• @ummthatguy@lemmy.world
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    951 year ago

    Largely, we’ve not been defending ourselves, but rather, maintaining our interests and investments. Who wants to stand behind that other than the misinformed?

    • Patapon Enjoyer
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      1 year ago

      People who want to do raping and murdering and be praised for it? Though they could just be cops for that.

      • @ummthatguy@lemmy.world
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        151 year ago

        There are still those that believe they’re fulfilling some patriotic duty, but that only feeds back into my original statement. The “bad apples” only serve to highlight part of the problem. Culling and replanting the “orchard” is a magnitude of order more difficult.

    • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      121 year ago

      I will stand behind US Military maintenance to the degree that NATO remains the top world power, but I will also stand behind any global demilitarization such as the many past treaties to dismantle nuclear weapons. It’s okay for nuance to exist.

    • AbsentBird
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      511 year ago

      Yeah, everyone knows you can only prevent war by fighting in wars. War is peace.

        • AbsentBird
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          211 year ago

          Ah yes, the famous quote from fourth century Rome. How did that work out for them? I seem to remember a continuous series of wars leading to the utter collapse of western Rome before the end of that century. It also inspired the name of the Parabellum pistol (AKA Lugar) manufactured in Germany for both worlds wars. The quote doesn’t have the best track record.

          I prefer si vis pacem para pacem.

          • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
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            111 year ago

            I seem to remember a continuous series of wars leading to the utter collapse of western Rome before the end of that century.

            Wars they were utterly unprepared for, yes.

            I prefer si vis pacem para pacem.

            Cool. You’re prepared for peace. You get into a dispute with your neighbor. Your neighbor is prepared for war. How does this end?

            • AbsentBird
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              41 year ago

              Wars they were utterly unprepared for, yes.

              Rome had the largest army ever assembled at the time. They did more military preparation than any nation in Europe. They had 56 legions of professional soldiers. How many more do you think they would have needed to be considered prepared?

              Cool. You’re prepared for peace. You get into a dispute with your neighbor. Your neighbor is prepared for war. How does this end?

              I’ve never had an issue with my neighbors that could be solved with war. Once I lived next to a guy who was pretty militant, but we got along alright. I hired his son to help mow my lawn. Maybe I’m just not good at getting into disputes.

              In a geopolitical sense, it seems to be more about alliances than independent preparation. Nations can prepare for war and still get steamrolled, or prepare for peace and put up a solid resistance. I think a constant paranoia of war is more likely to do harm than conjure safety.

              • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                91 year ago

                Rome had the largest army ever assembled at the time. They did more military preparation than any nation in Europe. They had 56 legions of professional soldiers. How many more do you think they would have needed to be considered prepared?

                Jesus. If you’re not informed about the state of the Late Empire, don’t use it as a point of comparison.

                I’ve never had an issue with my neighbors that could be solved with war. Once I lived next to a guy who was pretty militant, but we got along alright. I hired his son to help mow my lawn. Maybe I’m just not good at getting into disputes.

                Or maybe you live in a society with a massive apparatus for the resolution of conflicts that relies on the threat of force in case of non-cooperation?

                No, that’s silly.

                In a geopolitical sense, it seems to be more about alliances than independent preparation.

                What the fuck do you think an alliance is if not preparing for war

                Nations can prepare for war and still get steamrolled, or prepare for peace and put up a solid resistance.

                I can’t think of many. Got any examples?

                • AbsentBird
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                  21 year ago

                  Got any examples?

                  Britain was absolutely not prepared for WW2 but put up a successful resistance. They had spent the decade prior, focusing on disarmament and the League of Nations. The US was not prepared for WW2 either, the attack on Pearl Harbor damaged nearly the entire battle fleet. For a more contemporary example, Ukraine was unprepared for the Russian invasion, but has been putting up more of a fight than anyone expected.

                  Or maybe you live in a society with a massive apparatus for the resolution of conflicts that relies on the threat of force in case of non-cooperation?

                  Then what was the point of your hypothetical?

              • @Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                51 year ago

                I’ve never had an issue

                Do you understand how hypotheticals work?

                Hypothetically, I’m your neighbor. I feel like killing you. I have a gun. I have no sense of morality. What stops me?

                • AbsentBird
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                  21 year ago

                  My point is that I’ve lived next to people preparing for war, and it was never an issue. I don’t see why people can’t coexist.

                  Hypothetically, I’m your neighbor. I feel like killing you. I have a gun. I have no sense of morality. What stops me?

                  My evasion, guile, and misdirection.

                  What’s your response to the hypothetical? Shoot first?

