Comments on: World War II interrogator: “We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture” http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/ Books and policy from an endlessly curious perspective Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:04:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: chris r http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/comment-page-1/#comment-5242 chris r Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:24:20 +0000 http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/#comment-5242 <p>mrz, I think you're looking at it more accurately. I think another crucial detail here is that we were not the big deal that we are now. We weren't a global heavy-weight until we got into WWII. I don't think we acted with hubris that we are now, because it just wasn't there. And, as you pointed out, we were actually in real danger on a huge scale. Now it's a battle against potentially being in danger. I don't think that generation was better than us, per se, but were simply playing the game for real stakes.</p> <p>I completely agree: we aren't willing to actually protect what we're trying to protect, in the name of protecting it at any cost.</p> mrz, I think you’re looking at it more accurately. I think another crucial detail here is that we were not the big deal that we are now. We weren’t a global heavy-weight until we got into WWII. I don’t think we acted with hubris that we are now, because it just wasn’t there. And, as you pointed out, we were actually in real danger on a huge scale. Now it’s a battle against potentially being in danger. I don’t think that generation was better than us, per se, but were simply playing the game for real stakes.

I completely agree: we aren’t willing to actually protect what we’re trying to protect, in the name of protecting it at any cost.

]]> By: mrz http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/comment-page-1/#comment-5240 mrz Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:22:21 +0000 http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/#comment-5240 <p>Interestingly, in WWII we had enemies that not only wanted to destroy us but actually had a shot at bringing those plans to fruition on a large scale. Not just "scaring" us or even scaring a single city, but actual threat of real invasion/takeover. And yet, we were willing to be good soldiers. We were willing to use real trust-based interrogation tactics, because we really needed the information. We actually wanted to win. We weren't just looking for some kind of twisted revenge.</p> <p>Can you imagine if WWII were run today? If the press got wind of steak dinners for Hitlers captured top men, the pundits would be on TV frothing over how "our boys are dying while librul FDR serves Hitler's SS steak dinners!" It's like America has become its own rediculous parody.</p> <p>Even more odd, the same pundits who froth like that and their followers can't stop fellating the B generation yet it's all empty nostalgia. They can't seem to muster the <em>integrity</em> that made the B generation so great. They didn't just fight. They didn't just "give 'em hell", they were also trying desperately to hold on to their humanity. It seems like today everybody wants to jettison their humanity because it's getting in the way of what they want.</p> <p>Or is that just nostalgia too? Was WWII generation lacking the "lust for hate" that the US seems to hold right now, or is that just me looking back with rose colored glasses? I get the feeling my glasses are pretty clear, though.</p> Interestingly, in WWII we had enemies that not only wanted to destroy us but actually had a shot at bringing those plans to fruition on a large scale. Not just “scaring” us or even scaring a single city, but actual threat of real invasion/takeover. And yet, we were willing to be good soldiers. We were willing to use real trust-based interrogation tactics, because we really needed the information. We actually wanted to win. We weren’t just looking for some kind of twisted revenge.

Can you imagine if WWII were run today? If the press got wind of steak dinners for Hitlers captured top men, the pundits would be on TV frothing over how “our boys are dying while librul FDR serves Hitler’s SS steak dinners!” It’s like America has become its own rediculous parody.

Even more odd, the same pundits who froth like that and their followers can’t stop fellating the B generation yet it’s all empty nostalgia. They can’t seem to muster the integrity that made the B generation so great. They didn’t just fight. They didn’t just “give ‘em hell”, they were also trying desperately to hold on to their humanity. It seems like today everybody wants to jettison their humanity because it’s getting in the way of what they want.

Or is that just nostalgia too? Was WWII generation lacking the “lust for hate” that the US seems to hold right now, or is that just me looking back with rose colored glasses? I get the feeling my glasses are pretty clear, though.

]]> By: Britta http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/comment-page-1/#comment-5239 Britta Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:07:09 +0000 http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/#comment-5239 <p>Only if they would have served veggie dogs.</p> Only if they would have served veggie dogs.

]]> By: mrz http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/comment-page-1/#comment-5236 mrz Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:56:04 +0000 http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/#comment-5236 <p>They also did steak dinners. Would that have worked?</p> They also did steak dinners. Would that have worked?

]]> By: Britta http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/comment-page-1/#comment-5232 Britta Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:37:05 +0000 http://stevereads.com/weblog/2007/11/05/world-war-ii-interrogator-we-got-more-information-out-of-a-german-general-with-a-game-of-chess-or-ping-pong-than-they-do-today-with-their-torture/#comment-5232 <p>They would have never gotten anything out of me playing either game.</p> They would have never gotten anything out of me playing either game.

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