head.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    WTF? none of these?

    The nukes stopped Japan but that was not the deciding factor for the whole of WWII. Also, as effective as it was for the war, it was one of the most immoral and horrific thing to have happen in modern wars.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      This is an argument that has been had for decades, and it’s not going to be settled here. I think this Sean video is one of the best things on the topic I’ve ever read/seen if you have two and a half hours.

      I come down on the side that the atomic bomb was unnecessary. Japan was already looking at potential surrender (maybe not the kind of unconstitutional surrender where you let a 22 year old military aide/translator write the constitution over a couple of days…). The decision to drop the bomb was far more motivated by a desire to present a threat to the USSR and to dominate the world stage than it was to end the war.

    • kadu@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      The goal of the book is not being precise, its giving the kid learning the rhetoric that the bomb was necessary and other means are ridiculous.

      Indoctrination works well. You’ve already gotten a specimen as an example replying.

    • Rakonat@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      it was one of the most immoral and horrific thing to have happen in modern wars.

      You’ve clearly never studied WW2 or prior history.

      Less people died in both Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined from the atomic bombs and their fallout than a single conventional bombing raid on Japan. And those were happening weekly. And the most realistic projections for what a conventional invasion to capitulate Japan would have looked like estimate as much as half of the Japanese population would have been killed in direct fighting and the humanitarian disaster that would follow the aftermath of their infrastructure being pummeled.

      You can preach about how bad nuclear weapons are all you want, but to suggest their use is the most immoral thing ever done is either done from a place of complete ignorance or complete intellectual dishonesty. The two cities bombed were meticulously chosen to demonstrate the power of the weapons, afflict Japanese war effort while keeping the potential body count and collateral as low as possible while still enough to be taken seriously by the Japanese government. Japan already knew they lost the war, they were only hoping to make it bloody as possible for the Americans to try and meek out some kind of favorable terms, when the terms on the table were already more favorable than they could possibly hope for.

    • marcos@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      one of the most immoral and horrific thing to have happen in modern wars

      On the context of the pacific war front, I’m not sure if it even makes the top 10.

      Hell, I’m not sure it’s one of the 2 worst things the US did on that single war on that single front.

      • MTK@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Even top 1000 in modern history of war is not a good spot…

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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      1 day ago

      The nukes stopped Japan but that was not the deciding factor for the whole of WWII.

      I mean, the question is “How did the war end?”, not “What was the deciding factor for all of WW2.”

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        The war didn’t even end after the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9th 1945. Japan didn’t even formally cease hostilities until August 15th (and sporadic combat went on even after that) and they didn’t formally surrender until September 2nd. The answer given in the cartoon is literally incorrect.

        The more general “the nukes stopped Japan” is also arguably not accurate. Japan was beaten long before that point, and the Soviet declaration of war and invasion of Manchuria on August 8th (three months to the day after Germany’s surrender as Stalin had promised) had as much of a proximate effect on ending the war as did the atomic bombings - which Japan’s rulers didn’t have good information about anyway, and which didn’t stand out as being all that much more destructive than the conventional bombing attacks that the US had been carrying out for half a year at that point.

      • 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de
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        23 hours ago

        It also depends on the theatre, the others all focus on Germany so “the allied forces took Berlin” or “Hitler shot himself” would potentially be more fitting, especially given Japan didn’t de jure end the war until 1956

          • 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de
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            6 hours ago

            Yeah but as I said, legally the war continued for over 10 years after the nukes were dropped on Japan, it’s just the event that led to the end of the war in that theatre.

    • taiyang@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      Hell, some debate that it might not have even been necessary to stop Japan.

  • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Can you imagine the timeline where the second one happened? It’s three weeks into Operation Barbarosa, the concentration camps are already up and running. And one day, Hitler’s just like, “sorry, my bad. Won’t happen again.” And then he tries to wind all that down?

    • Jumi@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Hmm, could what he did until then be somehow be forgiven if he does an absolute 180?

      Is there redemption for someone who conquered and destroyed Western Europe, the Balkans, Scandinavia and Poland and already is responsible for a couple of hundred thousand or even million deaths?

      Could the harm be had done be outdone by doing good?

