I can fight

[Mythsaje]

but I don't want to. If I ever should be forced to do so, woe to him who forces it on me.

The last thing I would ever recommend to another person is to go out and kill someone else for some unknown ideological reason, whether it be for religion, patriotism, or to defend against the spread of some other ideology.

"War is diplomacy by another means."

"Diplomacy is saying 'good doggy' as you're reaching for the stick."

War is a battle between nations, it is young men (and occasionally women) fighting and dying for the glorification of their leaders, or their nation, or their ideology. War is fought nowadays by remote control, the leaders hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the battlefield. War is fought at a distance, by planes, bombs, missiles, rifles, and RPGs.

Humans are very good at war, but we can't possibly presume to understand it. What makes one man don a uniform and go out to kill another man? Loyalty to a cause? Sometimes. To preserve a way of life? Again, sometimes. In the end, it boils down to one answer. Because he is TOLD to do so.

Few sane men CHOOSE war as a way of life. They may choose READINESS as a way of life, understanding that sometimes it is necessary to fight to preserve something worthwhile. But only those who live to destroy would seek the path of war out of desire rather than because it is something that must be done.

I would no more turn my children over to those who make war than I would turn them over to those who rape little boys. And I can't presume to understand anyone that would.

By necessity, maybe. But since when was it OUR job to topple tin-pot dictators and play world police? Since it became convenient for the corporations to have a standing army to look after their interests in the third world. The past few wars have been about greed and nothing more. Profiteering. Stealing from dictators the very same assets they first stole from their people. And thinking we're right to do it.

While the war profiteers rake in the cash.

All I have to say to that is "fuck that."

Why in the hell would I willingly surrender my child to that? Why would anyone who wasn't completely insane?



I can fight. But don't make me.

I am no pacifist. But I am a peacenik.

There's a difference.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

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[EST]

2. Well said.

Sounds like what I have been advocating for the last fifty or so years.

Good contribution.

[az chela]

3. And I will stand right beside you if that time comes

[uppityperson]

4. me too. Good writing.

[aquart]

5. There absolutely is.

Pearl Harbor was struck on a Sunday. My uncle enlisted on Tuesday because, like the rest of the family, he just hates waiting on long lines. My mother tells me about lines of young men, lines of boys she grew up with, reaching out of the subway and stretching down the block, as they bought their tokens from the booth and entered the subway to reach the enlistment offices downtown.

During Vietnam, I marched with those men, those who survived World War II, and their sons, protesting the war. I remember my mom introducing me to the ones I didn't already know.