What would it take you to join the British armed forces? (or your own country if your a visitor from other parts of this site) How much would you have to feel threatened or would you just never join up under any circumstances? Or maybe you would (or did) for other reasons?
I'd never join 'cos I'd be tripping over my boots and the guns would be bigger than me. I can't abide the thought of killing an animal for meat, how the hell could I kill a human? Beina a pawn for the government, no thanks. Knowing that your 'enemy' is just the same as you, I couldn't. Why would my survival be more important than theirs? Besides, there are far too many people out there that would be more than willing to join up, just for the violence, let them protect me
Oppression, whether through violence or whatever dosn't solve the problems of a nation... at most it just puts those problems on hold (buries them). For that reason, and the fact that I know I wouldn't kill anyone... Nothing could make me join. Love Clairexxx
A different debate i know, but i have to ask... Why do people eat animals (hence killing a soul / creature) when there is no physiological need to do so? Love Clairexxx p.s. *edit* yeh i have a problem with that.... and shooting a gun straight too
ooooooh i can go all anthropological here way back when our ancestors wer australopithecines in Africa, we split off into two groups, the Graciles who ate only vegetation, and the robusts that hunted for meat. The graciles were too specialised and when climate change came along, dies out when the plants they survived on became scarce. Howver, the robusts, due to eating meat with more energy in it per pound, had extra negery and were able to develop larger craniums, more skills etc. so we evolved because of our taking up of an omnivorous lifestyle - and we just cant grow out of it for the most part its no longer technically necesarry, but, its kind of in our natural instincts to eat what we see as "below us" in the food chain. i dotn say i agree with it,but there you go a short lesson on evolution! oh i love university
Sorry Paul that your thread is being hijacked, but.... Why are there so many veggies n vegans then? Why have there always been people abstaining from meat?
theres always some wierdos lol. i dont mean it like that. but theres always some difference from the majority - i dont know if its genetic or not, youll have to ask some genetecisrts or someone who has beens tudying human evolution longer than me
I don't think I could join the forces, morally objecting would be the main reason but I'm also shit scared of getting machine gunned to death (or worse). I would never want to fight for "my country" though, just because it was the thing to do. However if we were under attack, I mean literally occupied by an oppressive force then I'd probably want to fight back. I guess in a similar way to the French resistance in WW2. I asked my grandad why he answered his call up during WW2 ... at that time nobody was aware of the holocaust. He said he felt like he had no choice, he was witnessing the blitz and people were getting killed, the fact that Hitler was marching into most of Europe also played a part ~ but it was the stuff close to home that really got people to answer their conscription papers. Also. I could possibly kill In self defence or in the defence of someone I loved, but never in cold blood, I don't know for sure as I've never been in that postition (thankfully)
Yeah, I think I'm with you on that, I don't think you can know until you're actually in that kind of extreme situation. A friend's father fought in Bhurma, he had nightmares every single night about Japs being in his house, sometimes he would wake in the night and have to check the house to make sure. He wouldn't allow any Japanese goods in his house for his whole life (he died a couple of years ago). Imagine living with the horrors of war, seeing your friends being blown apart on a daily basis, that's gotta make you wonder what you're fighting for. Crazy shit.
if things got really really bad and it looked like we were gonna be completely taken over and life here would be unbearable then i would sign up and do my bit, but i would try to find a non killing role. you can still get out there and do your bit, but in other ways, such as working in hospitals, looking after soldiers etc. these are still very important roles, still helping your country but not having to kill anyone. i've always thought it would be quite interesting to work in a resistance type role, covert undercover operations etc. helping rescue people in secret and stuff like that. if we were under attack and life was looking like it could get really shitty, then i would definately like to help out that way. like the rest of you who have answered though, i really dont think i could kill another human. but unless we were in this situation, i think it is an impossible question to answer. peace and love stardust xxx
i wouldnt.... id just sit in a corner and sink into my drawing book and forget life if i had to............ i couldnt go out and kill people.... modern wars are a cowards game. I have no respect for anyone in an army. Parhaps way way way back when wars were things where you had to look the person you were killing in the face... you had to look into the eyes of the soul youd taken and watch it fade... those people were braving their sanity for that...still the killings not right but they went through more hell than anyone in modern wars will. War is wrong and no matter what happens i wount change that thought... supporting a war... even helping the soldiers is all in the same book in my eyes. Fighting against humans you dont know is wrong and poinless... you dont know them they dont know you... howwill anyone every learn from that? your learn the best lessons from those you know the most.
very true. but where do you draw the line? you cant save the whole world in one go. obviously i feel very sorry for the people in other countries whose life is unbearable right now, but there's a limit to what we personally can do. im just saying that if a situation developed where the uk was under severe threat then i would do my bit. i realise it's probably a very selfish attitude, look after myself and all that, but hey, no-one's perfect, especially not me. peace and love stardust xxx
We haven't evolved to the stage at which it's sensible to just not have any armed forces... I think I would support something like a European defence force, being the minimum required force to fend off any aggressive attack. In time this could become part of a worldwide police force under the auspices of a reformed and democratically accountable United Nations... I'm dreaming here though... As for serving myself, no I am too much of an idealist to ever take another life. I hope I would sacrifice myself to defend someone but hostility and anything beyond minimum restraining force is something quite beyond me.
I am not condoning violence... like I said earlier... oppressive violent regimes just mask the problem not end it. Love Clairexxx
Yeah because power corrupts and without anything for it to be answerable to might make it a bit of a dangerous institution.