          • andrew_bidlaw
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            71 year ago

            One can find the application to this quote pretty much everywhere, everywhen, even in small personal situations, so once it spread it stuck and outlived the Rome itself because it does correspond to what we sometimes think and do. In soviet times (another dead empire) there were a couple of the same-meaning proverbs, like ‘alarmed, thus got armed (in time)’ I used when I prepared for things like exams, job interviews, long camping trips and stuff, and I’m pretty sure your culture has them too.

            I believe that Einstein was very optimistic and said that too early, or dreamed of the future when wars over beliefs, ego or profits aren’t a usual occurence. But we as humanity haven’t arrived there yet. One of the ways this can occur is if we would see the war not worth it for a long time, to get used to it, and Europe mostly got this by now within itself, but not against external threats. As, so it happens, there are still rogue actors who can start their shitty crusade on their border. And if we won’t be so europocentric, the Middle East and Africa and Asia has a lot of war axes dug out for their peers, there are hot and cold conflicts going on even if they aren’t covered in what news sources we can read.

            Star Trek: TNG’s first season has a little mention of how we humans came here, through unimaginable wars and atrocities, before we aknowledged that our ways are wrong. I hope, we would be better and won’t see WW3 (or WW4 with sticks and stones as Albert said) play out before we reach something akin to their fantastic future. We may need to come to the parity and agree to tone it all down, and have a century of peace, before we even get into the mentality characters have in this show.

        • Ragdoll X
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          1 year ago

          *oops now there’s a cold war and thousands of nukes*

          Like come on, if there’s one person who didn’t like to make things simple it was Einstein. The guy was a fan of the Soviet Union, which was established through a revolution. This is just a catchy one-liner about pointless wars and militarism, not a deep and detailed political analysis.

          • @Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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            1 year ago

            You can discredit Einstein as much as you like.

            That doesn’t change a thing about the truth of the quote.

          • @uis@lemm.ee
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            31 year ago

            Soviet Union, which was established on anti-war. WW1, anyone remembers that?

        • @kerrigan778@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Technically yes, but he left when Nazi persecution of Jews became official government policy. It was the beginning of the buildup to the Holocaust. He survived the Holocaust in the sense that he was a Jew who lived in the Nazi occupied state and survived.

    • @Hupf@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Einstein, Tucholsky, Gandhi and Jesus all seem to be very naive blokes indeed.

      • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
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        151 year ago

        Jesus was crucified and spawned one of the most vile institutions in human history.

        Gandhi thought Britain should surrender to the Nazis.

        Very naive blokes indeed.

  • @800XL@lemmy.world
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    681 year ago

    You can refuse to serve and then they institute the draft. Then you dodge the draft and get elected President.

      • @FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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        621 year ago

        It would have to be global otherwise someone realizes “hey I’m the only one with an army” and marches it into whatever they claim as theirs.

        • mozz
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          351 year ago

          You have discovered the essential flaw in the plan yes

          Engineering a world without war sounds like a great idea. Just disarming and hoping everyone else will do the same isn’t it.

          • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin
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            I’ve talked before about how nuclear disarmament, like total nuclear disarmament, is going to happen suddenly.

            Not because the missiles launch or because someone cracks the diplomatic code to get North Korea, India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Israel, France, the UK, and the US all on the same page, but because countermeasures developed enough that someone is able to make a complete decapitation play to try and get an early lead on the post nuclear game for primacy.

            It will go down in history as the war of 30 seconds, because that’s how long the mass strike on all the nuclear capabilities of the aggressed and their potential nuclear allies will likely be cut down to.

            As for what the ultimate nuke killer in question will ultimately be. I would bet heavily on high speed long operation time drone tech. Build enough drones that can stay in the air for days or weeks or even months, make them fast enough, and all you would need is enough intelligence gathering to identify all the targets.

                • mozz
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                  11 year ago

                  Enjoy thinking “hey why hasn’t that horrifying short film happened yet, there’s nothing to stop it” every now and then for a few years, until it happens

        • AbsentBird
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          121 year ago

          I think you’re misinterpreting the quote. It’s saying that the pioneers of a warless world (global context) will be the ones who refuse service in current wars. It’s about how a refusal of war is integral to the mindset of a peaceful world. He isn’t advocating for asymmetrical disarmament, but for a global movement for peace lead by conscientious objectors.

          • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
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            111 year ago

            I think you’re misinterpreting the quote. It’s saying that the pioneers of a warless world (global context) will be the ones who refuse service in current wars.

            Oh, cool, if only more citizens of the Allies during WW2 had refused military service, what shining examples of morality they would be to lead the world into an era of peace.

