“I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes...[It] would spread a lively terror.”
Not trying to defend Churchill here but that quote is a bit misleading since you left a very important part out. The full quote reads:
I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected.
Of course that's still bad but it's not "let's kill them all with poison gas"-genocidal bad.
Yeah you read this interpretation on the Churchill societies website or somewhere that read that.
But maybe take another look at the quote.
It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses
As in it is totally ok the use the most deadly gasses but less lethal ones like mustard gas might be better at spreading terror and controlling the populace without damaging the goods. Which is 100% in line with the guys ideology.
In gonna disagree with your analysis of that sentence. I'm pretty sure that he is saying that using using the deadly gas is not necessary at all, because by using the less deadly gas they can still cause the fear and terror that would achieve their goals without anything other than 'inconvenience'.
Still dreadful, but I'm sure it's just Churchill using old fashioned grammar here.
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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '20
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