      It’s an interesting thought experiment

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        Yeah, it’s one thing to imagine Hitler having a change of heart back when he was a painter, before he really did anything. But let’s says he’s already done some absolutely unforgivable things, already killed a million people. Then the ghosts from A Christmas Carol show up and somehow convince him to change his ways. There’s now a good Hitler, somehow trying to end this vast evil empire that he himself created. The Wermacht is already deep into the Soviet Union. You think Hitler’s just going to call up Stalin and be like, “hey, can we just call this whole thing off, call it good here?” And how does good Hitler balance using his power to undo his past actions vs accepting moral responsibility? He could resign immediately, but then he’s putting other evil men in charge of the war machine.

        Or phrased another way, you get Freaky Fridayed into Hitler’s body on July 15, 1941. What would you do in that situation? It’s even worse in that case, as you aren’t even morally responsible for Hitler’s crimes.

  • Eheran@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Why are 3 out of 4 options about Germany, which did not end the war to begin with? But the only option that is about Japan is also not correct…?

    • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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      1 day ago

      Because from a US perspective, it’s true if you squint.

      Edit: Korea would also not disagree.

      • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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        15 hours ago

        South Korea hates Japan for good reasons. But sadly most of the good reasons have been distorted with US propaganda against their brothers and sisters in the North. Ya, know, the ones the US genocides to “stop communism”

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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      1 day ago

      Japan’s surrender was in direct response to the atomic bombings, it’s correct in broad strokes.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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          1 day ago

          Familiar with, not supportive of. Internal discussions of the Japanese government make it quite clear which was the more pressing concern, and the mainstream view in academia remains overwhelmingly that the threat of further nuclear destruction was the pivotal point for Japan’s surrender.

          • Sergio@piefed.social
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            22 hours ago

            Interesting. Is there a definitive reference for this, that you have handy? I just did some literature searches but most cites were over 20 years old.

            • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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              21 hours ago

              This one I have saved in my favorites, but more generally you can find Sadao Asada’s views broadly reflected in academic literature, with Hasegawa’s position being regarded as revisionist, in the literal rather than pejorative sense of attempting to revise the established mainstream interpretation.

              • Sergio@piefed.social
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                19 hours ago

                Very interesting, thanks. It’s kind of funny how as I grow older, I become more interested in conflict termination.

        • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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          1 day ago

          It depends on who you ask in Japan. The civilians didn’t care about Manchuria since the US was in the process of destroying every city in Japan. They knew the war was lost and wanted it to be over.

          The army knew that they couldn’t fight the Soviets in Manchuria, occupy China, and repel American invasion of the home Islands. Amd even them, you still had higher ups in the military trying to overthrow rhe government to keep the war going.

      • bennypr0fane@discuss.tchncs.de
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        15 hours ago

        Okay, so the nukes made Japan surrender, but did the surrender of Japan stop the war? I would argue that the war ended when Germany was defeated, not Japan. Or is it a shortcut that historians agree on to say that Japan’s surrender was the reason for Germany’s defeat?

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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          15 hours ago

          Germany surrendered several months before Japan did. Japan was the last major power to surrender.

  • s@piefed.world
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    1 day ago

    POV: your government replaced PBS with state-sponsored PragerU mandatory learning

    • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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      1 day ago

      Took me a second to remember what PBS means to Americans, and in that second I was wondering why they’re replacing cheap medicine with conservative propaganda.

      • edgemaster72@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Yeah, we would never replace cheap medicine with conservative propaganda. There would have to be cheap medicine first in order to replace it.

  • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst.

    –Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

      • Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        Remember in the movie when Professor Rasczak was teaching the class about service and the right to vote? The class room is a significant portion of the book and isn’t satirical at all. Heinlein was dead serious about his views.

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
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          24 hours ago

          I would say so.

          Granted, it’d depend on how you define “issues” for one. If you consider just everyday issues as well, usually it’s easier to agree to trade with someone than violently robbing them.

          If it read “most of hardest social issues impacting entire communities/societies in history were solved with violence”, then I’d prolly have to agree.

          But like usually a dispute with a neighbouring kingdom/clan/town would be easier to manage with some small appeasement or something.

          I’m not saying violence doesn’t solve many issues and is sometimes called for. But literally most? I’d have to disagree.

          • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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            22 hours ago

            I’m not saying violence doesn’t solve many issues and is sometimes called for. But literally most? I’d have to disagree.

