let'em eat amotal

[Dennis Jones]

Murthy Yenamandra wrote, in a reply to 
> a previous message by John Burgess [replying to Dennis Jones]:
>> What still confuses me, though, is your statement:
>> 
>> Given a choice of having rockets fall and destroy the symbolic heart of 
>> the nation or re-directing them to working class residential areas to the 
>> south and east of the city ....
>
>I don't see what's so confusing about the original statement - you may
>not agree with it, ofcourse, but it's fairly straightforward. Assuming
>that 1) "they" had the option of redirecting the rocket hits, 2) the
>city has privileged and not-so-privileged residential/working areas (as
>most cities that I know of do - this distinction is not the same as
>military significance), and 3) they had no moral qualms about making
>"secret decisions affecting the lives of its subjects and others", it
>follows. If you disagree with any of the above assumptions, well, that's
>a different story.
>
>> If you're considering the City of London as the "heart," then your 
>> argument doesn't really hold up as that particular region had the shit 
>> bombed out of it long before the V-weapons make their debuts.
>> 
>> If the second "London" is what you have in mind, your argument is even 
>> weaker. The docklands are very much a part of that "London."  They, too, 
>> were bombed earlier in the war, and far more effectively than any damage 
>> the V2 did.
>
>All parts of London having had the shit bombed out of them is not
>particularly relevant to this thread - I think that being hit by a
>rocket was qualitatively different from being bombed by aircraft. Even
>if some posh areas were bombed earlier, it would still make sense to
>avoid their getting hit by rockets. The point of the rocket hits was not
>purely physical damage anyway.
>------------------------------------
        Yes, precisely.  And decision makers make decisions, such as what is 
or is not deemed to be expendable,at leastin part by weighing up a range of 
priorities. Those who populated the War Office would have made their 
decision (if indeed it was ever made)  in accordance  with their own 
particular scale of values, their own definition of the London that had to 
be spared if at all possible. When all's said and done, what's so different 
between their supposed attitude and the old 'Not in Our back yard' stance. 
        As to the effect of rocket attacks on the population as opposed to 
bombing, countless eyewitness reports testify to the uniquely unnerving 
effect of the V2 explosions. People hardened by years  of Blitz and 
bombshelters are said to have fled the city in droves. 
                           d.j.