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I realize military personnel are willing to die for their country, but this question applies to abstract ideas excluding national duty. So do you think that there are any beliefs worth dying for?
The reason I ask this question is because I recall in school learning revolutionary quotes like "give me liberty or give me death." The concept is introduced and taught to while very young. I once accepted the willingness to die for a cause as noble, but now, I can think of instances where people have died for a cause that is unfathomable.
The two biggest examples I can think of is Ava Braun and others in Hitler's bunker and the Jonestown Massacre. In both cases, the people thought their actions were heroic and saw themselves as martyrs. Ava was convinced she would be remembered as an important figure and national hero one day. She took measures before he death to ensure all the videos she made of Hitler at the berghof were put together for a Hollywood movie. The Goebbel's killed their children and themselves because they couldn't bear their children growing up without national socialism. That is serious dedication.
Jim Jones told his flock that they were "born out of their time." He preached the world would change and they would go down in history for their "revolutionary deaths" because it was a just cause... "we are killing ourselves in protest of an inhumane world," he was recorded as saying.
These situations have caused me question if any abstract idea is worth dying for or if any idea is worth pledging your life to.
The reason I ask this question is because I recall in school learning revolutionary quotes like "give me liberty or give me death." The concept is introduced and taught to while very young. I once accepted the willingness to die for a cause as noble, but now, I can think of instances where people have died for a cause that is unfathomable.
The two biggest examples I can think of is Ava Braun and others in Hitler's bunker and the Jonestown Massacre. In both cases, the people thought their actions were heroic and saw themselves as martyrs. Ava was convinced she would be remembered as an important figure and national hero one day. She took measures before he death to ensure all the videos she made of Hitler at the berghof were put together for a Hollywood movie. The Goebbel's killed their children and themselves because they couldn't bear their children growing up without national socialism. That is serious dedication.
Jim Jones told his flock that they were "born out of their time." He preached the world would change and they would go down in history for their "revolutionary deaths" because it was a just cause... "we are killing ourselves in protest of an inhumane world," he was recorded as saying.
These situations have caused me question if any abstract idea is worth dying for or if any idea is worth pledging your life to.