# When can we stop obsessing over WWII? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613 "2011-01-14T16:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/41 "2011-01-14T23:45:45Z")
I don’t either, unfortunately. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/42 "2011-01-15T00:02:09Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Sadly, it’s too bad more European Jews didn’t have guns and were, by and large, non-violent kinds of people. It might not have made that much difference, but they may have taken some of those Nazi bastards down with them at least. ☹ > -XT +1 ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/43 "2011-01-15T00:03:14Z")
> [@The\_Amazing\_Hanna](#): > > When can we stop obsessing over **WWII**?? After\*\* WWIII \*\*ends ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/44 "2011-01-15T00:23:07Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Yeah, while most likely apocryphal, there was probably nothing even armed Jews could really do in the end. But, like I said, they could possibly have sent some of the bastards to hell first. Thinking of all those people, especially the children, being slaughtered like sheep just makes me sick with fury. > > Which is another good reason to NEVER forget about WWII…IMHO. > > -XT Until the Holocaust, the Jews survived slavery and two Diaspora by being pacifists. During the Roman Empire and afterward, fighting against the conquering army would get you and your entire tribe wiped off the face of the Earth. So long as they posed no threat to their conquerors, they were more valuable alive than dead. I doubt there was any way they could have anticipated the Holocaust. They were well aware that if one group of Jews fought back, the Nazis would only start killing all Jews. They just didn’t know the Nazis had already made that decision. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/45 "2011-01-15T00:33:40Z")
And there was no way to know that things had radically changed and that this time, going along meekly would get a large percentage of them killed. ☹ I know. Add to that the fact that, afaik, most European non-military citizens (no matter what their religious tendencies) of the time weren’t generally armed in any case, and basically what I said is a lot of wishful thinking. I still wish it were so, and that magically they could have known their fate and known that this time things were different, and that fighting back, while ultimately futile, would have been a better course anyway. -XT ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/46 "2011-01-15T00:43:13Z")
nvm ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/47 "2011-01-15T00:43:15Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > Yeah, while most likely apocryphal, there was probably nothing even armed Jews could really do in the end. But, like I said, they could possibly have sent some of the bastards to hell first. Thinking of all those people, especially the children, being slaughtered like sheep just makes me sick with fury. > > Which is another good reason to NEVER forget about WWII…IMHO. > > -XT My mother was in a slave labor factory making munitions for the German army, and still carries an improperly set broken arm from that time. Her job was to weight bullets (or some such ammo) to ensure they were properly loaded. She always sent the underweight bullets along and pulled as many full weight ones as she could. She kept hoping she was saving some allied soldier’s life out there. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/48 "2011-01-15T00:54:28Z")
> [@The\_Amazing\_Hanna](#): > > The babies born to parents who returned from the war are now old men and women. I’m 45 and I don’t consider myself _that_ old. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/49 "2011-01-15T01:18:53Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Until the Holocaust, the Jews survived slavery and two Diaspora by being pacifists. I don’t think it’s the reason. If you look at other examples of atrocities, you can see that people almost always let themselves be mass-murdered without much in the way of resistance. The last time I read about such a situation (not the last time such a thing happened, of course), for instance, was a massacre that happened in Yugoslavia. Victims were driven to a bridge, a first group disembarked, put against the railing, shot dead, the bodies were thrown into the river, then the next “batch” would be disembarked, put against the railing, etc… No revolt, no attempt to escape, to jump into the river, to attack the murderers, nothing. From all what I read, it seems it’s the typical human reaction when faced with the prospect of being slaughtered like sheep : actually turn into sheep. It doesn’t make any sense (killed for killed, why not trying something?), especially in view of our survival instinct, but so it is. So, as much as I would like to think that I would try to do something, I can only assume that I would do the same as everybody else, and would just let them slaughter me, as baffling as it seems. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/50 "2011-01-15T01:26:33Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > So, as much as I would like to think that I would try to do something, I can only assume that I would do the same as everybody else, and would just let them slaughter me, as baffling as it seems. I’d like to think I’d at least run like hell. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/51 "2011-01-15T01:44:23Z")
