this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2025
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There is absolutely no reason to blindly respect someone just because they’ve “served their country.” We don’t know what they’ve done. We have so many examples of soldiers doing horrible things to civilians around the world that blind respect is simply not warranted.
Agreed. A friend of mine is a veteran, and did something that he regrets every day of his life. Guilt's been eating the guy. He told some people, and they cut off contact with him. Which he understands and agrees with. He told me too, and yet I can't blame him for doing something objectively wrong.
Particularly the people we were indoctrinated to trust. Cops, military, politicians, businessmen (read as American Dream reachers), preachers...
In my opinion the individual isn't respected but they're a stand in to show respect for the people who sacrificed their lives.
Yea, but neither is blind DISrespect. There's a lot of examples of bad and there's a lot of examples of good. Kinda fucked up to lump an entire group into one side or the other... Don't ya think?
Bet I get blasted for this take.
You spend your whole life doing exercises and hauling supplies, but you massacre one village and suddenly everyone hates you.
So you're going to disrespect and blame the individual that had nothing to do with it because of the actions of others?
I'm not saying that you should let the organization as a whole off the hook, but should we really be putting the individual in the cross hairs without knowing what their story is?
Are you going to put the medic that helped the injured innocent in front of the firing line because other people bombed the area?
The big issue I have with your statements, and those of the OP are that they are extremist. It's possible to have a nuanced conversation about it without resorting to the extremes. No wonder the pot keeps calling the kettle black
Of course they're "extremist." Putting the lives of Afghans and Iraqis on the same level as Americans is an extreme position. That's just the world we live in. But just because it's "extreme" relative to generally accepted discourse in the West doesn't make it any less correct.
Not every cop has shot an innocent person. But people still have no problem saying All Cops Are Bastards. Because even those who aren't directly involved support and cover for those who do. Likewise, not a single troop at Abu Ghraib blew the whistle on what was happening there. If you're fine with ACAB, you should also be fine with ATAB, and the only reason I can see why someone wouldn't is that they value the cops' victims more than those of the troops.
No I absolutely do have a problem with the 'All' part. Don't presume that everyone agrees with that rhetoric.
All do. If they join then it is all
If you want a nuanced discussion, start with explaining exactly how guilty different members of the U.S. military are when the military has a long history of committing atrocities, and since the 70s all members have signed up willingly.
If I were to willingly join the mob, how clean are my hands if I just drive guys around, or just patch them up after they're shot?
Hey so this serial killer who boiled his victims alive had a really sad upbringing. We should just call it a wash and let him back out on the streets right?
Learning what their story is might be good to do for a common thief, and maybe you'll choose to be sympathetic as opposed to angry at the loss of your material possessions, but at a certain level of depravity, I don't care what their story is. The victims of their atrocities don't care what their story is. They can tell their story to the devil before getting thrown in the lake of fire.
While I agree with your sentiment, I disagree with the overreaching arc of it.
I'd also like to note that you're taking about the person who actually committed the crime rather than someone who is only connected to the crime by the uniform they wear, regrdless of their hand in the action.
A cook or nurse or on the other side of the planet from the atrocity can hardly be blamed for what the infantryman did on the individual level, or what the military has done on an organizational level. Furthermore, you don't even know if they oppose those actions or are fighting against it in their own way until you talk to them. That's the point I'm trying to make that others
If you fail to see and acknowledge this, then we have nothing more to discuss.
That said, extremism should be fought, no matter who it's coming from. I have plenty of right wing friends I've cut contact with due to their extremism. And if I had friends from the left that were as crazy as some of the people I've seen here, I'd do the same.
Extremism only leads to more extremism and more fighting and more death. I'd prefer to avoid that if possible.
Hey man, I just fill deliver fuel for the orphan-crushing machine company. Don't hold me responsible for the monsters who actually crush the orphans!