Are you sure?
The ease of killing at a distance
It’s the distance. “Video-game mode”.
About the same number of people were killed or wounded at the Battle of Waterloo as died in the London Blitz: 50,000. When you visit Waterloo today, the effect is horrifying. That said, some people are more concerned at the 7,000 horses which died than the troops.
Image: Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 over Wapping, London, at 5.48 p.m. BST1 on 7 September 1940.2
But in the Blitz the 50,000 deaths were caused from the air. By a few thousand pilots. Not one of them ever saw the deaths they caused. And very few of the people who supported their acts of bombing ever saw the pilots who carried them out. That’s distance. It’s that distance that allows people to will blood and gore and suffering on others.
Some folk think that deleting people is just like deleting computer files. One click and they’re gone. That’s what it was like in the Blitz. But not how it was at all on the battlefield of Waterloo. Nowadays, when you delete people, there very often isn’t even a pop-up message to ask, “Are you sure?”
Image: The Battle of Waterloo by William Sadler (circa 1782-1839).3
Britain switched from GMT to GMT+1 (BST) on 25 February 1940, and to GMT+2 (DBST) in the periods 4 May-10 August 1941, 5 April-9 August 1942, 4 April-15 August 1943, 2 April-17 September 1944 and 2 April-15 July 1945, each time reverting to BST for the rest of the year. On 15 July 1945, BST resumed until 7 October 1945, after which Britain reverted to GMT for the first time in over five and a half years. Britain and Germany were on the same time from 25 February-16 May 1940, after which Germany introduced MEZ, or CET (Mittel-Europäische Zeit), which was one hour ahead of British time. One effect of the German occupation of Belgium and the Netherlands was to standardise central European time, since until then those countries had been ahead of GMT by 40 minutes.
By German Air Force photographer - This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15593029.
By William Sadler - Napoleon.org.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15176449.