a thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it
I do not know a lot, if I am honest, about Afghanistan; when it was all kicking off I was too young to be interested. I wouldn't presume to comment on it seriously without knowing far more than I do about all of the background, results and implications of the war (although, gun to my head, I'd say that trying to impose your own culture, values and political system on another country by force, in my opinion, tends not to end well).
However. I have read far too many posts in various places on the internet, particularly Facebook, saying, in essence, 'oh God, it's tragic how many people have died in Afghanistan, and they were fighting the evil terrorists, and they were heroes, the best people ever, and terrorists killed them, we have to keep fighting in Afghanistan so they won't have died in vain!'
I find this depressing. As I said, I don't pretend to have an informed opinion on the war, because I really don't. I think I'd most likely put myself on the 'getting out by 2014, good idea' side of the fence. What I know, however, is that while it is sad that 382 British people have died, that is not in fact a huge number compared to, say, cancer, or car accidents, or - if you want to look outside Britain - famines, and that if there are justified reasons to continue with this war, the sunk costs fallacy is certainly not one of them.
However. I have read far too many posts in various places on the internet, particularly Facebook, saying, in essence, 'oh God, it's tragic how many people have died in Afghanistan, and they were fighting the evil terrorists, and they were heroes, the best people ever, and terrorists killed them, we have to keep fighting in Afghanistan so they won't have died in vain!'
I find this depressing. As I said, I don't pretend to have an informed opinion on the war, because I really don't. I think I'd most likely put myself on the 'getting out by 2014, good idea' side of the fence. What I know, however, is that while it is sad that 382 British people have died, that is not in fact a huge number compared to, say, cancer, or car accidents, or - if you want to look outside Britain - famines, and that if there are justified reasons to continue with this war, the sunk costs fallacy is certainly not one of them.