Comments by "Evan" (@MrEvanfriend) on "" video.

While devotion is certainly a good thing, an effective soldier should be able to think for himself. Adaptability to a given situation is better than blind obedience. While Onoda was certainly a badass, he took not surrendering to an absurd length. If you read his book (No Surrender, well worth reading), he explains some of the absurd mental gymnastics he used to convince himself the was was still ongoing despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Also, he was not surrounded by an invading force for the overwhelming majority of his time in the jungle. He was surrounded by Filipinos, in the Philippines. I don't think he was stupid per se, but he was undoubtedly brainwashed to the point where orders given 30 years prior trumped the situation he should have been able to see quite clearly in front of him.
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Hélène Louise He received all manner of communication, he just convinced himself it was all Allied propaganda. And at some point when it's been years since he'd seen a single American, or any soldier for that matter, you'd think he would've figured it out. He was thoroughly brainwashed though, and I think his story is an excellent illustration of the power of brainwashing.
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Laynie Fingers I think that the extreme patriotism, being absolutely certain that Japan could never lose, was a large part of the brainwashing. If you read Hiroo Onoda's book No Surrender, he talks about the mental gymnastics he goes through, things about the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" or something to that effect, and rather specific ideas about what was going on in the war. As far as the isolation goes, it certainly didn't help the situation, but after being bombarded with leaflets explaining what had happened, including ones signed by Japanese generals, and not seeing any American troops, only Filipino farmers and occasionally Filipino police, he ought to have figured it out. Unfortunately for him, his team, and a number of locals who they killed, the brainwashing overcame any and all reason. I have nothing but respect for the man, he was hard as nails to survive as he did for 29 years, but Japanese propaganda and robotic obedience to orders took the place of reason, and he wasted three decades of his life because of it.
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Mr.Jitterfingers No, he isn't. The perfect soldier is able to adapt to the situation on the ground and act accordingly, he let blind obedience to orders overtake his ability to think. This blind obedience with no ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome was a large part of the reason Japan lost the war. Whereas the US changed our doctrine and tactics according to the situation at hand, the Japanese were unable to do so, and lost countless thousands of men to foolish bonzai charges that accomplished nothing, and other wasteful losses in similar matters. The perfect soldier is disciplined, but is also able to think for himself.
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Rogue Planet That is literally insane, and if you believe that, you have no notion of either history or human nature. People and groups of people always have had and always will have competing and often mutually exclusive interests. Your theory calls for a totalitarian one-world government to impose your notion of utopia upon all of humanity. That is literally the worst possible scenario.
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Ram Laska Some people actually do know what we're talking about, Beavis. I watched this video in the first place because I've read Onoda's book, and I've found his story fascinating for years. I know about the qualities that make a good soldier, because I was in the Marine Corps and I know the qualities they emphasized. And I know that some horrid Orwellian superstate imposing some kind of "equality" on the entire world for the supposed good of humanity is horrible because I'm educated and enjoy reading history, and hence understand how horribly similar attempts in the past have worked. So yeah, I know what I'm talking about when I say things.
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Rogue Planet I also understand that using "science" as an excuse to shape humanity into some notion of perfection ends in unimaginable horrors such has the Holocaust and the GULAG. Also, claiming that there is no such thing as human nature is deliberate ignorance, and that human behavior is as much nature as it is nurture. But hey, feel free to keep saying that you can repeat the mistakes of the past, only that you're much wiser and more benevolent than Lenin or Hitler or Mao or any of these other monsters who had the same basic idea that you had.
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Rogue Planet No, I know exactly what I'm talking about. Your idea on its face requires a drastic shift in human nature, which must be imposed upon humanity by force. The details of your specific plot are irrelevant, any idea that involves humans to change their inherent nature can only end one way. Just look at the history of the 20th century.
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Rogue Planet That's called deflecting, what you just did. You can't actually rebut my point, so you just dismiss it out of hand, and claim that the reality of horrid plots to warp human nature into your own idea of perfection is "ignorance". I've already fought my war, but people like me will continue to fight rather than let people like you put your boot on the collective neck of humanity.
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Nyarlathotep the Faceless Nonsense. The man thought he was at war. What he did has to be looked at through that lens. Action is only half of it, intent matters just as much. Yes, he fought for the wrong side, and yes, he killed people that ought not to have died. But you're acting like he was a cold-blooded murderer acting with malice, which he wasn't. He thought he was aiding the war effort. Fighting for a bad cause doesn't make someone a bad person per se. In WWII, many if not most Japanese and German soldiers were decent people who fought with honor. Onoda is essentially the epitome of this. Taking his actions out of context does not make him into a monster.
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Rogue Planet No, that's not what I did. I heard your absurd plan about using "science" and "technology" to impose utopia upon humanity and end all suffering. I, as a reasonable and educated man, am aware that people before you have had very similar ideas about how to form the perfect world, and that such plans invariably end in untold suffering and some of the world's worst crimes against humanity, because they ALWAYS fail to take free will and human nature into account. As such, the details of your plan are inherently unrealistic and irrelevant. Fortunately, you're nobody, and your plans will go nowhere. But the existence of people like you is the reason the rest of us must remain eternally vigilant, and educate ourselves to the point where we can use the power of words, and free speech - something impossible under your theory - to make better arguments for liberty and humanity than you can for totalitarianism.
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Rogue Planet If you had bothered to read my comments, you would have noticed that I did indeed make a case. But totalitarian utopians tend to be immune to reason, because the only reason that anyone could possibly disagree with their glorious plans to enslave humanity into their own version of paradise is irrational destructiveness. I've heard all the arguments before, your own spin on them is not relevant because it cannot possibly be substantively different from any other totalitarian utopian lunacy.
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Laynie Fingers It's well worth reading.
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