When will we get over the 1960’s? It is like _Groundhog Day_ over and over. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/52 "2011-01-15T02:26:13Z")
well, first off i’d like the OP to define “obsess”. With reference to **Slivey Tove’s** post and **Sam Stone’s** post, kids these days are definitely well aware of all the inner workings of WWII. Not only that, they know the dynamics of WWII better than pretty much every other 20th century war (though the dynamics of the civil war is probably more thoroughly taught than WWII). If you ask a typical HS student about WWI, you would probably get you a cursory answer of “Archduke assassination” and if you’re lucky the kid will have cursory knowledge of “alliances” but a lot more kids would be able to name Axis and Allies than Central Powers vs the Triple Entente. As for the later wars, I’m also positive that the school system now really gloss over the Vietnam war and probably never even get to the 1st gulf war, much less the current one. also, kids these days might not know that what a cunt cap is, they’re shelling out major dollars for video games like Call of Duty, which replay WWII campaigns, not Vietnam or WWI campaigns. i guess there IS a degree of WWII-centricity and an overglorification of that war, but… i wouldn’t call it an obsession. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/53 "2011-01-15T02:43:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Well, for the History Channel, WWII provides a never ending supply of relatively uncontrovertial source material. > > Really, the entire first half of the 20th Century was an incredibly transformative time in world history. I really don’t think you can compare anything in recent history to the scale of WWII. > > **Prelude to Fascination** , WWII probably was the most thouroughly documented war in history at that time. Vietnam and our current wars with their embeded reporters and high speed internet communication and 24 hour news networks would certainly be more documented. I agree about the embedded reporters/internet, and nearly said that when I first posted, but I was at work, and you know how that can go… ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/54 "2011-01-15T02:52:41Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > It’s the last war where we (Horoshima and Nagasaki excluded) were the “good guys” and the “bad guys” were smashed the pieces. > > All the subsequent wars had no victorious endings (and Afghanistan is no doubt going to be a bust). Thanks to nuclear weapons, it was probably the last time in history that a total conventional war between major powers will ever be fought. Air, armor and sea power will never again be used as unrestrictedly, since nuclear armed powers either would never let things come to such a pass or would resort to at least tactical nukes first. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/55 "2011-01-15T02:53:12Z")
> [@The\_Amazing\_Hanna](#): > > World War II ended almost three score and ten years ago. That’s not really a long time. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/56 "2011-01-15T03:02:20Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > It both solidified the status of the United States as the premier industrial power (which it maintained until the late 'Sixties or early 'Seventies) Huh? What makes you think we stopped being the premier industrial power in the 60s-70s? Last time I checked, the U.S. is still the world’s largest manufacturing country. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/57 "2011-01-15T07:24:29Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Huh? What makes you think we stopped being the premier industrial power in the 60s-70s? Last time I checked, the U.S. is still the world’s largest manufacturing country. Hint: the Chinese no longer just make fireworks. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/58 "2011-01-15T15:18:44Z")
Let’s not act too noble - many WWII buffs are sick freaks who are secretly deeply obsessed with fascist dictatorships. Simple as that. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/59 "2011-01-15T15:33:33Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Hint: the Chinese no longer just make fireworks. > > Stranger Hint: Industrial output is no longer the only measure of a nations economy. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613/60 "2011-01-15T16:07:03Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Hint: Industrial output is no longer the only measure of a nations economy. Agreed, but that comment was in response to the claim that “Last time I checked, the U.S. is still the world’s largest manufacturing country.” This hasn’t been true since at latest the early 'Seventies, when the United States transitioned from being a primarily industrial economy (making stuff) to post-industrial i.e. service and technology development (selling information, specialized capabilities, and developing and capitalizing on innovative technologies). Regardless, the echos of WWII are still present in both our economic dominance (for better or worse) and the long reaching cultural impacts. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-can-we-stop-obsessing-over-wwii/567613.md?page=4)