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#22 |
Loremaster of Annśminas
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,330
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Well, over 20,000 German soldiers were executed during the war for failing to carry out orders (of various sorts). It wasn't an idle threat.
But of course even by Nuremburg standards the argument from coercion would have been considered valid *if* the defendants could prove it (mostly they couldn't). The standard defense was "An order is an order," which according to normative law up until WWII *was* a complete defense. I don't deny that a very great many, probably the majority, of those Germans who took part of atrocities would have even if they did have (or believed they had) a choice. Human beings generally let power go to their heads (which is why they should be entrusted with as little of it as possible).
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didnt know, and when he didnt know it. Last edited by William Cloud Hicklin; 04-03-2009 at 12:31 PM. |
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