# Western hypocricy at its worst **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [March 2, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352 "2022-03-02T14:15:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/41 "2022-03-03T07:47:45Z")
I’m going to assume his invasion of Georgia was thwarted by the “Pickup Truck with a Gun Rack” militia? ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/42 "2022-03-03T15:34:42Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I’m going to make like Xerxes and take a hard pass. I am going to use this every chance I get. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/43 "2022-03-03T19:06:29Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I’m going to make like Xerxes and take a hard pass. ( May I have your permission to use this later today, if I properly credit you with writing it? ) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/44 "2022-03-03T19:13:26Z")
Sure. So few fresh bon mots these days. Where are the Vinyl Turnips of yesteryear? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/45 "2022-03-04T00:36:11Z")
> [@JakeRS](#): > > If you are against war, you are against all wars. I wonder how many hard-line pacifists there are, worldwide. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/46 "2022-03-04T02:05:32Z")
Albert Einstein once described himself (in a letter) as a militant pacifist. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/47 "2022-03-04T13:18:15Z")
And yet, he saw the need for the US to develop the atomic bomb before the Nazis did. > **[Albert Einstein wrote to the US pleading with the government to build an...](https://www.businessinsider.com/albert-einstein-wrote-letter-us-roosvelt-atomic-bomb-2019-8)** > > Albert Einstein wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning that Nazi Germany might be creating "extremely powerful bombs of a new type." ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/48 "2022-03-04T19:10:57Z")
> [@JakeRS](#): > > If you are against war, you are against all wars. (…) …and if I’m for any violence, I’m for all violence. Thank you for opening my eyes — let Putin enfold Ukraine. (BTW, I think the majority of people on the SDMB howled like flaming cats during the ramp up to Dubya’s Middle East invasion.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/49 "2022-03-04T19:15:17Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > (BTW, I think the majority of people on the SDMB howled like flaming cats during the ramp up to Dubya’s Middle East invasion.) Apart from the ones who called us traitors for doing it, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/50 "2022-03-04T19:17:07Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > And yet, he saw the need for the US to develop the atomic bomb before the Nazis did. That’s part of what Einstein meant about being a militant pacifist. Here are a couple of his points about it. > My name is linked to the atomic bomb in two different ways. Almost 50 years ago I discovered the equivalence of mass and energy, a relationship which served as the guiding principle in the work leading to the release of atomic energy. Secondly, I signed a letter to President Roosevelt stressing the need for work in the field of the atomic bomb. I felt this was necessary because of the dreadful danger that the Nazi regime might be the first to come into possession of the atomic bomb. > I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the peoples themselves refuse to go to war. And further, he said… > It may not be possible in one generation to eradicate the combative instinct. It is not even desirable to eradicate it entirely. Men should continue to fight, but they should fight for things worthwhile, not for imaginary geographical lines, racial prejudices, and private greed draped in the colors of patriotism. Their arms should be weapons of the spirit, not shrapnel and tanks. He considered the atomic bomb to be a necessary evil to stop the Nazi atrocities, but he felt it was essential for people to refuse to go to war. Not just philosophically, but by action. > I further suggest that pacifists of all countries start raising funds to support those who would want to refuse military service but who cannot actually do so for lack of financial means. I, therefore, advocate the establishment of an international organization and an international pacifist fund to support the active war resisters of our day. He was an interesting guy. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/51 "2022-03-04T19:27:08Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Now I’m seeing Einstein as Peacemaker, doing the dance. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/52 "2022-03-06T03:29:17Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Apart from the ones who called us traitors for doing it, yes. Or those who were simply way too credulous about the official justifications for war, whether or not they considered people who disagreed with them to be actually treasonous. There were quite a few Dopers who plumed themselves on their intelligence and rationality who swallowed the Iraq invasion con hook, line and sinker. I don’t think they should now get to ride the coattails of “the majority of people on the SDMB”, if we even were a majority back then, who were more critical on the subject (and, as it turned out, justifiably so). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/53 "2022-03-06T03:36:56Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Are you suggesting that if we were to search @JakeRS’s posting history for _Crimea_ we’d come up with nil, and if we were to search for _Ukraine_ we’d find nothing substantial? I’m suggesting that if we were to search @JakeRS’s posting history, we’d discover that it is a repurposed bot account for a Russian escort site. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/54 "2022-03-06T07:18:35Z")
I will point out that RS is the TLD for Serbia, so Jake is openly Serbian. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352/55 "2022-03-06T07:26:46Z")
Somehow I feel like Norm McDonald’s line about hypocrisy is applicable here: > The comedian Patton Oswalt, he told me “I think the worst part of the Cosby thing was the hypocrisy.” And I disagree. I thought it was the raping. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/western-hypocricy-at-its-worst/960352.md?page=2)