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Originally Posted by Frownland
It's true that the elite start the wars, but those who willingly fight in that war are just as responsible for its existence.
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As you well know, most of them are poor, often black, and have little other chance of any other sort of employment. They're targeted by recruiters at college who make the army seem like the place to be, told their student loans will be paid off etc and it's made out they'll be fighting for their country when in fact they'll be fighting for mega-rich corporations. You can hardly blame them if there's little alternative. Do you blame people who get fooled into doing someone else's fighting? I mean, there's a long history of military service, dating right back to the birth of your country; that's a hard cycle to break.
Add in the stupid nationalism that is forever whipped up in the US and other countries, the fact that you can be looked on as a coward by your mates if you don't go, and the other prejudices that will follow that, and it's hard for me to blame these guys and girls. Of course, without soldiers there would be no wars (till drones are totally autonomous and fighting each other, or we have robot soldiers) but as long as war is held up as a noble and brave thing to be involved in, and as long as the young are educated to believe this, it will keep happening, and the system is to blame, not the people. Some have gone on to have great careers in the military, and would not regret signing up, and is there any family that will sneer at a member joining up? It's so ingrained in the consciousness now it's almost impossible to dislodge, but again that's not the fault of those who go to fight, it's the fault of those who tell them it's the right thing to do, from religious leaders to political leaders, and even to family leaders.
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Do you think that we should let off murderers who cry in court? Also it is "easy to stand on the sidelines and moan", but what the **** are you doing here that's so impactful? Leave cheap emotive points like that to the side.
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I have no idea what point you're trying to make here. If a war came, I would not serve, not because I don't believe in it but because I am a coward and don't want to die. But I don't blame those who feel - rightly or wrongly - that it's their duty for signing up to do so. What has that got to do with murderers? What has it to do with crying in court? You can't help but bring emotion into it when you have someone who is literally prepared to spit on people; that's a very powerful emotional trigger.