Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Ask the people of Georgia about their fond memories of Sherman, even though the last veteran of the Civil War is long dead.

Yeah, but the North won, didn't it?
Tom Brosz — (archived)

I'm not defending Sherman's tactics, or Sherman. In fact, I'm not defending the Civil War at all. IMO, the South would have rotted into a Third World country if left alone, and slavery would have outlasted mechanized farming by about three minutes. But that's a whole different story.

I think it's obvious that while innocents get hurt in ANY war, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not exactly been a total-destruction "march to the sea" approach. God knows a policy of total destruction from the air and missiles would have resulted in few or no American deaths, but we made a harder choice on behalf of Iraq. It would be nice once in a while to see the U.S. get a bit of credit for this.

I'm sorry, Mary Anne, but when someone signs up to be a soldier, he or she signs up knowing that their lives may be used to purchase a larger tactical goal. This is how it needs to work. If you sign up to the concept of a non-violent army, you might as well reach your hands out for the chains to be put on.

Needless to say, this is one reason that I am utterly opposed to a military draft. Such a decision on behalf of one's own life has to be a voluntary one.*

There is a certain ethic that says that enduring enslavement, torment, or any other evil imposed upon one is better than violence, or taking a human life. Fine. But I don't want my family raised in a nation that feels that way.

*If anyone starts feeding me the crap about not having any choice at all because one is poor or disadvantaged, I'm going to puke all over the keyboard.

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