Posted on 02/20/2010 2:30:21 PM PST by JoeProBono
Their real worry was the ripe situation for the Royal Indian Army, Royal Indian Air Force and the Royal Indian Navy (together, the largest all-volunteer force in WW2) toward turning against them. Hundreds of defections to militant nationalistic movements brought them more sleepless nights than any speech Gandhi might have made.
They feared turn-coats from this:
more than they feared this:
or this:
True and WWII had the same effect in Southeast Asia and Africa, which also had colonial troops in the fight. The lesson learned was “Bullets kill white guys, too.” And in America. It wasn’t long after WWII, Truman integrated the Armed Forces.
parsy
Drive by GC quite often.
Pardon my judgmentalism, but some of the liberal GC crowd seem a lot more excited about being Mennonite than Christian. Other Mennonites are some of the most solid Christians you can imagine.
DH comes from a Mennonite background and some of my ancestors were Quakers. So ... I can see where they are coming from as far as non-violence.
My conviction is that I should be non-violent, myself, in daily life. But at the same time there is such a thing as a just war. I believe the war on terror is a just war.
I do think Orwell was right when he said rough men are willign to do violence on our behalf.
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 war is much worse...A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
-John Stuart Mill
you wrote: Drive by GC quite often.
- Mrs. Big Truck and I are GC alums 1990.
you wrote: Pardon my judgmentalism, but some of the liberal GC crowd seem a lot more excited about being Mennonite than Christian. Other Mennonites are some of the most solid Christians you can imagine.
- This isn’t judgemental. I’m afraid you may not realize how true this statement is. After years of talking with those in leadership about the direction the Mennonite Church was heading(including then president of GC Victor Stoltzfus), we left the Mennonite Church about 8 years ago. The reaction we got from people in our church was a bit disconcerting - anywhere from an angry “I’m sorry our church isn’t good enough for you anymore” to people asking us what we were going to be if we were not Mennonite. Our reply was “Christians.” For some, being a Christian is great, but if you’re a Mennonite, well then you are really in.
Unfortunately the older generation who remember the theologically conservative position the Mennonite Church used to hold to (dress, employment, view of scripture, the roles of men and women in the church and society, ect) have no freaking clue what Mennonite schools have become - bastions of liberals who indoctrinate the children who are entrusted to them. Our local Mennonite schools are no different than public schools, just more of a private, $10k/yr institution.
The seminaries are even worse - filled with people who went to college/seminary (instead of Canada) to avoid military service. Now they are teaching the same garbage about the military to all they come in contact with. It’s a vicious circle.
you wrote: DH comes from a Mennonite background and some of my ancestors were Quakers. So ... I can see where they are coming from as far as non-violence.
-Mrs. Big Truck and I were born and bred Mennonite. I don’t see where they are coming from at all. Pacifism is a great concept (who doesn’t want to live in a society where violence is not needed?) but it breaks down upon application. The same people who decry any form of resistance to evil are the same ones who alarm their houses, cars, and businesses to resist people taking what they have. Ask them if someone broke into their home and had a loved one held hostage at gunpoint, would they call the pastor/prayer chain or the police? Are their alarms wired to call the church leaders or the cops? Pacifists in general cannot answer those questions.
On a side note, I won first place in the 15 year old class in the NBL War of the stars 1980 BMX race in Goshen Indiana... I think the track was adjacent to Goshen College. Not much else there except the Amish. Good memories!
wow, did you actually read my post? Your comments have nothing at all to do with my post, which was about the plausibility and respectability of PACIFISM....
I brought up Gandhi solely in the comparison between non-violent tactics toward the British Empire vs. his recommendation of non-violent tactics for Jews vs. Hitler.
The “relatively civilized” in context obviously compares with Hitler and other fascist regimes. It does not imply that Britain was/is “perfectly” civilized all of the time, although your statements about the American Revolution are rather strained (the Brits were still “relatively” civilized for that era, too, although it should be obvious from my post that I was discussing the mid to late 20th century).
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