> These people are not aliens, they're fellow Americans, or French or Japanese or wherever you're from.
Unless they're a threat that needs its "ass kicked", of course. Which is an euphemism for killing them dead. But that's somehow not worse than simply critizing people, wanting them to be more alive, by connecting their deeds and the consequences of those deeds?
Any teenager can realize this: Militaries only positive use is to defend against other militaries, it's like a debugger that can only debug bugs in itself, but it can also be used to slaughter civilians, and does that quite a bit too much already.
> They don't get to start wars, the politicans you vote for do.
Then how come George Bush wasn't booed of that aircraft carrier when he declared mission accomplished? If you want respect, if you don't want to be ashamed, don't get caught in situations like that. If you want respect, instead of shame, by the time something like Abu Ghraib reaches the public it should include details about the ruckus that caused in the military, and how people got beaten up by their comrades for partaking in the torture of people, long before the police could get to them. And so on. Instead, we get these uncanny valley stories about honor and duty and whatnot, by people who don't quite remember what being human is, but also can't quite leave humans alone so they can find a solution for this mess.
When I opted against military service I didn't just say no, I wrote them a kinda fiery letter. If 19 year old me can do that, others can do it, too. But now I don't even get to criticize the military because I'm not in it, because they "volunteered to defend me"? Nah. I see the ads for the Bundeswehr, they volunteered because they're not right in the head if they responded to any of that. They want power, importance, comraderie. Anything BUT personal deep responsibility, which is why all the promotional material is about how joining the army is "stepping up", just like you repeat the old chestnut of the military protecting us, rather than leeching off and killing us. By "us" I mean humans, not $country, since as I said out that country stuff cancels itself out.
If people want respect, let them be respectable. If they do shameful shit, they get shamed. If you are for the swift elimination of threats you should welcome that.
And yes, I do feel for soldiers, I just hide it very well. The thought of kids getting sent off to be made murderers for the protection of the wealth of people who couldn't give a shit about them, that doesn't make me think "serves them right", it breaks my heart. But that doesn't mean I buy into all those rationalizions that always get trotted out. They don't hold up, and at at this level of technology we simply cannot allow that level of foolishness anymore.
Unless they're a threat that needs its "ass kicked", of course. Which is an euphemism for killing them dead. But that's somehow not worse than simply critizing people, wanting them to be more alive, by connecting their deeds and the consequences of those deeds?
Any teenager can realize this: Militaries only positive use is to defend against other militaries, it's like a debugger that can only debug bugs in itself, but it can also be used to slaughter civilians, and does that quite a bit too much already.
> They don't get to start wars, the politicans you vote for do.
Then how come George Bush wasn't booed of that aircraft carrier when he declared mission accomplished? If you want respect, if you don't want to be ashamed, don't get caught in situations like that. If you want respect, instead of shame, by the time something like Abu Ghraib reaches the public it should include details about the ruckus that caused in the military, and how people got beaten up by their comrades for partaking in the torture of people, long before the police could get to them. And so on. Instead, we get these uncanny valley stories about honor and duty and whatnot, by people who don't quite remember what being human is, but also can't quite leave humans alone so they can find a solution for this mess.
When I opted against military service I didn't just say no, I wrote them a kinda fiery letter. If 19 year old me can do that, others can do it, too. But now I don't even get to criticize the military because I'm not in it, because they "volunteered to defend me"? Nah. I see the ads for the Bundeswehr, they volunteered because they're not right in the head if they responded to any of that. They want power, importance, comraderie. Anything BUT personal deep responsibility, which is why all the promotional material is about how joining the army is "stepping up", just like you repeat the old chestnut of the military protecting us, rather than leeching off and killing us. By "us" I mean humans, not $country, since as I said out that country stuff cancels itself out.
If people want respect, let them be respectable. If they do shameful shit, they get shamed. If you are for the swift elimination of threats you should welcome that.
And yes, I do feel for soldiers, I just hide it very well. The thought of kids getting sent off to be made murderers for the protection of the wealth of people who couldn't give a shit about them, that doesn't make me think "serves them right", it breaks my heart. But that doesn't mean I buy into all those rationalizions that always get trotted out. They don't hold up, and at at this level of technology we simply cannot allow that level of foolishness anymore.