Tollund_Man4
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User ID: 501
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Persisting despite seeing no sign of victory was a prerequisite for many currently extant nations. Total genocide excluded, a pragmatic acceptance of your own conquest can risk the extinction of your tribe more than the martyrdom of your current generation.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Similar case in Ireland back when the Pale around Dublin was subject to raids from Gaelic war bands. The genocidal rhetoric toned down a lot post-Cromwell (though Social Darwinism reignited it amongst some important players).
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
I’d guess it’s because Japan’s entire people were on the line, whereas Hamas identifies with other Arabs/Muslims such that the loss of Palestine doesn’t mean total defeat.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
I don't think it's comparable, because the British weren't signing a treaty with the IRA.
They were, Sinn Féin were a party to the treaty and it couldn't have worked without their participation. Britain signing a deal with Ireland alone wouldn't have changed anything as the Irish state didn't represent nationalists in Northern Ireland nor exert any control over the paramilitaries.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
(Of course the native Americans didn't have adversaries of the European settlers hooking them up with modern assault weapons)
Just nitpicking, but didn’t the British arm the natives during the American War of Independence?
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
You can expose people to a lot through memes sure, but when push comes to shove most people will place a lot more weight on the words of an authority figure than an anonymous internet poster.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Fighting a government that gives you a vote doesn’t necessarily stop you from calling yourself a freedom fighter. Ireland’s vote for Sinn Féin in the 1918 UK General Election and the subsequent war it legitimized comes to mind.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
and saying rich men won’t enter heaven
I'm not that well read on the Bible but isn't the point of that verse to say that even the rich (seen as the most blessed) can't get into heaven without the grace of God? If the point is to say that material well-being wins you no points with God, placing so much weight on a materialist philosophy like Marxism seems to be making the same mistake in reverse.
Brushing up on my Irish history with Tom Barry's Guerrilla Days in Ireland. He's a pretty important figure in the Anglo-Irish War, mcjunker did a very good write up of the Kilmichael Ambush a few years back.
While the Kilmichael Ambush was succesful in that the British patrol was totally wiped out, the Crossbarry Ambush was almost more impressive just for the fact that the IRA weren't wiped out. At that point in the war the British had gotten wise to ambush tactics and patrols consisted of no less than 300 men who would encircle large areas then go house to house clearing out suspected IRA safehouses. The IRA were forced to respond by putting all their eggs in one basket so that numbers were close to 3 to 1 rather than 30 to 1, and this set the stage for the Crossbarry Ambush when Tom Barry and 100 men of the West Cork IRA were encircled by 1200 British troops and 120 Auxiliaries (Barry says 1400 with more patrols on the way). The British were apparently close enough that Barry could hear the execution of one of his commanders who had been caught off guard while recovering from wounds in a nearby house. They had about 40 rounds of ammunition each and little hope of sneaking past the encirclement, so they decided to engage a section which had travelled a bit too far ahead of the others to secure a breakout. Somehow they surprise this section, burn out their trucks, take guns and ammunition in time for the arrival of the next section. The other sections have heard the gunshots and are expecting a quick and easy cleanup operation, so the fact that the IRA have had time to plan a second ambush seems to drive the British into utter confusion. Confusion or unfavourable terrain (it's hard to make use of dozens of trucks if the ones in front have been burned out) are the only explanations I can think of for why the West Cork IRA weren't destroyed that day, because the casualties of a 1200 vs 100 man battle with the IRA flanked on 3 sides, amounted to something like 6 dead on their side and 10 dead on the British side.
Barry's final remarks on the battle make it seem like confusion was the real source of victory:
Shortly after the order to march was given we spied a gathering of British away in the distance ; evidently groups of disorganised units. They appeared to be leaderless, as they were standing around in the centre of a small field in the sloping hillside east of Crossbarry. Through field glasses I could see them gesticulating as if they were arguing as to what to do next. We helped them to make up their minds, for although the distance was a bit far, the Column was halted and deployed along a ditch. The range was given and three volleys from nearly a hundred rifles were fired at them. A few staggered and fell, others broke in all directions, and soon the West Cork hillside was clear of the khaki clad troops. Crossbarry was over.
