So I just wrote a long bit on FB about the problems with the military and intelligence. Rather than repost that and the pertinent comments that led to me striking out, I'll start from the beginning.
I was raised by a set of loving parents who taught me that killing people and controlling people for my own gain are wrong. Closet liberals though they may be, my parents instilled in me a belief in the importance of the individual, a love for my fellow man, and a desire to help people. This was of course magnified by over twenty years of religious seeking of the truth. Not the truth as I might want it, but the truth as it is. This is of course according to the best evidence I can find, and given the fact that I am not a qualified scientist I do not have absolute evidence for two reasons. One is that I find philosophy does not require it, it merely requires wisdom and a good line of reasoning. The second is that most of the time philosophy and humans defy reasoning.
Which brings me to the quite interesting institution of the United States Military. For those of you who don't live in this country the US Military Industrial complex is the largest in the history of the planet. They have won almost every war against people on the same technological level with them. Their biggest problem appears to be people with less funding than them. Their solution to these problems is (you may have guessed it) more funding.
Also if you are a native citizen of the good old US you aren't allowed to question the decisions of senior management without somehow undermining the people who work for them. This is in stark contrast with almost every other large institution on the planet. I mean if I post a large angry rant about Walmart or even the US Postal Service I would DOUBTLESS receive plenty of support from their employees. This is because employees of other institutions do not receive their identity from their employer. In fact if they are even somewhat well adjusted their employer pretty much encourages this.
I say all of this to come around to that I do not hate military service members, past, current or future. Pity some of them, oh sure, but it's their life. Don't get me started about all the wonderful lives lost saving this country, I know all about this and share your patriotic fire for not letting people take over this country. I will not attack anyone directly who has made sacrifices and legitimately helped the country. However, given the freedoms you fought for, I will question the motivations behind almost everything.
Let's get down to the roots, and that is the motivation for starting an armed forces. Why would a country need to not only have the largest military on the planet, but by such a large margin that it is unlikely that anyone will ever catch up? I know part of it is love of country, but frankly you could withdraw all troops to within our borders and shut down most of the military industrial complex and still keep our country safe. I know that isn't what certain people have told you, because being afraid makes good money for many people.
In fact I have heard it said that the military by spending so much money is the most successful welfare project in the history of the country. That just may well be.
So why bother attacking it in the first place? Well that comes back to my central problem with the military and that is what happens when you take these motivations (profit and fear) and lead them to the natural conclusion. It kills people. I know for a fact this mystifies many of my right leaning friends how I can not be in favor of killing my enemies but if necessary I'd rather not. I'll kill them if I have to, if they attack me or my own, but they aren't. In fact with the exception of a few terrorist attacks nobody has launched an attack on our soil in over sixty years. Given that fact I think the money would be better spent helping countries that still have wars over basic things like freedom or the ability of everyone to eat.
Oh and the central part of my other rant was military intelligence, or a lack thereof. I asserted that I do not believe that the military are any more or less intelligent than the average human. I do think that there is a startling lack of empathy and wisdom. I consider empathy essential to being human. I consider gaining wisdom one of the points of living, therefor promoting such a backwards and potentially dangerous (actually proven dangerous) institution is contrary to all that I am.
Thank you for your time.
I was raised by a set of loving parents who taught me that killing people and controlling people for my own gain are wrong. Closet liberals though they may be, my parents instilled in me a belief in the importance of the individual, a love for my fellow man, and a desire to help people. This was of course magnified by over twenty years of religious seeking of the truth. Not the truth as I might want it, but the truth as it is. This is of course according to the best evidence I can find, and given the fact that I am not a qualified scientist I do not have absolute evidence for two reasons. One is that I find philosophy does not require it, it merely requires wisdom and a good line of reasoning. The second is that most of the time philosophy and humans defy reasoning.
Which brings me to the quite interesting institution of the United States Military. For those of you who don't live in this country the US Military Industrial complex is the largest in the history of the planet. They have won almost every war against people on the same technological level with them. Their biggest problem appears to be people with less funding than them. Their solution to these problems is (you may have guessed it) more funding.
Also if you are a native citizen of the good old US you aren't allowed to question the decisions of senior management without somehow undermining the people who work for them. This is in stark contrast with almost every other large institution on the planet. I mean if I post a large angry rant about Walmart or even the US Postal Service I would DOUBTLESS receive plenty of support from their employees. This is because employees of other institutions do not receive their identity from their employer. In fact if they are even somewhat well adjusted their employer pretty much encourages this.
I say all of this to come around to that I do not hate military service members, past, current or future. Pity some of them, oh sure, but it's their life. Don't get me started about all the wonderful lives lost saving this country, I know all about this and share your patriotic fire for not letting people take over this country. I will not attack anyone directly who has made sacrifices and legitimately helped the country. However, given the freedoms you fought for, I will question the motivations behind almost everything.
Let's get down to the roots, and that is the motivation for starting an armed forces. Why would a country need to not only have the largest military on the planet, but by such a large margin that it is unlikely that anyone will ever catch up? I know part of it is love of country, but frankly you could withdraw all troops to within our borders and shut down most of the military industrial complex and still keep our country safe. I know that isn't what certain people have told you, because being afraid makes good money for many people.
In fact I have heard it said that the military by spending so much money is the most successful welfare project in the history of the country. That just may well be.
So why bother attacking it in the first place? Well that comes back to my central problem with the military and that is what happens when you take these motivations (profit and fear) and lead them to the natural conclusion. It kills people. I know for a fact this mystifies many of my right leaning friends how I can not be in favor of killing my enemies but if necessary I'd rather not. I'll kill them if I have to, if they attack me or my own, but they aren't. In fact with the exception of a few terrorist attacks nobody has launched an attack on our soil in over sixty years. Given that fact I think the money would be better spent helping countries that still have wars over basic things like freedom or the ability of everyone to eat.
Oh and the central part of my other rant was military intelligence, or a lack thereof. I asserted that I do not believe that the military are any more or less intelligent than the average human. I do think that there is a startling lack of empathy and wisdom. I consider empathy essential to being human. I consider gaining wisdom one of the points of living, therefor promoting such a backwards and potentially dangerous (actually proven dangerous) institution is contrary to all that I am.
Thank you for your time.
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