This critique shows a profound disconnection from reality. Comparing military service to working at Amazon reveals someone who’s never faced the economic deserts that exist in many rural and impoverished communities. In countless American towns, there is no Amazon warehouse, no stable employment options, and limited educational pathways. The military often represents the only viable escape route from generational poverty.
It’s remarkably privileged to assume everyone has access to the same opportunities. Many join the military precisely because companies like Amazon haven’t reached their communities, or because they need immediate access to healthcare, housing, and education that other paths don’t provide. These aren’t abstract philosophical considerations—they’re immediate survival decisions made under severe constraints.
The argument completely misses how military recruitment deliberately targets economically vulnerable communities. It’s not coincidence that recruitment centers cluster in impoverished areas while being noticeably absent from wealthy neighborhoods.
Painting complex issues in such black-and-white terms might satisfy someone’s moral superiority, but it does nothing to address the systems that create these impossible choices in the first place. Real solidarity means addressing the conditions that make military service one of the few viable options for so many working-class Americans, not condemning those trapped in these systems with few alternatives.
Replace every instance of “joining the military” with “becoming a police officer,” or “selling crack,” or “scamming the elderly,” or “scabbing on striking workers.” Do the same arguments apply? Yes or no.
Hunger and survival instinct are strong. I know very few who could overcome them willingly. I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that it takes a very trained mind and will to do so that very few have.
There is no “solidarity” to be had with people who kill or severely harm members of the working class. If you pull others down to get ahead, you are not my comrade.
Every time a person chooses that path, they create even more desperate situations for other working class people. The people who join the military to “escape poverty” force others into poverty in the process, and they force them into situations worse than poverty. How many people became mujahideen because all they had to put food on the table was a gun? And how many people are growing up not only in poverty, but also as orphans, because of the troops’ actions?
This is complete insanity. If we can excuse the actions of the troops, then we can excuse the actions of anyone. Maybe Jeffery Epstein just did the things he did because of how he was raised, or because of his brain chemistry, or because of this or because of that. Regardless, he still needs to be condemned and failure to condemn him is a disservice to his victims, and alienates people who could actually be valuable allies.
Everyone understands this when it comes to other “professions” like the ones I mentioned, that pull others down to get ahead. But when it comes to troops, troop worship is so ingrained, the propaganda so deep, that even when people consciously reject it, they still want to justify and make excuses for them. Rationally speaking, if you accept that we should condemn those other professions, and you accept that troops are just as bad if not worse, then you should condemn them in just as strong terms.
Apologies. I could have explained my reasoning. Many would look upon my living conditions as not good, but not abject. I’ve been extremely privileged in that I’ve turned down not great-paying jobs because while trained in them, I found them morally objectionable. I’m close to old age than not. I’ve been fortunate to have had some help. And if I didn’t? Would I spend my last twenty on a few meals or a bit of crack to rerock to sell for profit, buy a little more, rinse and repeat? I’d love to say I’d take the moral high road. I still have extra weight, you know?
I trust the universe and I trust myself. Plus it’s highly likely that at this late hour, any addict would likely be highly suspicious if I suddenly started trying to sell dope. I’m acknowledging there are things we see and are unable to see at various vantage points. Your post just prompted questions to which it’s easy to say I’d this things and not the other, from this vantage point. Perhaps later in life I’ll have attained a point with more or less ability to see clearly. We hope and trust, potentialities are infinite – in every imaginable direction.
This makes accountability neither more nor less important. Just an observation.
This critique shows a profound disconnection from reality. Comparing military service to working at Amazon reveals someone who’s never faced the economic deserts that exist in many rural and impoverished communities. In countless American towns, there is no Amazon warehouse, no stable employment options, and limited educational pathways. The military often represents the only viable escape route from generational poverty.
It’s remarkably privileged to assume everyone has access to the same opportunities. Many join the military precisely because companies like Amazon haven’t reached their communities, or because they need immediate access to healthcare, housing, and education that other paths don’t provide. These aren’t abstract philosophical considerations—they’re immediate survival decisions made under severe constraints.
The argument completely misses how military recruitment deliberately targets economically vulnerable communities. It’s not coincidence that recruitment centers cluster in impoverished areas while being noticeably absent from wealthy neighborhoods.
Painting complex issues in such black-and-white terms might satisfy someone’s moral superiority, but it does nothing to address the systems that create these impossible choices in the first place. Real solidarity means addressing the conditions that make military service one of the few viable options for so many working-class Americans, not condemning those trapped in these systems with few alternatives.
Replace every instance of “joining the military” with “becoming a police officer,” or “selling crack,” or “scamming the elderly,” or “scabbing on striking workers.” Do the same arguments apply? Yes or no.
Hunger and survival instinct are strong. I know very few who could overcome them willingly. I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that it takes a very trained mind and will to do so that very few have.
Not a yes or a no.
There is no “solidarity” to be had with people who kill or severely harm members of the working class. If you pull others down to get ahead, you are not my comrade.
Every time a person chooses that path, they create even more desperate situations for other working class people. The people who join the military to “escape poverty” force others into poverty in the process, and they force them into situations worse than poverty. How many people became mujahideen because all they had to put food on the table was a gun? And how many people are growing up not only in poverty, but also as orphans, because of the troops’ actions?
This is complete insanity. If we can excuse the actions of the troops, then we can excuse the actions of anyone. Maybe Jeffery Epstein just did the things he did because of how he was raised, or because of his brain chemistry, or because of this or because of that. Regardless, he still needs to be condemned and failure to condemn him is a disservice to his victims, and alienates people who could actually be valuable allies.
Everyone understands this when it comes to other “professions” like the ones I mentioned, that pull others down to get ahead. But when it comes to troops, troop worship is so ingrained, the propaganda so deep, that even when people consciously reject it, they still want to justify and make excuses for them. Rationally speaking, if you accept that we should condemn those other professions, and you accept that troops are just as bad if not worse, then you should condemn them in just as strong terms.
Apologies. I could have explained my reasoning. Many would look upon my living conditions as not good, but not abject. I’ve been extremely privileged in that I’ve turned down not great-paying jobs because while trained in them, I found them morally objectionable. I’m close to old age than not. I’ve been fortunate to have had some help. And if I didn’t? Would I spend my last twenty on a few meals or a bit of crack to rerock to sell for profit, buy a little more, rinse and repeat? I’d love to say I’d take the moral high road. I still have extra weight, you know?
I trust the universe and I trust myself. Plus it’s highly likely that at this late hour, any addict would likely be highly suspicious if I suddenly started trying to sell dope. I’m acknowledging there are things we see and are unable to see at various vantage points. Your post just prompted questions to which it’s easy to say I’d this things and not the other, from this vantage point. Perhaps later in life I’ll have attained a point with more or less ability to see clearly. We hope and trust, potentialities are infinite – in every imaginable direction.
This makes accountability neither more nor less important. Just an observation.