            • AbsentBird
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              61 year ago

              There were many brave and accomplished citizens of allied nations who refused military service and who were integral to victory over the axis.

              Alan Turing broke the German cyphers and was staunchly antiwar. Howard Florey won the nobel prize for the mass production of penicillin and rejected military rank. Einstein himself was an outspoken pacifist, but it was his research that made the atomic bomb possible.

              If the allies had been as interested in forcing everyone into military service as the axis, it’s likely the war would have been even more bloody and prolonged.

              • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                There were many brave and accomplished citizens of allied nations who refused military service and who were integral to victory over the axis.

                Alan Turing

                … didn’t refuse wartime service. The exact opposite, in fact. You… you do realize not all military service is shooting guns, right? Turing’s work was directly related to discovering German movements, and then, killing them. The Brits weren’t codebreaking to find out the Nazis’ favorite color for a Valentine’s day card.

                Howard Florey won the nobel prize for the mass production of penicillin and rejected military rank.

                … okay?

                Einstein himself was an outspoken pacifist, but it was his research that made the atomic bomb possible.

                If the allies had been as interested in forcing everyone into military service as the axis, it’s likely the war would have been even more bloody and prolonged.

                Well, I am glad you agree that the atomic bombs saved many lives, at least.

                • AbsentBird
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                  21 year ago

                  Alan Turing didn’t refuse wartime service.

                  He was part of the anti-war movement while attending Cambridge. By your reasoning Gandhi was part of the military because he volunteered as a medic. Turing was not a soldier.

            • I think you’re thinking about it at a very basic level. In a world where more citizens of the allies refused military service more citizens of the axis powers would have also. Likely leading to the same overall result, but with a far lower death toll.

              • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                81 year ago

                I think you’re thinking about it at a very basic level. In a world where more citizens of the allies refused military service more citizens of the axis powers would have also.

                Oh, right, I had forgotten, cultural movements in one culture automatically take root simultaneously in others regardless of geographical or ideological distance. This is why circumcision is mandatory all across the world. Definitely, the fascists would have followed suit if the Allies proclaimed, over and over again, “Peace in our time!”

                Likely leading to the same overall result, but with a far lower death toll.

                What

                • Oh, right, I had forgotten, cultural movements in one culture automatically take root simultaneously in others regardless of geographical or ideological distance

                  That’s actually a good point.

                  What

                  Simple maths. Less people fighting is less people killing and dieing.

            • @Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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              11 year ago

              Yes if there were move more conscious objectors in the world, there would be less wars.

              If more citizens of the Allies AND the Axis during WW2 had refused military service, the war wouldn’t have been so bloody and wouldn’t have taken that long.

              You need soldiers to wage war, if every soldier refuses, you can’t have one.

        • Flying SquidOP
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          I would suggest that just people in just a handful of countries doing it would be enough. Unfortunately, those handful are the ones causing all the trouble in the world right now.

          • @FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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            161 year ago

            I think you would have to couple the pacifist attitude with physical destruction of the majority of weapons to see results. So long as the weapons exist someone is going to plot to use them.

            • Honestly, even that wouldn’t work. The genie’s out of the bottle so to speak. You could destroy all weapons today and they’d be rebuilt tomorrow.

              • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                21 year ago

                Genie was out of the bottle the moment one human being picked up a stone and bashed another with it. Fuck, look at other primates - genie was out of the bottle before even that.

                People resort to war less as there becomes less incentive to participate in war. The idea that the increased capability to wage war through technology and institutions (like military service) is the driving factor of war is just… fanciful.

  • Roflmasterbigpimp
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, Until some Ork shoots you for fun while you pass them on your bike, in an occupied zone that was once your hometown. Sometimes you HAVE to make a stand to stop wars of aggression.

    • @raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
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      I see no problem here: I refused to serve in the military and did my service in a hospital instead. The Ukraine war did make me reconsider my attitude towards the necessity of a draft army.

      Conclusion 1: I would emigrate and work against my country of origin in a heartbeat if they started a war of aggression (hello Russians) - unchanged from before

      Conclusion 2: I would support with my medical and other skills those defending a non-aggressive country I live in

      Conclusion 3: I might fight, given no other choice. But I would try everything else first, and I would probably not be good at it (fighting) at all.

        • @humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          I remember a video from the first days of the Ukrainian war when Russian soldiers brought their wounded brother and asked for help. And they helped him.

          No guns, no violence, no threatening. Just one human being helps the other one. Unimaginable today.

          Edit: they brought him to a civilian Ukrainian hospital

      • Russian here and here how it will probably go.

