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And many of us grew up in such dire straits that despite our awareness of and disagreement with the military industrial complex, the system of desperate circumstances left us with few choices, and certainly none better. The military provides training and educational opportunities that will pull a person right out of hopeless poverty and give them half a chance in life. Everyone has their price.
For my part, I rationalized it by deciding that I would prefer people like me to join up rather than right-wing nutjobs, and if I did, then that was one slot that a nutjob wouldn't fill.
I’m amazed at how humans are able to rationalize the evil that we do. The reason you were in such dire straits is a byproduct of militarism and capitalism. You were aware enough to recognize this, and still chose to be an accomplice. There is no ethical military. None . From the janitors to the Generals, if you contribute to the machine you are part of it.
Yeah, I just said the system is why I was in dire straits. I'm fully aware of the problems. But I do not share your exact ethics. Funny how that works. Problems are solved from within as well as from outside. I did not have the power to change anything from the outside, but I did have the power to prevent one single bigot fascist from getting into the military.
I single-handedly stopped a sexual assault while I was in. You got a problem with that?
Tell you what. You fly to Ukraine. You go look at their slaughtered, r*ped, tortured, and mutilated people; adults and children! Then you look them in the eyes and tell them what amoral trash they are for fighting back. Then outline for them your pacifist plan for peace with Russia. Then make it work. Go convince Putin that he is very bad and get him to resign and plead guilty in the Hague. Then you'll have credibility to back you up when telling us all how serving in a military is always stupid and evil.
I did not have the power to change anything from the outside,
You chose to join the military. The entire structure is made of those who choose to participate in an organization that actively kills and maims, and inactively maintains the capitalist system that is fueling the climate crisis.
I single-handedly stopped a sexual assault while I was in. You got a problem with that?
Congrats. You did a commendable act, while enabling the very structure that made the act possible. We are conditionally forced to exist under capitalism. You chose to perpetuate the police force that guards it.
Tell you what. You fly to Ukraine. You go look at their slaughtered, r*ped, tortured, and mutilated men, women, and children. Then you look them in the eyes and tell them what amoral trash they are for fighting back. Then outline for them your pacifist plan for peace with Russia. Then make it work. Then you'll have the credibility to tell us all that the military is always evil.
Again, you offer a solution that was created by the problem. It is the ever incessant need for capitalism to grow markets and expand that necessitates the need for military bases and “defense orgs” to maintain those markets. There is a case to be made that Ukraine would never have happened if not for capitalist markets and NATO expansion .
George Kennan, the eminent architect of the Soviet “containment” strategy and a former ambassador to the Soviet Union, wrote in 1997 that expanding NATO would be a “fateful error” because it would “inflame the nationalistic, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian opinion.” Kennan was far from alone in his criticism, as journalist Peter Beinart noted this week:
Thomas Friedman, America’s most prominent foreign policy columnist, declared it the “most ill-conceived project of the post-Cold War era.” Daniel Patrick Moynihan, widely considered the most erudite member of the US Senate, warned, “We have no idea what we’re getting into.”(Source)
If it makes you feel better, we’re all guilty to some degree for having to participate in capitalism. But making the choice to join the military is like handing the weapon to the climate change executioner that will kill the future of humanity.
Sorry for being so critical, but we as a species need to stop compartmentalizing and rationalizing the despicable shit that we perpetuate. >>>Climate Crisis May Cause 14.5 Million Deaths by 2050.
Time is running out. Make informed choices.
Oh HO! You think the genocide in Ukraine was caused by NATO expansion!
Das vedanya Russian troll.
I’m sorry for contributing to the climate crisis and capitalist exploitation in the imperial periphery. At the time I felt I had no choice and didn’t realize the implications. Make better choices than I did and refuse to join the military.
The correct response: FTFY
Nope, you wanna push Putin's propaganda. That means I get to disregard everything you say. I owe you nothing.
Putin, (and Russia), is a capitalist imperialist just like the neoliberals in America. He wants his own capitalist hegemony. He rationalizes this by claiming America is worse.
You rationalize your decisions by thinking Trump supporters would do worse in your position.
You’re no better than Putin.
Edit: Since it was deleted. Your original rationalization is flawed. Joining the military does not take the place of a right-wing nut job. The military will recruit you both.