Admiring your enemies achievements - right or wrong?

Question

Kinda confused by my own feelings on this one, my opinion seems to unsettle other people too, thanks in advance for your thoughts

Answer 1

Admiring your enemy's achievments - SMART. It doesn't matter whether or not he is your enemy. A good idea is a good idea. And a great achievment is a great achievment. We learned from the Germans and Japanese in WWII. We learned from the Viet Cong in Vietnam. Who cares where the idea comes from? If it works, it works. What kind of complete moron would discount a great achievment simply because his enemy thought of it first?

Answer 2

One should always have a healthy dose of respect for their enemies. There is always someone, somewhere that will come up with a way to do things that you haven't thought of, and by respecting their ingenuity, ferocity, and tactical thinking, you prepare yourself to defeat them. A perfect case, in the movie "Patton" (which was historically accurate on the way the battles were fought), Patton had just ambushed and defeated Rommel in N. Africa. He actually did say, standing up from his defensive position, "I beat you! I I read your book! I read your book!" Before the war, Erwin Rommel had publushed a book on tactics and strategy, and Patton had read it, out of an interest in Rommel as an indiviual and commander, but also as a professional soldier, always looking for insight into your opponents, for he knew that one day, he would have the opppurtunity to fight Rommel.

Another example is the pacific forces during WWII understanding the code of Bushido ('way of the wind', the code that Samurai live by), because it allowed them to figure out real fast that you weren't going to capture the Japanese, they wouldn't stop until they were dead. In the air, after the Kamikaze appeared towards the end, pilots knew they couldn't shoot until it was burning, they had to shoot until it was falling, because the Kamikaze were determined to destroy our ships, and the only way to stop them was to completely disable their aircraft.

Answer 3

There's little that's more stupid than believing your own propaganda that the enemy is stupid, cowardly and ill-motivated.

It's also a good way of getting your own head handed to you.

"So barrin' all that foreign lot
Which only joined for spite
Myself, I'd just as soon as not
Respect the man I fight." Kipling: "Piet"

Kipling often gets this sort of thing right.
And this poem even digs at the cost of reconstruction!

Answer 4

Sure. For Instance, I LOVE William Blake's poems, I find them astounding. But I really hate him as a person. I mean he's a racist (which would appear in some paintings he drew), and he presents many points in his poems that I entirely disagree with.
Yet, it is wrong to neglect the beauty he conjures up from words.

Answer 5

Just because you are not on speaking terms with another person does not mean you cannot admire their accomplishments. I admire the accomplishments of many people even though I do not always agree with them or even like them. You need to seperate the accomplishments from the person.

Answer 6

I think one should always admire achievements....esp. those that of ur enemy or adversary....why? 'Coz as ancient Chinese military strategist said: Always know ur enemy....also as Michael Corleone said in Godfather Part III....that his father Don Vito Corleone taught him many things...but the most important thing he taught was: to keep ur friends close but ur enemies closer.

Answer 7

If you have no respect for your enemie your screwed. It tells me you have done your home work. In order to win you must understand what your upagainst young grasshopper.

Answer 8

admiring - no.

understanding thoroughly and respecting your enemy is just logical in war time.

Answer 9

We respected the hell outta Charlie, but we also hated & did our absolute best to kill him where ever & whenever we found him