1047
Washington DC (i.redd.it)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/pics@lemmy.world
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[–] -2 points 7 months ago* (4 children)

I mean, it's double edged.

You've got folks in desperate poverty for whom enlistment is designed as a release valve.

But then you're being paid to crush people more desperate than you.

So do you want to be the half of lumpen labor paid to do the killing or the half that's being killed? I don't like the people doing the killing, but I can't blame from for not wanting to be on the other side of the barrel. There's no good choice to be made when you're in the bottom rung of the social order.

At the end of the day, what we really need is a mid level officer's revolt. Where is the American Chavez? Where is the American Gaddafi?

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    No excuses if i rob and kill my elderly neighbor to steal their stuff to help pay rent that explains but no way excuses my actions.

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  • [–] -1 points 7 months ago

    if i rob and kill my elderly neighbor to steal their stuff to help pay rent

    It's rob the neighbor or be the neighbor that gets robbed.

    This isn't a real choice from a material sense. It's selection bias. You're mad at a random sampling of people forced into a Sofie's Choice, rather than the fascists forcing this choice on them.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    Gaddafi and Chavez? Both of those governments had a shitload of military people staffing leadership roles that should've been civilian gigs. No thanks.

    Disobeying authoritarian orders is one thing. Using that as a tool to centralize power and staff civi roles with military brass for decades? Hard pass.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    You did a good job sectioning people neatly into two categories, and if those were the only two choices then sure choose to murder brown people.

    The reality is far different though, there's thousands of "groups" and you can't generalize them like that. The majority of people joining the military have no moral issue with it. The rest that join simply lack the creativity and confidence required to come up with a better solution for their problems.

    We should allow people space to learn from their mistakes of course, but that doesn't excuse their past behavior.

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