“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”
Thucydides
In the Chinese language the number 4 phonetically sounds like death. It has been now 4 weeks since Israel & US waged war against Iran and 4 years since Russian invaded Ukraine. Seems like a good time to comment on the selfish nature of man and his base instinct to wage wars.
So often in this media wrapped world we live in, someone somewhere has an interpretation that resonates with us, so even if we lack original thought, there is a good chance we will find our voice.
In my case, I had called out the similarities of the megalomaniacs today especially the one in US to the one who from Austria who terrorised Europe nearly a century ago. I said it without fear at a business leadership meeting, much to the discomfort of colleagues there but bad events are not mea see nt to be easy.
As it happened, on my way to Hanoi, the capital of a country that has risen well from the ashes of war half a century ago, I watched Nuremberg Trails. In this case, I didn’t need the movie to think for me. I would just channel the words of the brave men who lived through the horrors of World War 2.
In particular, we must all pay heed to the views of Justice Jackson at Nuremberg trails and of Dr Douglas Kelley, the psychiatrist assigned to assess the mental health of the 22 prisoners there facing trial and judgment.
"The real complaining party at your bar is Civilization. It asks whether law is so laggard as to be utterly helpless to deal with crimes of this magnitude—committed by men who possessed great power and used it deliberately to destroy peace, to enslave peoples, and to exterminate millions.
We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants is the record on which history will judge us. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.
If these crimes are not punished, they will be repeated. If they are not condemned, then the law itself will be brought into contempt.
This trial is part of the great effort to make the law—not war—the governing force among nations.
And so, the question before this Tribunal is not merely the guilt of these men. It is whether the rule of law can prevail over the rule of force."
Justice Robert Jackson
"I had in my charge the purest known Nazi “virus cultures”—twenty-two men. These men were not insane. They were not psychotic. They were, for the most part, within the normal range of intelligence. Nor were they, in any simple sense, abnormal personalities. They were not radically different from the average individual. Insanity is no explanation for their behavior.
The fact is that these men were able to commit their crimes not because they were mad, but because they were human.
Their acts were the product of a situation in which moral controls were weakened, authority was absolute, and responsibility was diffused. Under such conditions, many men can be led to commit acts which, in other circumstances, they would regard as unthinkable.
The danger is not that such men exist, but that they are ordinary. What happened in Germany could happen elsewhere, if similar conditions were to arise."
Dr Douglas Kelley
All these unnecessary deaths could be prevented. We need good humans to speak up and stop the evil ones.
“The only clue to what man can do is what he has done”
Collingwood
