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[–] ShinyVoater 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

The ideas behind the Geneva conventions were created under a lens shaped by a millennium of war between states being armed disputes between kings, but after World War II, it's nigh-impossible for most of us to see war without some deep moral dimension. Extending protections to the armies of opposing lords is a simple cost-benefit analysis when it means getting those same benefits for your own in a war over who gets the oaken bucket this year, but when war starts to take on a "we're good, they're evil" tone 100% of the time, it becomes harder and harder to justify holding back against the demons.

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[–] akuta ago 

but when war starts to take on a "we're good, they're evil" tone 100% of the time, it becomes harder and harder to justify holding back against the demons.

Which is precisely the point that the media plays in this whole issue over the last 60 years. War has been glorified and the "enemies" are always "the bad guys."

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[–] ShinyVoater ago  (edited ago)

60 years? The Great War was fought to Make The World Safe For Democracy(despite the Reichstag being a thing ever since Germany was unified, Russia being an absolute monarchy and the Allied powers keeping the vast majority of the world in chains) and as The War To End All Wars. The propaganda going on even forced people to change their names and got dachshunds abused.

We've (mostly) calmed down(and the hysteria from WWI produced such a backlash that nobody believed what Germany was up to until they saw proof), but it's the perfect demonstration of the power of the black and white worldview applied to armed conflicts.