Now, here’s an individual that I can respect. Someone who actually believes that the military presence is needed. You, sir or madam, are NOT betraying your own principles, and I salute you for it.
Can you tell me who would threaten my freedom, if not for the military?
I notice that you changed the quote from “our military” to “the military.” Why did you do that?
It would make a shorter list if you asked who wouldn’t. Are you really so blind that you feel that if the US had zero military that everything would be peaches and cream? Or do you think that there is someone else who would protect us? Or are you laboring under the misapprehension that the world is composed of not only peace loving and gentle people but that every nation state out there has only the best wishes and peaceful intentions for every other nation on earth? That no nations have external designs or external strategic goals? Or maybe you are laboring under the delusion that the US has absolutely nothing any other nation on earth would want wrt little things like resources and such?
I’ll tell you what you ARE laboring under the delusion of however…that your freedom is not only free but some kind of immutable fact that can’t be taken away from you no matter what. You are DEFINITELY laboring under that delusion, simply based on what you’ve said in this thread. You really and truly believe that your freedom (and by extension everyone elses in this country) is some kind of law of nature that need not be protected because it simply is. I’m unsure what you base this on, and it might be interesting for you to lay out your logic on why the US is so great that we need nothing to protect our collective freedom…or why you feel that freedom is some kind of immutable law or need not be protected because…well, for whatever reason you think it need not be protected or is a constant.
That might be the best place to start wrt to your original question…because if your freedom is NOT immutable or a constant, if it can be threatened by external powers…well, that would be one good reason for even the likes of you to ‘respect the military’. No?
-XT
My question applies to the military of all countries.
Oh, a mind reader, huh? You obviously know what I think better than I do myself.
Look, if any foreign power ever invades my country and takes away my freedom, it will be the military doing it. Who on earth do you think it would be?
In the US at least, there have been in the past political groups more than willing to use violence to push their agenda on others, and one of the factors that keep those groups at bay is the military.
Also, you totally ignored my post, which makes me think you’re just trying to start an argument.
I don’t need to be a mind reader…you have pretty much said what you’ve said. However, lay out what you disagree with then there won’t be any confusion.
A country doesn’t need to invade the US formally to impact you and your freedom. Lets see…the US has zero military, right? And this is a good thing from your perspective, yes?
How about this. A nation with a navy decides to interdict the passage out of the PG and intercept all oil tankers headed to the US. China decides to press it’s claims on Taiwan and closes off the straights to all commerce for the duration of hostilities. A nation with nuclear weapons decides to pressure the US with threats destruction. A nation with a navy decides to interdict US commerce in a more general way. Nations abroad decide to target US economic interests, companies or citizens…because they can.
I could go on and on but I think you get the point. A nation need not formally invade the US in order to impact the US. That military you hand wave away? One of it’s myriad functions is to PROTECT those foreign interests…and thus that freedom you take for granted. Think about it some.
-XT
It’s already laid out. You have chosen to invent your own version.
No. That is something that you have invented.
I’ll repeat what I have already said. Other countries hire professional soldiers to threaten us. Therefore we have to hire professional soldiers to stop them.
I don’t have to like the soldiers on either side.
No you don’t have to like them. But they are necessary to protect your freedom. Oddly, they don’t care if you like them or not, they will still die for you.
So go ahead and don’t like the military, don’t like the soldiers fighting for your freedom, they don’t care, they will fight anyway.
I understand you are talking about s type of utopia, but unfortunately the kind you are talking about cannot exist on this earth, not as wide spread as you seem to be purporting at least./
No, it is your problem—unless you are fine advocating, as one San Francisco Board of Supervisor advocates, that a country have no military. So, since you seem to agree that a military might be a necessary, if not a good thing in some instances, then you need to show how you can have it when you want it and not have it when you don’t.
That’s not what the mod said. So, I’m going to have to ask you for a cite, for a name, or assume that you’re just full of shit. This is not an attack on a poster, so I don’t think the mods would object. The only way you could have such a cite is if a particular poster 1) was not in the military prior to Iraq, 2) thought the Iraq war a moral wrong, 3) decided to participate in it anyway for some benefit, e.g., money, training, etc., and 4) he already shared all that information on these boards before. Just be sure not to impugn motives to him (or her) that do not belong to him/her.
So, I await your cite.
And they don’t have to like you either. They’ll still defend you though, because they respect your right to free speech. One of the ironies of life.
see my first post in this thread
And under moderator’s orders I’m not going to discuss it any further
Tell me, is Tom wearing bloomers or a thong under his skirt?
No need to waste any more time here.
They would defend me, if that is their orders. Or they would kill me, if that is their orders. It’s all the same. Just doing their job, and they don’t get to choose.
Maybe I was too hasty. Maybe you get it after all. Finally.
And yet you choose to handwave instead of clarify. Just so we are clear.
No, it’s not. It’s something you choose to ignore instead of address.
Oh…so, it’s reality that is the problem here. I see. Reality doesn’t conform to your wishes so you choose to ignore it and instead continue with your argument instead…with a hand wave at that reality thingy before you push on.
Well, I’m glad we cleared that up then.
No, you don’t. But you could acknowledge that your dislike is pretty much irrational and that there ARE valid reasons (in the real world as opposed to your own fantasy world) why they are necessary…and that they DO have a rather direct impact on your own person freedom because the world is the world and A is A and all that jazz.
-XT
If it were me, I’d respect the ones trying to defend me.
And, actually, they wouldn’t kill you if ordered to. Our military, despite how some folks would portray it, goes out of their way to avoid killing civilians. In fact, there are rules in place so that if a soldier is given illegal orders, they are safe to say no to them.
So, unless you were looting, or attempting to kill them (or others) in an area they had been deployed, you wouldn’t have anything to fear from them.
If you read my first post in the thread you will see that I do respect them.