Sunday, October 13, 2002
Just a Thought
Pretend you're a soldier in the army of Blue. Red has just defeated your country, and all that's left is to imprison your leader and to mop up all remaining pockets of Blue resistance. Leaflets have been dropped, saying that those who surrender unconditionally will be saved, while those who resist will be destroyed. There is debate over whether the leaflets are genuine or not, but you've heard rumors that those who did as the leaflets said and surrendered were given amnesty, though Red did insist that they be re-educated before being released. Would you surrender, or would you fight to the death?
I know that this would be a tough decision for me. Emotionally, I tend to romanticize the idea of gotterdammerung, the "final battle" where one side knows that they're all going to be killed and can't hope to defeat or even deflect their opponent, yet still fights to the death. On the other hand, I tend to favor practicality over aesthetics, so long as there is an appreciable difference. What would you do?
(Oh, and if you're a gamer, feel free to visualize the gameboard for Blitzkreig or Tactics II in the above scenario.)
Pretend you're a soldier in the army of Blue. Red has just defeated your country, and all that's left is to imprison your leader and to mop up all remaining pockets of Blue resistance. Leaflets have been dropped, saying that those who surrender unconditionally will be saved, while those who resist will be destroyed. There is debate over whether the leaflets are genuine or not, but you've heard rumors that those who did as the leaflets said and surrendered were given amnesty, though Red did insist that they be re-educated before being released. Would you surrender, or would you fight to the death?
I know that this would be a tough decision for me. Emotionally, I tend to romanticize the idea of gotterdammerung, the "final battle" where one side knows that they're all going to be killed and can't hope to defeat or even deflect their opponent, yet still fights to the death. On the other hand, I tend to favor practicality over aesthetics, so long as there is an appreciable difference. What would you do?
(Oh, and if you're a gamer, feel free to visualize the gameboard for Blitzkreig or Tactics II in the above scenario.)