The decision to fight was part of a pattern for Tom Barry: when the British adapt their tactics, the morale of the IRA is at risk and he has to prove that they can still fight. Some of these counter-tactics are straightforward military affairs, later on in the book Barry justifies terrorism as counter-terrorism (there is a chapter devoted to this called 'Counter-Terror'). When the feared Auxiliary units are sent in and start causing casualties for the IRA, the Kilmichael Ambush shows that they can still win. When the British frustrate ambush tactics by staying in fortified barracks and travelling in large groups, Crossbarry and heavy explosives open another avenue for attack. When the British start a campaign of burning down farmhouses and cottages Barry responds by burning down 2 loyalist houses for every republican house lost (and given the disparity of wealth a £1000 worth of destruction on one side brings £20,000 worth of reprisals). When civilians in country towns are forced to repair roads and inform on any suspicious movements on pain of execution, Barry shoots at their feet to convince them that they have a choice in who is going to kill them. When the Essex regiment gets a reputation for killing the wounded and unarmed, Barry announces that no mercy will be given to that regiment (having fought for Britain in WW1 he still had a lot of respect for the other regiments he was fighting). This isn't to say that the IRA were on the verge of winning, but they were pretty good at surviving.
As for informers, Michael Collins in Dublin was the man who did the most on this front, but Barry has some interesting stories himself:
The first is “A” of Castletown-Kenneigh, aged about thirty, an ex-British soldier, a Catholic and a paid British spy (. . .) The night was bright and they rode slowly along, endeavouring to gauge the size of fields, strength of ditches, the position of houses, byroads and the other factors which influence the selection of an ambush site. After travelling a few hundred yards the leading horse shied violently, nearly throwing his rider, and it was only when the horse was turned round and forced back that the leading rider observed a man lying on the grass by the roadside.
Dismounting, he shook the man, who awoke, sat up and looked at the I.R.A. Officer. In reply to a question as to what he was doing there, the man again looked at the I.R.A. Officer and said : “ It is all right, sir. I am one of yere own and I have just left Bandon Barracks. The Major knows me well, as I work for him.” He then gave his name and address. Then the officer realised that because he was wearing full field equipment over his trench-coat he had been mistaken for a British officer. “ A ” was not drunk, but was obviously recovering from the effects of liquor. The second I.R.A. officer was then called up and asked if he had ever seen “A” in Bandon Barracks. He replied that he had not. “A” was then told he would have to be examined further before he would be released, as he might be a “Shinner,” the British nickname for an Irish Republican. He was asked to walk along to the byroad, where the talk could proceed with less danger of observation from passers-by. During the next twenty minutes he told the two officers the sordid story of his treachery over a nine months’ period. It all came out : the arrests he had been responsible for, the coups he had missed, his list of local I.R.A. who were still evading arrest, and the amount of pay he was receiving : “ Five pounds every week, and sometimes more, if I have good news.” That day, after reporting to the British Battalion Intelligence Officer, “A” had been drinking in the military canteen until after curfew hour. Then, free from observation, the Essex had driven him six miles and dropped him near where we had found him. Overcome by liquor, he had lain down before completing his journey home and had fallen asleep. Then one of the I.R.A. Officers was sent back to bring up the third, alleged to be a prisoner, who would not give any particulars about himself. When “A” was asked if he recognised this prisoner, he called the questioning officer aside and said—“ I do not know his name, but he is one of them. I saw him with the Lordans and others and he is high up in them.” The spy was then told that the prisoner would be brought to Bandon barracks where he would be forced to talk. At this “A” got very excited and again calling the officer aside said— “ You can’t bring this fellow into Bandon as he might know me and get a message out about me. Shoot him. Shoot him now, here.”
The I.R.A. officer replied that he did not like shooting prisoners himself and he would wait until some of his troops came up. Then the spy showed the viciousness of his character for he eagerly volunteered to do the shooting. He asked for the officer’s gun and reached greedily for it, but the time had come to tell him that the play had ended. This spy was a Catholic and the local priest was called to minister to him before he was shot on the roadside at Mawbeg seven hours later. Strange are the ways of destiny. Incidents which appear of little importance may cause death to some and allow life to remain with others. In all probability, but for the shy of a nervous horse, this spy would still be alive and many other members of the I.R.A. would have met their deaths as a result of his activities.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
"Do you support selling out national wealth to abroad entities, leading to less of control by Poles over strategic economy sectors?"
