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Is there a cause worth dying for?

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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:17 PM
Original message
Is there a cause worth dying for?
Edited on Thu Jan-20-05 04:49 PM by uppityperson
My opinion is that we bitch and moan and protest and are oh so polite even while throwing eggs and getting arrested and disappeared and don't rush motorcades and get shot (much) because we have good manners or fear death or don't think there is a cause worth dying for. So, is there a cause worth dying for, for you?

On Edit: I am safely at home today, not risking my life. There was a comment earlier today along the lines of don't get violent at the coronation parade because it's not worth dying for. Got me wondering what truly would be worth dying for, for real.
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aden_nak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:22 PM
Response to Original message
1. I have two thoughts on this, actually.
A cause is only worth dying for if, through that death, there is the possibility of change or transformation. And a cause is only worth dying for if there is no other way to bring that change about. The most obvious example I can think of that is relevant to our culture is World War II. That is a cause worth dying for, an end to the Nazi war machine. I sure as hell will never go fight in the sandbox for Bush and his ever-so-rich brand of elite criminal fuckers. But I would have fought against an abomination like the Third Reich, even though it would have been far more dangerous.
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tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:24 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. and would you consider the defeat of the Fourth Reich
a cause worth dying for?
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mohinoaklawnillinois Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:26 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. To preserve the Constitution of the United States is worth fighting
and dying for. n/t
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aden_nak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:29 PM
Response to Reply #2
6. Once there is no alternative? Yes.
But I don't think we're there yet. I know it's bad. It's fucking horrible. But we're not that far gone. Today's protests proved that, if nothing else.
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tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:31 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. I agree with you there
I don't think we're at that point yet.
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mohinoaklawnillinois Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:37 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. That's where I was coming from. Once there is no alternative.
But I agree, we Americans aren't at that point yet. Yes, today's protests prove that very well.
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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:30 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. Came from earlier post to parade protesters "not worth dying for"
Would you consider bursting through the fence at *s parade to throw something at *, to bring the Revolution about a cause worth dying for? Realize I do not condone violence, am not willing to do this myself, but wondering if there is a cause to directly risk one's life for, not just on the computer but in real life.
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mslux Donating Member (141 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:28 PM
Response to Original message
4. And the current administration?
Fascist state that we may soon find going after us. I argue that we are soldiers in the fight for Democracy in America. Leave the country? Only if you want to leave this war to the same folks who fought the Viet Nam war; the poor and people of color who could not afford to leave the country. No?
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ET Awful Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:28 PM
Response to Original message
5. To paraphrase Mohandas Gandhi
There are many causes for which I am prepared to die. But I can not think of one for which I am prepared to kill.
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G_j Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:45 PM
Response to Reply #5
11. and MLK
"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963.

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Inland Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-20-05 04:43 PM
Response to Original message
10. You mean, me personally? Not some national guard volunteer?
I guess saving Iraq is out.
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