            Heinlein addresses this, too:

            War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government’s decisions by force. The purpose is never to kill the enemy just to be killing him… but to make him do what you want him to do. Not killing… but controlled and purposeful violence. But it’s not your business or mine to decide the purpose or the control. It’s never a soldier’s business to decide when or where or how — or why — he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals. The statesmen decide why and how much; the generals take it from there and tell us where and when and how. We supply the violence; other people — ‘older and wiser heads,’ as they say — supply the control.

            It’s really quite a good book.

            • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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              15 hours ago

              the statesmen

              That reminds me of an exchange in an old Bloom County cartoon. Opus is asked the difference between a politician and a statesman, and replies with “a statesman is a dead politician. Lord knows we need more statesmen.”

        • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          It’s not wrong. It’s just stupid. “Settled more issues”. You know, when you genocide an entire people, every issue you had with them is now “settled”.

          It’s not a recommendation for violence as a solution. It’s simply pointing out that it’s a common way to end things, good or bad. Usually bad.

      • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        Heinlein absolutely loved the military. I highly doubt the book is satire. I just read it. Dude seems to think everything really would be chill. All the over the top sauce came from the movie but the movie left out the dope jump trooper suits.

    • frog@feddit.uk
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      1 day ago

      Um… which Korea?

      Like Samsung Korea (abbreviated to S. Korea) or the Not-Samsung Korea (Abbreviated to N. Korea)?

      • kadu@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Don’t worry.

        Its also extremely cool to hate the US outside of Lemmy.

        • Nora (She/Her)@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          Oh absolutely LMAO. I hate how fucked our country is. I wish I could be “proud to be an American.” but… Nah. Prolly not within my lifetime, unfortunately.

          • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            I am pretty proud of the moon landings, which my lifetime just barely overlaps with. Let’s not talk about the role ex-Nazis played in that shit. Smoked brisket is pretty good, too.

            • Nora (She/Her)@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              14 hours ago

              I’m proud of food here in general tbh, just the way different cultures got together with different ingredients and made something wholey unique? thats cool.

              Speaking of that, in spite of the racism, we’re somehow one of the better countries with accepting other cultures. Thats something to be proud of too.

              You make a good point tbh. Just cause some stuff is bleak doesnt mean everything is. I can be proud where pride is due, but acknowledge the flaws and pain without hypocrisy.

        • Nora (She/Her)@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          Ye there’s some of that no doubt. I’ll see random comments just dunking on the US completely off-topic, or almost entirely off-topic. I saw one a few days ago that was like “This only matters for people in the US, go post it somewhere local.” and like, that’s cool and all but I don’t see anyone saying that stuff on UK specific topics or any other country’s posts to this community.

          Honestly, it’s just annoying more than anything. The US isn’t some uniquely evil place. A lot of the bad shit happening here is cropping up across the world, and y’all need to learn where we failed, or else be doomed just like us. Anyway, I think if your only contribution to the topic is “US bad.” then maybe you should make a US hate community or something tbh.

          • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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            1 day ago

            I get where you’re coming from but keep in mind that it is exhausting that it seems like everything you see online is somehow about the US. I know it’s not literally “everything” but it feels like no other country takes up anywhere near this much attention, even in our own local spaces*.

            This is of course a consequence of the huge impact that US politics and economy (unfortunately) have on the world in general. Which means that, whether we like it or not, we have to pay SOME attention to what the US is doing because it probably WILL affect us in some way sooner or later (potentially taking away attention from more pressing, immediate matters in our own countries). No individual person is to blame for this but the frustration we feel sometimes needs to be vented.

            *

            btw, this overexposure of US content is one reason why over on /c/ich_iel we make it a game to avoid any English words by translating any English terms in the most inane way. Other non-English communities do similar things, afaik.

            • Nora (She/Her)@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              24 hours ago

              I guess I don’t understand where this frustration comes from because to me, it’s just obvious. We’re speaking English, on a primarily English-speaking website, and one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world is the US. It just makes sense probability wise that there would be more posts about the US on average. Personally I’d love to see news (especially uplifting, because life is BLEAK, and I’d like to have hope again) from other countries, but I don’t speak other languages, so I only see what people translate and post tbh.

              Anyway, I’m not saying you can’t vent, or that saying “fuck the us” is wrong, I just wish people would keep it on topic, instead of looking for the thinnest reason to throw in some shade. It really reminds me of the cheap “gotcha” karma farming comments that infest reddit and make the site so unenjoyable to browse.