I FOUGHT THE LAW

There are perils sometimes to having a legally trained mind. For the most part, a lawyer is eminently capable of organizing their thoughts into powerful, well-supported arguments. Sometimes, though, a legalistic mind can get caught up in trying to win on a narrow point, and miss the larger picture.

For reasons I cannot fathom, the discussion in Mainstream has turned to the topic of World War II. It seems that both walksthedesert1 and doppleganger_1 brought up the point that, even before the official start date in 1939, there were many aggressive actions taken on both sides, which allows us to talk about what events might have been the "hidden" start of WWII.

For example, even before the invasion of Poland, Germany invaded several territories that were part of the bygone Germanic Empire. Can we say that these actions were the "beginning" of WWII? Also, around the same time, the Spanish Civil War was raging, with Germany and others using the combatants as proxies to allow attacks on their enemies without declaring an open war. Could that be considered the "beginning" of WWII? Azita_2005 brings up the skirmishes between US and German naval vessels, and the clandestine support of European powers by the nominally neutral United States. Can those battles be considered a "beginning" of a world war? dopple even argues that the seeds of WWII can be found in the disastrous end (for Germany) of WWI, the Treaty of Versailles, and the weakness of the Weimar government after the end of WWI. Can we imagine that this was the true "beginning" of WWII?

Any of these ideas can, and in most cases have been, argued by prominent historians. And undoubtedly LordMercifulVoo is aware of that. The way that his mind is failing him, as it unfortunately does quite often, is that Voo is trying to stake out a narrow legal point and win on it, just to have something to contribute (or as a means to dominate the debate). So, every time he comes up to the mic, he points to sources such as wikipedia, Encarta, or even (gag) the dictionary, to prove that the technical start of WWII was in 1939. As he condescendingly says to dopple and walks, "Well, I have to disagree with you, the ENCYCLODPEDIA says that the REAL start of WWII was 1939, so you're wrong about that," I know I'm not the only one rolling my eyes.

OK, Voo, we get it. The dictionary says you're right. Now, can we have a real discussion, if you don't mind?

JC