So... I am taking German 101 in a small western North Carolina college. Today only 5 students showed up, including me. We discussed the German persecution of Jews, Gypsies, and other minorities. We also discussed German resistance to the war and such.
The instructor asked us 5 students if any of us would "resist" an opressive gubment.
2 replied: no, and they would try to leave the country
1 replied: no, he would look the other way
1 did not reply.
This was my response to his question, in front of the class: As American Citizens it is OUR duty to defend ourselves from our government should it become "opressive".
He then asked me if I was willing to be incarcerated(spl?) or even die resisting.
my reply: Yes.
Then he asked would i join the military if i were drafted.
My response: If my country needed troops bad enough to draft, i would join before being drafted.
"what if you did not agree with the military conflict?"
my response: If I did not feel the cause was just, i would not join. But i can think of hardly a case in which i would *not* join.

anyway, do y'all think my response was good? I avoided saying "violent or non violent resistance"
I am not to good at public speaking, even in a class with 5 people so I am worried that I may have come on to strong, or weak, as the other 4 students gave me weird looks the rest of the day.
What do you guys think? Could i have responded better?
Mike

Good job!  Just remember, most of your classmates have already been indoctrinated by the gulag university system.  While they "bravely" speak out against all of the "isms" that they have been pre-programmed to resist, they themselves don't have the courage to stand up to anything real.  

Be a leader.  Keep up the good work.

Was zur Hoelle...?

What the hell does this indoctrination crap have to do with learning the German language?
Somehow this does remind me of my English courses I took back in commie East Germany, where all we learned in class was basically how evil Amerrrika is, and about the poor oppressed Negroes and the suffering workers in England. (See my post in the "German" thread)
Not that I would object learning about the society of the foreign country as well, but political propaganda does little or nothing to teach you a foreign language.

The first time you'll ever try to actually converse with a real German, in German, you'll believe me, and realize you wasted precious time you could have spent more fruitfully.

Yes, [b]Shrike[/b], you did real well. You gave the same answers that I would have given had the questions been asked of me.

So anytime your answers correspond to my answers, then you know we're both right on track!

Eric The(Approving)Hun[>]:)]

Marx ist almichtig weil Marx ist recht!

Ja, Ich weiß! 2 years in college of foreign language is required for graduation. I already have 2 years of it in high school, this is my third year. I hope i never have to use it in *real* life.
Thanks for the responses, so quickly!, I was worried I had been to "Radical" in front of my liberal peers. I wonder if wearing my HK MP5 T-Shirt and Ripstop cammies helped any [grenade]

Yes, Shrike did _really_ well, if the objective of the course was to teach how to give the approved answers expected by the teacher. He'll do pretty good taking all his tests and exams, and will score quite well.

As far as real life knowledge will be concerned...pity, there won't be any. Just the pre-stenciled pseudo knowledge they teach in college these days. I've seen the results: a dork with a degree in computer science, and I have to show them how to run something primitive like a traceroute, or a lady with six years of college with a German minor, soon to be testing for her masters....and she's functionally illiterate in that language. Trust me this I can ascertain. Guess she learned too much about politically correct history.

Shrike, not only did you do good, but now you know 4 people you [b]do not[/b] want "watching your six" when the SHTF!

coyote3

Remember rightness and the truth are never very popular!
You done good. I get weird looks when I express my views at work.
Strong convictions and a hatred of tyranny are the marks of a Patriot.
As Sam Johnson said to Mel Gibson in We Were Soldiers "Custer was a pussy, you aint no pussy Sir".
           [%(]

G**Damn it sickens me to hear your classmates responses.

You did well.

Tate

Just to make one thing clear: Of course Shrike's answers were the ones one would expect from anyone calling himself American; that's not what I was disapproving of.

However, why this topic would be part of German 101 I fail to see.

Sounds like the instructor was engage in a little indoctorization in 'moral relativism' . Damn liberals !

Whoops, I didnt think that part was important: The professor was giving us a 2 day lecture on German History because he noticed that I was the only student of the 17 that knew anything about Germany. He also played a movie called "The White Rose" about German resistance in the early '40s.
Hope that answers your question.

Couldn't have showed a movie from Leni Riefenstahl, or Das Boot, or "The 3 Guys from the Gasstation", or "1, 2, 3!" from Billy Wilder, oh no! I can just see the teacher, mm-kay. Nope, all that ever happened in Germany was the Holocaust©, nothing else of any importance to the world ever occured there.

I set in class, before the prof starts teaching, reading shotgun news. We talk about guns. Others tell me what they shoot and I've never recieved a dirty look, even the women in my classes shoot. Then again there's only about 4 women in all my classes. Engineering, the major for conservative men. I go to the university of Akron which is a large state school.

I actually would prefer an argument now and again. It's hard to find a good argument in todays world. Most people just give up after a few hours.......wimps.

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in the mud......................After a while you realize he's enjoying it.