I thought this could be good radio, but rather than a serious discussion about fighting and dying for your country, it rapidly descended into a juvenile discusson. I turned it off in the middle, so maybe I missed the best parts, but once Kevin Myers huffily hung up because Nell McCafferty essentially told him to shut up, I knew it was not going to be good.
Overall, my sense is that none of the studio guests (McCafferty, Banotti or Ó hEochagáin) really took the notion of dying for their country seriously. The tone was such that you realized that although that's what they were there to discuss, none of them could conceive of any circumstances that might make them want to fight and, possibly, die for their country. Hector kept going on about "living passionately" for his country. Defending it never struck him as a possibility.
I was waiting for one of the guests to quote George Patton regarding dying for your country
No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.