        I would emigrate and work against my country of origin in a heartbeat if they started a war of aggression (hello Russians) - unchanged from before

        You will emigrate and either work with a charity organization that helps refugees from the other side (often refusing help to your nationality because they are Orks) or you will start helping the military on the other side, which would seem righteous to you until this military starts to neglect collateral damage.

        I used to work in a charity that helps refugees here in Georgia. I still donate but I was unable to comprehend the very people that we were helping up calling me an occupant.

        When Ukraine started shelling and droning Belgorod, many of my Russian friends stopped military donations.

        I would support with my medical and other skills those defending a non-aggressive country I live in

        That’s actually what will happen, yes. Rally 'round the flag effect is real and those of my acquaintances who happened to be communists in Ukraine have been supporting the military and Zelensky given the communism is banned in Ukraine.

        I might fight, given no other choice. But I would try everything else first, and I would probably not be good at it (fighting) at all.

        And you will either end up with PTSD, screaming in the middle of the night, or dead. Don’t do it unless you really believe that you are fighting for things that are more important than you yourself.

        • Roflmasterbigpimp
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          Uff that’s hard. When the side that people count you to is the aggressor and clearly responsible for so much harm, it’s hard to make people clear that you are not one of them, you are not one of these orks coming to kill them. So all I can say is thank you for not fighting for Russia in this war. I hope one day Russia will be free and can join the rest of the world in peace.

          • The volunteers that I was with had a wise rule not to argue with these people. They are not coming from the best place in the world to make clear judgment or be judged for having extreme views. The center is providing help to Ukrainians who asked for it. It’s just extremely hard and the people who endure it are the heroes of this war.

            can join the rest of the world in peace.

            I’m quite skeptical about this one both because I don’t think that Russia will be easily freed from Putin’s regime and because the world doesn’t seem to be peaceful anymore

            • Roflmasterbigpimp
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              31 year ago

              the world doesn’t seem to be peaceful anymore

              One day they will be. I still have some hope left.

      • Roflmasterbigpimp
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        31 year ago

        Okay, that’s fair. I would also never fight in a war of aggression. My Point was more about defensive wars. Maybe I need to clarify this.

  • Imagine if the World stopped fighting at the end of WWII and the U.S. stopped making any other atomic weapons. Imagine a global “Peace Treaty”.

    Imagine if each country spent their military $$ on water, food, housing, and free medical care for their citizens.

    Fuck them all!!

    The World could’ve been an amazing village of humans living together as friends and have the freedom to roam the globe without the need for a passport.

    One World!

    Fuck every military leader and/or political leader that has screwed over the people of the World.

    • @RippleEffect@lemm.ee
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      71 year ago

      Honestly not sure how easy it is to actually stay out of the military when there’s compelled service in any country. Draft evasion often carries significant risk.

      I appreciate the sentiment, but results will vary.

      • @masquenox@lemmy.world
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        81 year ago

        Honestly not sure how easy it is to actually stay out of the military when there’s compelled service in any country.

        Don’t know about other countries, but in Apartheid-South Africa it was a very difficult thing if you were male, white and not rich. When I was a kid in small-town South Africa there was a conscientious objector living on our street. He was disabled - they had beaten him to such an extent that he was brain-damaged.

        For the rich it was pretty easy - just ask Elon.

      • @Stovetop@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        21 year ago

        I think it’s more the idea that nonviolence isn’t saving them. You can swear off violence, Israel will kill you and your family anyways.

        • @Guydht@lemmy.world
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          11 year ago

          I mean, comparing the west bank which is (relatively) less violent to Gaza, and have a much better quality of life - doesn’t make a good case of proving violence is the answer in that conflict.

  • @ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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    211 year ago

    Well, unfortunately, when you’re poor and want to return to school, or change careers, your cheapest option is the military. Everyone stereotypes the military as offering only combat soldier jobs. The military offers more than just one career option. Want to change careers and become a medic to gain training for when you leave the military and can actually afford medical school? There’s the Army for that. Want to learn how to repair airplanes and jets as an aviation mechanic? There’s the Air Force for that. Everyone will just downvote me anyway. Let’s carry on that anti-military sentiment.

    • Flying SquidOP
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      271 year ago

      Or, hear me out, maybe poor people shouldn’t have to turn to the military as the best way to get out of poverty.

      Maybe colleges and trade schools should be free instead.

      • @uis@lemm.ee
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        81 year ago

        Maybe colleges and trade schools should be free instead.

        They aren’t? Oh, it’s America thing.

