Bah.
OOOkay. This is a thing I got to online in the stupid, roundabout ways that one gets to things online. I started by looking up a bumper sticker I'd seen that said "I drive a Toyota because I DO understand." I was puzzled because I didn't realize it was a reference to the Jeep tagline. I found my answer on a message board for off-roading enthusiasts, and I happened to notice one of the users had this quote in their signature line:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- J. S. Mill
The current state of affairs in the U.S. makes this a highly politically charged quote, but when I a) don't think something sounds believable or b) would rather not believe it, I tend to research the fuck out of it to figure out what the exact facts are. If the facts are not to my liking, of course, I can gear up the ol' rationalization engine and put my own spin on things, after which I carefully avoid the sensitive subject so I can keep my illusions about it. In this case, however, such self-deception was completely unnecessary. Here is the whole quote:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice, - is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other."
- J. S. Mill
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- J. S. Mill
The current state of affairs in the U.S. makes this a highly politically charged quote, but when I a) don't think something sounds believable or b) would rather not believe it, I tend to research the fuck out of it to figure out what the exact facts are. If the facts are not to my liking, of course, I can gear up the ol' rationalization engine and put my own spin on things, after which I carefully avoid the sensitive subject so I can keep my illusions about it. In this case, however, such self-deception was completely unnecessary. Here is the whole quote:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice, - is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other."
- J. S. Mill