Reply #23: Feeling guilt is a lot different than 'being guilty'.

[sabrina 1]

Parents will feel guilty if a child does something wrong. But the law does not hold them responsible s that would be wrong.

Of course we all feel guilty and angry that we could not stop this government from going to war, but is someone guilty, eg, if they try to save someone from drowning, but fail to do so despite their best efforts? They may and probably will feel guilty and wonder if there wasn't something else they could have done, but that doesn't make them guilty, in fact they are to be commended for trying, regardless of how they feel. A guilty person would be someone who watched and did nothing.

As far as the national guilt of the German people, many did feel guilty, but many tried, some took heroic actions and hid Jews from the Nazis and if they could have, they would have stopped their country from going down the evil path they took.

Those who do bear responsibility are those who, before it became impossible without risking death, ignored the signs even when others tried to warn them.

Have you ever tried to get a Republican during the Bush administration, to condemn torture eg? I have, but failed to do so. Is that my fault, that there are people whose minds cannot be changed? Because they are the ones who made it possible. If we were to be able to stop it, we needed to be able to change the minds of Bush supporters and some of us did try.

They were fully in support of Bush's wars. Trying to get them to think about what they were supporting, which I know I did many times, was futile. They had all the talking points memorized and it was impossible to reach them with reason. Their responses varied from 'typical, commie, liberal terrors-supporting coward' to 'don't worry your pretty little head, we'll protect you from the terrorists'. Short of deprogramming half the country from the cult-like war euphoria they were in, there simply was no way to change their minds.

So, whose fault it that? What should I have done differently, to stop them from supporting these crimes?

And the drum-beat from the media was working against those who tried also. There were many forces in favor of war and few on the side of those opposed it. All of them, the media , the administration, Congress who voted for it, supporters, the military itself, all those forces were against us. But those who tried, while they may feel guilty about not trying harder, are NOT guilty of these crimes that they tried to stop.