"Do you support raising retirement age, including restoring increase of retirement age to 67 for women and men"
"Do you support removal of security barrier on border of Poland and Belarus"
"Do you support acceptance of thousands of illegal migrants from Middle East and Africa, in accordance with mandatory relocation schema forced by European bureaucracy?"
Some of these questions seem quite vague in terms of what policies will result. I might disagree with the outcome of some of the referenda, but the Irish way of having a Citizens Assembly to formulate the question and then voting on some specific constitutional amendment to be added or repealed seems like a good way of avoiding the mess of "We won! What did we win?", with the sense of betrayal from the voters if you don't properly interpret their answer to an unclear question.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
(or has it changed in the past few decades and my beliefs used to be accurate but no longer are)?
I think the Trump realignment is responsible for a lot of this. Bush-era Republicanism is still popular, but it now has a major competitor which has shown itself capable of winning elections. Part of Trump's appeal is that he's different from the establisment including the feeling that he's not in favour of pointless wars.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Is it a personal loyalty if they're just your fans and not people you've actually met?
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Thanks!
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
How were they oppressed by Poles? Not disagreeing, I'm just not very familiar with this area of history.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Some of Ireland's city centres have a very visible heroin problem. This does cause shoplifting, I saw a lot of it myself working in a shop next to a courthouse, a homeless shelter and some gypsy families, but for whatever reason there are far less security measures in supermarkets and the like than I've seen in most other countries I've been to. I don't know what makes Ireland different, though from personal experience the police are fairly vigilant if you can show them evidence of a repeat shoplifter.
Maybe we're at the tipping point and we'll soon join everyone else in having security guards randomly check your bags or having to scan a receipt to leave the self-checkout, but I found it extremely odd when I was expected to do that abroad.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
and today the Aryan people most closely resemble genetically Northern European peoples.
population groups with greater Indo-European ancestry trend as nations with higher technological innovation, economic status, empire-building, and global colonization, all of which follow the modus operandi of the Indo-Europeans
The Greeks and Spanish seem to have a very low amount of Indo-European ancestry according to your graph despite being some of the great civilisations of Europe, am I misreading you somewhere?
Barring cases where there is some impediment to clear thinking, the main judge of your moral worthiness to be in a romantic relationship should be the person entering into the relationship with you. It would be an odd situation if someone were attracted to you but you dared not talk to them because you weren't ready for war, and you may be ready for war and still be morally disgusting to women in other ways.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
I contend that freely and willingly entering this Hell is itself noble, admirable, pointless, and perhaps idiotic.
What about the soldiers who were drafted?
A shitty life is hard to solve, being poor and sick are real hurdles, being bored is another matter.
If you have a range of options going from fulfilling but difficult to unfulfilling but easy it's hard not to say that going with the latter is the cause and not just the effect of your life being unfulfilling.
And people do have options. Opportunity costs aside books are basically free, volunteering in a totally new type of work and dealing with new types of people is free, travel is expensive but if you've already got a shitty job you won't be sacrificing much in terms of material conditions. There is a whole lot of challenge in these options and they might not provide ultimate fulfillment (though there's something to be learned from the search), but they're surely more fulfilling than being stuck in a rut of heavy gaming and porn addiction.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
I never considered it from this angle before. I'm usually in favour of letting kids work for the character benefits but you do raise a good point.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Thanks.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
The 3P standard?
I'd say there's a second question implicit in your first. Is learning a language worth it given the time investment and poor results, and why are languages taught so poorly that even a great time investment produces such poor results?
It really shouldn't take 6 years of high school plus 4 of college to learn a Latin/Germanic language. I've known people who did it in a year through self-study while working. The 'extensive study post school' can be done without having covered it in school in the first place, and at that point it's not so extensive.
Tollund_Man4
3yr ago
Incest is already illegal in many Western countries, not too long ago so was homosexuality.
‘Weeb Union’ on YouTube has started making videos about the Israel-Palestine conflict. His videos are quite short and he’s been pretty at keeping up with developments in Ukraine (as far as I can tell) so I’m expecting him to do a good job here also.
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