And I’m not trying to pull quick jabs for what you do, but, I’m imagining that it must be mind numbingly and morally nauseating to deal with a government so neck deep in corruption.
So here’s my time for this story:
When I was at a recruiting office for the Coast Guard, the recruiter asked why I specifically chose the Coast Guard over any other branches. I said I’m the type of person that if I volunteered for the military and then got sent to a situation where some 12-year-old with a gun was going to kill me if I didn’t kill him, I would not be able to absolve myself of the responsibility of having to kill a kid, even to defend myself, because even if I didn’t choose to be in that kid’s country, I relinquished my choice to the military, so I am still responsible. There’s nothing morally ambiguous about saving somebody who is drowning.
He said that was a dumb reason. I didn’t care.
Well, as it turns out, he was right, but not for the reason he thought at the time.
Make the Coast Guard Department of Transportation Again!
So, I’m not active duty anymore. However, when I was in, unfortunately during Trumps first administration, there was a lot of cognitive dissonance. Fundamentally, from my perspective, you have to understand that the military is a cult. Indoctrination is literally step 1. I would argue, in my case, it had started well before I had signed up though. Once you’re in the big army though, that’s it, there are consequences to your actions. When I began thinking for myself again, it was clear I was in a quite literal death cult, and I left. However, there was a period of time, where I was aware of this fact, and I just had to do my job. Or, face the wrath of a death cult.
The military preys upon the weak, poor, and broken. Yes, there is personal responsibility, however, you couldn’t have talked me out of joining that death cult. Even if my own political beliefs didn’t align with the military I signed up to die for, it wasn’t enough.
You have to understand how compartmentalized the military is. Service members focus on the job in front of them, the directions and orders their immediate supervisor are giving and the tasks they have to do.
The broader political landscape is utterly remote to 99% of the Armed Forces.
Hmm. Makes me think of that episode of Malcolm in the Middle when Reese joins the army.
You’re acting like members of the military don’t have free time or access to the news or social media.
Sure. But some IT guy being told to resolve networking issues of people who recently were transferred to Germany in order to do paperwork likely don’t see any relevance between their day to day tasks and what is going on in the US.
You could just as well ask how members of the EPA or IRS feel about working for the Trump administration.
It’s a choice not to find relevance. It’s the same choice that was made when they enlisted.
okay but if we can see it from here, they can also see it from there
True. Think about this though. I could probably come up with a question like this one for the professions of 90% of people here.
“Waiters of Reddit: how do you feel about working in an industry with its own special slave wage exception, an industry where the bosses expect you to dance for cruel patrons who have control over your compensation?”
“Medical researchers of Reddit; how do you feel about working for an industry that puts profits before people, whose CEOs are being gunned down in the streets because people die so they can make a number?”
“Software engineers of Reddit, how do you feel about working for the evil tech bros who have sold the self esteem and mental health of a whole generation to make a buck?”
The answer to all of these is that while they have some truth, the people who work there believe they are also doing some good with their work, and earning a living, and not just selling their soul to enrich the demon at the top of the corporation.
You say that if we can see it from far away, they must be able to see it from close up. But I’m not sure it works that way. Maybe there’s just a lot we can’t see from far away. And maybe being close to it is TOO close to see it as we do.
You’re comparing murdering foreign babies in their beds with serving a side of fries. Why are you working so fucking hard to excuse atrocity. Fuck off, dude.
Soldiers are trained to believe they are a replaceable cog, and they have no agency. They’re collecting a paycheck and going to work like everyone else.
Its the same ethos as its always been: Pray you don’t get deployed before your contract is up, figure out how to delegate responsibility, and enjoy the ride to upper-poor class.
That doesn’t speak to how they feel about the administration, though.
Follow up question: and the zionazis
Springboard. Fucking awful.
