Controversial Political Opinions

[Eric the Green]

(07-21-2022, 02:39 PM)JasonBlack Wrote:

Quote:Confederate politicians and generals, people who sacrificed large numbers of cannon fodder in the defense of slavery. Those are not heroes. We have plenty of military heroes from John Pershing to Norman Schwartzkopf to replace them, as well as genuine heroes who stood for the denied liberties of southern blacks.

I'm unsure what this was in response to, but like most people, I have asked myself "what would I have done if it were me in Nazi Germany?" The answer is quite straightforward: war has nothing to do with justice, nothing to do with heroism and nothing to do with morality. War has to do with survival and protecting your friends, your family and your way of life. That means, in all likelihood, I wouldn't enlist at all, but neither would I wage war against my countrymen. If I were drafted, I'd probably find a way to escape, even if that involved murdering a few people and/or faking my own death.

I would apply this same logic to any war, even if I believe in one moral cause over another, or view a war as necessary for some broader collective reason (ex: if you are invaded, if another country is taking over a region with whom trade is vital to your economy, etc).

I admit I feel more like a war-monger these days than the pacifist I used to be, but there are distinct limits to my war-mongering that I still believe in. I don't approve of the USA or any other country invading another country unless it's in response to an attack on us or our allies. I do believe in upholding treaties and alliances. I want the USA to help other peoples rising up against their dictators, but only if they ask us to through a reputable government in exile or freedom-fighting group, and not by invading or by bombing that country. Biden is observing these principles in helping Ukraine push back against its totally unjustified and war-criminal Russian invasion and the destruction by Russia of their country and their people. I disagree with imperial aspirations and support independence movements against them.

Would I serve in a war; probably not me, either, but I am too old now and I was always too handicapped to be accepted, probably a deliberate choice I made when I incarnated through a mother with a similar handicap and a pacifist father into a nation that I knew would be going to war unjustly when I was coming of military age. But if conditions were better than that in this regard, and the cause truly just as I described, who knows; I might.