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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 13, 2023

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This is outside the bounds of the hypothetical. Dwight Eisenhower is not relinquishing command of the Allied Expeditionary Force to you, nor are you personally replacing the Allied heads of state as chief coordinators of war strategy. The only role you have is to advise Eisenhower to what degree French civilian casualties are acceptable.

What exactly is this hypothetical meant to reveal?

I suppose at its heart it's a more complex trolley problem with a historical context. It's an interesting moral dilemma to tease out.

There is no upper bound. Civilian casualties are a fake concept. And although I like the French as a people, generally, that is entirely subservient to the cause of winning the war, particularly because my tomfool general Eisenhower and his higher ups are insisting we go in deep when the Nazis are ready, and for some reason aren't anticipating the Soviet threat at a level obvious to the average 1940s steel worker.

Ah, yes. We had to destroy the village in order to save it. And, if civilian casualties are a fake concept, then I guess 9/11 was perfectly acceptable.

No, they are our people.