Writer's Block: War and peace

[i_amthecosmos]

[Error: unknown template qotd]To the first question, I would say I would perfer to abolish all armies. I do not believe in a goverment that can compel you to die in a war for objectives that may only benefit the rich. If we *have* to have standing armies, I suppose the draft should be handed out fairly. I say this with great reluctance.

The current US system of recruitment is a class-based horror that almost insures that the poorest wind up in Iraq. Sometimes when I meet young friends in the old neighborhood, I feel like I'm spending half my time trying to talk them out of inlisting. (Short version: Don't do it.) My old friends have trouble affording college, they have personal disappointments, money problems, so they want to join the armed forces. And all I can say is that it will most likely make things worse.

FTA.

Comments

[moominmuppet.livejournal.com]

The current US system of recruitment is a class-based horror that almost insures that the poorest wind up in Iraq.

Amen.

If we *have* to have standing armies, I suppose the draft should be handed out fairly. I say this with great reluctance.

Likewise. But it needs to stop giving the rich dodges out of service, and the draft needs to apply to women, too. Frankly, the only time we as a nation really seem to understand the horror of war is when it affects all of us, or can. As long as we can keep sending the young and poor, too few people are really going to give a damn about getting them home again.

I would like to see mandatory social service of some sort, though. I think everyone should be able to choose between military and non-military positions, but I have no problem with the idea of required community service as long as it doesn't require someone to potentially kill or die.

[i-amthecosmos.livejournal.com]

Exactly, the only way I could support a draft (which even then, I don't think I could) would be if it applied to the rich and women as well. The way US society is now, you would hardly know we were fighting two wars-it's all happening to Someone Else, Over There.

I would be fine with mandatory social service as well. I'd like a Peace Corps type deal, or something like helping at free medical clinics in the US.