The topic was why it took the shitlibs and Hasanabi-watching leftists (lol) a fucking tattoo to denounce Graham Platner, an Iraq veteran who did 4 trips to the war zone and then joined the Blackwater mercenary company to kill even more people.
Lots of people join institutions thinking they can change them, only to find themselves changed.
And this is why you should seriously consider voting for nominally “leftist” veterans who want to join the DNC and get elected so they can change the party.Jokes aside, nobody joins the US military thinking they’re going to change the institution, that is simply not a thing.
Ya this is weird. People job the military because they’re poor, have no other options, or don’t know what else to do with their life. One friend joined to get away from her abusive parents as fast as possible, it was basically her only choice with no money. She came out of it with a paid education, benefits, etc. But nobody sent in to “change of from the inside”.
I don’t even morally disagree with people who join institutions to do inside reform but I make a special exception for any armed forces because to think you the grunt is gonna change the army is somewhere between napoleonic dilusion and having gotten kicked in the head by a particularly strong donkey prior to joining
Come the fuck on, sure you can MAYBE make an excuse for Vietnam vets because there was a draft but anything post these fuckers signed on for knowing full well what it was about and what they were getting paid for to do.
One thing that rarely gets mentioned is that only about a quarter of the US soldiers who went to Vietnam were drafted.
TIL damn.
They blocked me after refusing to say a single thing on the Mercenary stuff.
on bluesky if a liberal senses they are losing the argument they will just block you and it prevents their followers from seeing the posts where you owned them. this makes arguing on there even more pointless than any other social media platform
Lmao incredible.
The fucker wanted to volunteer in Vietnam as well.
Even if this was true (it’s not) does it really apply to FUCKING MERCENARIES??? Particularly bands of mercenaries who have a record of committing war crimes?
Here’s the thing. That tweet, in a vacuum is correct. But, what is missing, is context. What behavior is being excused by this logic?
Yes there’s a poverty draft, yes people can realize and regret what they did. That doesn’t release them from the consequences of their actions, it does not give absolution, and it does not mean we have to accept them.
Platner was a private school kid from a well-off family on top of that.
A spoiled rich kid who joined the “I’m here to commit warcrimes and eat crayons and I’m all out of crayons” branch.
Ok well now that we’re going after private school kids, it’s time for us to finally examine ourselves and wonder if we’ve gone too far
Wat! Private school apologia!? BAN
Gotta build my reputation up so I have a convincing story when I start my right wing grifting era.
I say! Capital grift sir!
Herman Blume: You guys have it real easy. I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn’t matter. You were born rich and you’re going to stay rich. But here’s my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can’t buy backbone. Don’t let them forget it. Thank you.
if you think joining an org and changing it from the inside is a workable tactic then join the fucking kkk lib, oh wait, you already did well fuck
Army entry-ism?
Worked for the bolsheviks.
Sure the conditions were different, but who’s counting?
Yes, they were peasants and before Alexander II’s reforms, they had a compulsory 25 year service. It wasn’t something they chose because they didn’t want to work at Wal-Mart. They were made to to do it on top of living a life of back-breaking labor. Even when the compulsory service was reduced to 15 years and opened up to all classes, the stratification remained. Careerism for peasants didn’t exist either. Peasants didn’t join because it looked good on a resume and was a chance to escape their lot in life. Even after going to war they were forced to work the land. No free breakfast at Denny’s once a year. No Dodge Charger.
They were probably organized before entering
SPD Freikorps moment with American characteristics.
Nobody enlisting is trying to “change it from the inside”. Maybe some wanna-be military officer thinks they’ll have some power after they get their commission but no private is signing the dotted line thinking, “I’ll make it better!”
I think this is mostly right? It’s not an excuse but when your whole culture valorizes the military and that’s all you know it’s no surprise people join it
Yeah, but here’s the kicker
That’s bad and something we need to actively work against
And that goes double for the notion that people join the military for “good” reasons
Yeah don’t disagree with any of that. You have to be extremely repentant to be part of the movement as ex western military
Yeah, but after three tours in Iraq and another in Afghanistan, he signed up with fucking blackwater to be a merc. People who do that are evil. I don’t know, maybe he’s a just really really really slow learner?
Yeah i’m sorry but like, this dude was over here, retired from the military in college but was like i’m sorry war crimes are calling to me i’m enlisting in the blackwater military and doing a lil terrorism
Counter point, I signed up for 4 years active (which means another 4 years inactive reserve) when I was 17 a few years before 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Before being sent with the invasion and occupation forces it was an eye opening experience where all the “military people are serious and competent” advertising was completely stripped away. After wondering how nobody on “my side” hadn’t gotten me killed during the invasion and occupation and we had zero ability to actually help any of the Iraqis whose country we just broke, there was absolutely zero reason to stick around.
I got lucky and my four years ended right after my unit was rotated out of Iraq back to garrison. There was no attempt to stop loss me. But I absolutely refused any conversations about reenlisting and made no effort to report to the military reserve unit I was ordered to.
It was simple and easy.
You should read the entire thread.
I did but I don’t get it
They ever answered the question regarding his mercenary history and them blocked me.
