Have you seen the movie called: "The Bridge at River Kwai"?
Commander Shears (played by William Holden) said: "You British talked
about how to die well. You should talk about how to live well".
We are all pawns in a game of chess.
On 2 Apr, 12:27, The Speaking Clock <harlequin...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On 2 Apr, 18:38, mika <mika...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Apr 2, 2:48 am, The Speaking Clock =A0wrote:
>
> > > On 31 Mar, 17:52, mikawrote:
>
> > > > That's because most people project their own values and beliefs
abou=
t
> > > > acceptable risk onto other people, and *then* attempt to
understand
> > > > others' motivations and decision-making rationale.
>
> > > I agree that people do that these days, but the values and beliefs
in
> > > currency in 1936 were different. =A0I don't think people then second
> > > guessed the risk strategies of the men but rather questioned thier
> > > motivations for attempting the Eiger face
>
> > Questioning their motivations *is* second-guessing their risk
> > strategies. =A0If you accept that their risk strategy was their own to
> > determine, that the very fact that they took on the challenge means
> > that the risk was acceptable to them, then there is no need to
> > question why they did it. =A0They did it because they wanted to.
>
> What I mean by that, is that engaging in heroic activities for the
> benefit of your country had become a bit of an institution. =A0It was a
> way for young men to prove themselves in a society that had been
> psyching itself up for war with Hitler. =A0School children were being
> taught how to shoot guns and operate in a military fa****on by older
> men who had experienced WW1. =A0It was against this backdrop that the
> tragedy occured. =A0Perhaps it was an event that allowed people to
> express how they really felt about going to war again that was held
> hidden behind the British stiff upper lip.
>
> > > and felt communal responsibility for thier deaths.
>
> > Well that's just stupid.
>
> In the article the author directly equates these climbers with
> soldiers amongst other things. =A0It isn't stupid for people on a war
> footing to care about friends, family, husbands and sons going to war,
> and it isn't stupid for members of the ruling class to share
> responsibility for thier deaths, or to question whether - in the
> eagerness to get Britain ready for war, they had been all to ready to
> glorify it to those that would have to fight it.
>
> When society questioned the motivation of the climbers who died in
> 1939, it knew that it had indoctrinated these young men with certain
> values, just as it was teaching it's soldiers. =A0Intense patriotism,
> the motivation of queen and country.
>
> > > These days, even if your friends had been breaking records or making
> > > the first snowboard attempt ever for thier country, I doubt the
> > > coverage would have been much different. =A0And yet - whether the
men
> > > who climbed the Eiger did it for Queen or Country, a wish to better
> > > thier positions, or like your friends: for the sheer personal joy
and
> > > exhiliration of it, I do find a sort of heroism in these pursuits,
in
> > > a time where hero's are hard to recognise.
>
> > I would avoid looking at it as heroic. =A0These are just people who
are
> > doing what they want to do with their lives, who have different
> > attitudes about certain risks. Sure, it would have been safer to not
> > venture out at all, but don't kid yourself - the risk of dying in an
> > avalanche is way lower than dying in a car crash, yet do you consider
> > people who drive to work every morning to be heroes?
>
> No, and I wouldn't class your friends as heros just because they were
> snowboarders. =A0Perhaps it's just the risk taking I'm thinking of as
> sort of heroic. =A0It's very nearly the defining characteristic of a
> hero. =A0I've been on very short rations of sleep for the last week, so
> I make these silly mistakes. =A0I go back on home Saturday:)- Hide
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