Von Braun's Vision
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- JS_Mill
- GeraldS_2
- LarryW_4
- Raraavis
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» JS_Mill - werner von braun
(c) Tom Lehrer (can't remember year)"Gather round as I sing you of Werner von Braun
A man whose allegiance
is ruled by expedience
Call him a Nazi and he won't even frown
Nazi, Schmazi says Werner von Braun
Don't say that he's hypocritical
Say rather that he's apolitical
'Once ze rockets go up, who cares where zey come down?
That's not my department' says Werner von Braun.
Some have harsh words for this man of renown
But some say our attitude
Should be one of gratitude
Like the widows and cripples of old London town
Who owe their large pensions to Werner von Braun
You too can be such a hero
If you can count backward to zero
'In English unt German, I know how to count down
Unt I'm learning Chinese!' says Werner von Braun"
jsm
-- posted by JS_Mill
» GeraldS_2 - A War Criminal
You failed to mention the slave labor employed by Verner who were starved and worked until they died. It is kind of like the Japanese people who experimented with biological warfare by inducing deadly diseases in prisoners of war--Americans included. We could not hang these criminals because the CIA and the U.S. military needed the information which they had garnered (so that they could introduce disease germs into the New York subway system.)But then, the powers that be in this country didn't worry too much about the radiation from their tests overdosing the people of St. George, Utah, or the troops which they stationed much too close to the bombs in Nevada. If they condemned Braun it would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Just more proof that crime does indeed pay if you have the right connections.
-- posted by GeraldS_2
» LarryW_4 - All True, However ...
Lots of ordinary men, and some extraordinary ones, like Von Braun, followed the Nazis. It's all too easy to suppose that they wouldn't have done so if their moral house were in order.Men and women react to enclosure in very negative ways, and the evidence is overwhelming that neither the possession of intellect nor of a human soul helps much. Germany and Japan were severly enclosed societies when they opened hostilities last. They still are. And they're not alone. Perhaps we should worry less about individuals and their failures and consider whether it is possible that some practical action will make it harder for evil to flourish.
My prediction, incidentally, is that things will get bad enough to make Adolph look like a mere rascal.
-- posted by LarryW_4
» Raraavis - V-2 Factory
30,000 slave laborers were starved or worked to death in the production of Von Brauns V-2 rockets. Werner objected because he thought using slave labor would compromise the quality control in the factory. He did not have any concern for the slaves only his rockets. The man should have been tried as a war criminal not made the Director of NASA.-- posted by Raraavis
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