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The way things are. (lemmy.world)
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[-] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 128 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

There was someone who worked in Washington who made a proposal that the nuclear launch codes should be printed on a little capsule that was surgically implanted inside a man who would travel around with the president, in kind of the same way that the briefcase or whatever-it-is travels around with him under the current system.

The deal was, if the president wanted to launch a nuclear strike, he had to take a big knife and kill the man to cut him open to get to the capsule. Kind of come to grips on an individual level with what he was dealing with, and what it meant on at least some level, instead of just pushing some buttons in an air conditioned office.

I don't think this was ever meant as a serious proposal. The person who invented it was just trying to make a point. But it did get relayed to at least one person who worked in the Pentagon who got very upset at the idea and started arguing against it. What if, he said, the president looks at what's in front of him and can't do it. That would be terrible.

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 60 points 5 months ago

What if, he said, the president looks at what's in front of him and can't do it. That would be terrible.

If the president can't kill one single man without a guilty conscience, he/she probably shouldn't be obliterating the entirety of our species.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago
[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

Putin would gut a fellow comrade for something to do while the launch codes were being retrieved from the briefcase.

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[-] paddirn@lemmy.world 20 points 5 months ago

I get the idea, but what if the kill-guy fights back and at the last minute decides he doesn’t want to be a sacrificial lamb? I can imagine that as some sort of 70s tv series about a guy on the run from the government and a president who wants all-out war.

[-] PiratePanPan@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 5 months ago

I would unironically watch this show

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 months ago

And they’re running out of time!

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[-] StarPupil@ttrpg.network 4 points 5 months ago

That's fine. But also the guy could be handcuffed to a secret service agent or something. It's not like there aren't a bunch of buff dudes around the president at all times. The purpose of the exercise would probably be enhanced if the guy didn't want to die.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 17 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The deal was, if the president wanted to launch a nuclear strike, he had to take a big knife and kill the man to cut him open to get to the capsule.

There are too many Presidents in history who would have done that gleefully for me to believe it would function as a deterrent.

What if, he said, the president looks at what’s in front of him and can’t do it. That would be terrible.

I'm less worried about the President who hesitates than I am the President who doesn't.

[-] RustyEarthfire@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

This requirement is also the plot of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, As the Last I May Know

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[-] OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world 66 points 5 months ago

Errr yeah but it doesn't count as genocide, it only went over a small fraction of the people. It's not genocide until it's all of them! I am very smart.

/s

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 27 points 5 months ago

According to the trolley operator, one in three people tied to the tracks is Hamas.

Why would you sympathize with Hamas? They've been trying to blow that trolley up for years. If we don't run them over now, they'll just try to do it again.

[-] Aux@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

According to the trolley operator, some people in the front of the trolley might not be Hamas, but every single one behind is.

[-] lugal@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

My thought exactly. Instead of talking if it's right or wrong and if it should stop, be should focus on more important questions like is it genocide and is it antisemitic.

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[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 40 points 5 months ago

This is about student loans, right?

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago

I studied your mom's loans last night, if you know what I mean 😉

[-] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 24 points 5 months ago

Loans aren't over in 20 seconds

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

That's what I, her financial adviser, tried to explain to her. She wouldn't listen to me though, as she was too preoccupied with hoeing it up 🤷

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[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

She’s a swamp donkey so it’s nice to see someone giving her some attention.

[-] PugJesus@lemmy.world 23 points 5 months ago

If you encourage the authority to pull the lever, though, you're complicit in the atrocities already committed, so you should definitely just sit this one out. /s

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 22 points 5 months ago

Uh oh, I just realized I haven't condemned hamas in the last 10 minutes. People are going to think I hate jews now.

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[-] kashifshah@lemmy.sdf.org 22 points 5 months ago

When will it be considered anti-Semitic to be Islamophobic?

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[-] PiratePanPan@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 5 months ago

Oh, shit. This hits hard.

[-] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 months ago

is the trolley named atrocity? Or is it actively committing an atrocity? Or is it's name atrocity, which is why it's committing an "atrocity" but actually it could be tongue in cheek so it may actually be both of them.

also what happens if you just pull it yourself, is that not antisemitism? Seems like a loop hole to me.

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

If you pull it yourself, thats direct action, IE terrorism, and they super dont like that.

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[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago

trolley named atrocity

The sequel to "Streetcar Named Desire"

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[-] uis@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

Don't forget who provides Putin with DPI.

[-] 96VXb9ktTjFnRi@feddit.nl 4 points 5 months ago

most of these should be children to be more accurate.

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this post was submitted on 13 May 2024
909 points (89.4% liked)

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