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vacuum
9th January 2013, 08:02 PM
And they could text or chat back and forth? Do you think they would keep killing each other?

I was just thinking about this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce

Starting on Christmas (http://www.history.com/topics/christmas) Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man's land between the lines.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers' threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers' essential humanity endured.
During World War I (http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i), the soldiers on the Western Front did not expect to celebrate on the battlefield, but even a world war could not destory the Christmas spirit.

Glass
9th January 2013, 08:35 PM
I think the question is probably better posed, what if souldiers had to fight hand to hand and see the person up close as they kill them. Oh actually there's drugs for that. never mind.

joboo
9th January 2013, 09:58 PM
I think the question is probably better posed, what if souldiers had to fight hand to hand and see the person up close as they kill them. Oh actually there's drugs for that. never mind.

It gets much easier as it progresses...the descent into savagery. Abu Ghraib. Animals look to murder each other all day long to survive. If you believe in evolution, it's all just under the surface.

Communication really is the missing ingredient. Most times both sides speak a different language making communication a barrier, and a catalyst, enhanced only by skin color. Plays into why music is called the universal language, and why it calms the savage beast so to speak.