Hacker News Reader

Comment by frereubu | Hacker News Reader

If anyone is feeling relaxed about the prospect of war, I recommend reading The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig, which is about exactly this moment. it describes the build-up to WWI in Vienna, where the feeling was very much "nobody is stupid enough to start, or be taken in by the idea of, a large-scale war", which was only true until it wasn't. The most chilling aspect of it for me was the way that people who Zwieg had previously considered calm and sensible became rabidly pro-war in a very short space of time.

View on HN

Anyone living in the US after September 11th 2001 can tell you how the jingoist button was switched from off to on in the space of a month.

I really worried about the US response to a war. Your population never went through it, they don’t know what that really mean. It’s terrifying honestly.

The American Civil War was incredibly deadly and leveled massive portions of the US. The stereotypical backwardness of the southern states is a product of the damage done. The war was almost 200 years ago and they are still playing catchup due to the structural damage that was done. If the US populace is naive about the prospect of war, it`s not because of lack of exposure.

Americans fixate on our civil war, not on our international wars.

"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."

~ An American president who was shot by an American citizen on 1865-04-14

> Your population never went through it

We have the largest quantity of immigrants in our country than anywhere else in the world. 50+ million immigrants that all bring their varied experiences and war is a part of many of their stories.

Yeah, but most of those with living memory of ww2 are dead now. I'm sure having huge graveyards around everywhere plus unexploded ordnance may keep it in the national psyche, but idk I'm just an American.

The large scale war of today must include the nuclear scenario, and i do believe that rationally, nobody would want that. Unless there's some aspect for which a nation would sacrifice for - like religious zealotry.

Really?

Over the last 200 years, at least, how many major conflicts have started for secular politics vs religious politics. I feel there is a heavy skew towards the former.

What do you think "Jihad" means in the context of the September 11 attacks?

Sorry if you are effected by it, but on the grand scale of conflicts the attack on the trade towers was pretty small.

Also if you want to get really nit picky one could argue 9/11 was more motivated by geopolitics.

I think the point was that secular wars are generally for resources. Nuclear war practically eliminates the possibility of gaining resources, because you're likely to lose more than you gain as your cities get vaporized. So the drive to start one is significantly lessened. Religious wars on the other hand, all bets are off. You're doing it for salvation, so even if the victor ends up poorer for it materially, it's still worthwhile to start.

Incidentally Robert Musil's 'Man of no qualities' is set in Vienna of the same time. Does it also portray something similar?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com