I feel like defending imperial vets because of poverty draft is just lazy idk. You could also defend israelis by that logic because its mandatory to serve in the iof, or you could also defend the nazis with that excuse. As for your other point about a lot of them after beeing in the military being agaisnt it, thats good but it shouldnt take someone to go assault another country and its innocent people to be against the us empire or war in general. I feel like most USians dont have a clue what war is like (the most horrific thing white americans ever witnessed was 9/11 while afghanistan or any other nation witnessed 9/11 × 10 every day when they where at war with the usa) and thats why theyre not bothered by foreign policy and dont pay any attention to it basically, since they attack countries that are oceans away they cant get hit back. Idk im just rambling at this point i feel like.
I guess it depends on what you mean by “defend”. I can’t speak for others, but for me, it’s not about defending them morally, as in “they should be excused because they were pushed into it.” It’s more about the practicality of it and how much potential they have for change. If somebody was driven toward it cause of poverty and didn’t understand what they were getting into until they’re already deployed, that doesn’t excuse things they do on behalf of the empire. It doesn’t change the fact that people who did wrong need a mechanism for being held accountable, especially by the people who they wronged. What it does mean is that they’re probably more capable of change and more apt to have guilt about what they directly or indirectly participated in.
On the other hand, if somebody is a rabid, bloodthirsty weapon of imperialism, they would surely be one of the last ones it’d ever occur to me to try to reach out to or change.
That said, I completely agree that Yankees are largely insulated from the wars themselves and it makes us varying shades of clueless (I say us cause I live there myself). I would venture to say, in fact, that what’s going on with Iran is one of the few times they haven’t been and it’s still insulation from attack on actual “US” soil. This time, the oil stuff is impacting things and it’s harder to ignore for that reason.
The poverty draft and not fully understanding what they’re signing up for is real. I grew up in an area where the public school students were majority children of Mexican farmworkers. It was in late 2000 or so, but I’m still shook by my classmate who tried to get me to sign up for the army. “Man, all we do is hang out, drink beers, and get paid.” Never knew what happened to him after that, since I moved away shortly after.
I feel like defending imperial vets because of poverty draft is just lazy idk. You could also defend israelis by that logic because its mandatory to serve in the iof, or you could also defend the nazis with that excuse. As for your other point about a lot of them after beeing in the military being agaisnt it, thats good but it shouldnt take someone to go assault another country and its innocent people to be against the us empire or war in general. I feel like most USians dont have a clue what war is like (the most horrific thing white americans ever witnessed was 9/11 while afghanistan or any other nation witnessed 9/11 × 10 every day when they where at war with the usa) and thats why theyre not bothered by foreign policy and dont pay any attention to it basically, since they attack countries that are oceans away they cant get hit back. Idk im just rambling at this point i feel like.
I guess it depends on what you mean by “defend”. I can’t speak for others, but for me, it’s not about defending them morally, as in “they should be excused because they were pushed into it.” It’s more about the practicality of it and how much potential they have for change. If somebody was driven toward it cause of poverty and didn’t understand what they were getting into until they’re already deployed, that doesn’t excuse things they do on behalf of the empire. It doesn’t change the fact that people who did wrong need a mechanism for being held accountable, especially by the people who they wronged. What it does mean is that they’re probably more capable of change and more apt to have guilt about what they directly or indirectly participated in.
On the other hand, if somebody is a rabid, bloodthirsty weapon of imperialism, they would surely be one of the last ones it’d ever occur to me to try to reach out to or change.
That said, I completely agree that Yankees are largely insulated from the wars themselves and it makes us varying shades of clueless (I say us cause I live there myself). I would venture to say, in fact, that what’s going on with Iran is one of the few times they haven’t been and it’s still insulation from attack on actual “US” soil. This time, the oil stuff is impacting things and it’s harder to ignore for that reason.
The poverty draft and not fully understanding what they’re signing up for is real. I grew up in an area where the public school students were majority children of Mexican farmworkers. It was in late 2000 or so, but I’m still shook by my classmate who tried to get me to sign up for the army. “Man, all we do is hang out, drink beers, and get paid.” Never knew what happened to him after that, since I moved away shortly after.