      • If only it were free, right? Try having a graduate degree in math and become poor/ostracized from the community due to filing for divorce. Suddenly, your only option for a career change is returning to college, or asking the Army to enlist you. Oh, but weighing 125lbs at the time is too fat for the tape test, they don’t like the fact you’ve had an organ removed, and you’re old by that point with kids. Yes, college should be free. It should also be free to change your name and immediately have all your records updated to match that new name, so you can start over in life without any discrimination.

        • Flying SquidOP
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          171 year ago

          I have no idea what you’re even talking about. You’re saying divorced people with mathematics degrees get ostracized from some sort of mathematics community and thus can’t get jobs? That’s utter nonsense.

          And yes, you have to go back to college to change careers if you want a career that takes an education. What does that have to do with the necessity of joining the military if you’re poor?

          • It isn’t just the math community in my local area, it’s the whole community. Everyone is hell bent on looking perfect and maintaining a pristine image. They can’t risk endorsing a colleague, or community member that has filed for divorce.

            • @areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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              101 year ago

              Which country do you live in? This sounds like something that could never happen in the UK or US as divorce is extremely common. I’m pretty sure you would have to have done something bad in order to be ousted here. Like abusing your partner would do it, not just divorcing them.

              Also legally changing your name is fairly easy, I am sure if you talked to your University you could get them to update the records. Chances are though it would show up in a background check.

              • I live in the United States.

                My spouse abused me and there are police reports that show the abuse, plus a restraining order against him.

                I already changed my name once, out of tradition, because I wanted to have my husband’s last name after marriage. It was an absolute nightmare to change my last name. Many background reports don’t even show my marriage record. One of them listed me as “German” under the box that said “race”. I’m not even German. I’m mostly Scottish and Irish. You know who is German? My mother-in-law. She was actually born in Germany and changed her last name after marriage, too. Also, my sister-in-law had the same last name after my husband’s dad adopted her. She has criminal records. I now have to worry about my mother-in-law and sister-in-law having their records be mixed up with mine. Thankfully none of the criminal records have ended up on my report by mistake. The major issue is the federal government not linking my married name to my maiden name to fully ahow all of my vital records. It’s annoying. The state, or the feds, are either really slow, or they just slack on record keeping/reporting.

                • @areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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                  41 year ago

                  I’m mostly Scottish and Irish.

                  Were you born in USA? If so I think actual Scottish and Irish people would be annoyed about you calling yourself Scottish and Irish. Also just because some of your distant ancestors were Irish or Scottish doesn’t mean you don’t have German heritage, they could well have descended from German ancestors themselves. In fact it’s pretty pointless trying to resolve race down to countries, especially without DNA evidence, and it’s mostly a social construct anyway.

                • @uis@lemm.ee
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                  You describe it in such way, that when compared to changing name in Russia, in latter changing name looks like calling a taxi.

            • Flying SquidOP
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              Sorry… you have a math community in your local area?

              And do you have evidence for this bizarre idea that when someone gets divorced, the entire academic community ostracizes them?

    • @Dasus@lemmy.world
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      111 year ago

      That’s pretty specific to the US.

      Not exclusive, but.

      We do conscription here, and we do it because we live next to Russia. I consider myself a conditional pacifist, but I do hold a rank in the army and would go to defend my country against Russia.

      I would want global demilitarisation, but as long as autocrats hold militaries as powerful as Russias, North Korea’s and others, it just doesn’t seem too practical. Also, I don’t trust the US with theirs, but unless the Russian trolls get through enough to bother the election (with their “oh don’t vote Biden” bs, yes he’s a shit ruler as well but compared to Trump he’s not a fucking fascist) and Trump wins, I will be very concerned.

      So I don’t shit on the military, and support Einstein’s take on the subject, but it has to be simultaneous globally or at least start with the scarier armies.

      If all “good” countries just voluntarily completely disarm, the shit ones will abuse it to no end.

      Just look at Gotland. Sweden basically demilitarised it ~2005 or something in the name of Baltic cooperation and international trust. Russia instantly started spying on the island and even testing how close they can get their bombers.

      Now Sweden has rearmed it, AA-guns, a few tanks, several hundred soldiers.

      I wish they didn’t have to do that, but we can’t trust countries with leaders like Putler. Or Trump, for that matter.

        • @Dasus@lemmy.world
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          51 year ago

          Thanks. Or “hooah” as I believe the saying is on that side of the pond.

          I’m just very nervous about the fact that if a WWIII does break out, the losing countries might utilise their nukes. And as much as I enjoy the Fallout universe, I wouldn’t like to live in one.

          “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” — Albert Einstein

      • @uis@lemm.ee
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        11 year ago

        Isn’t NK’s military just rebranded China’s?

        I wish Putin and his oligarchs will be sent to Hauge sooner.

        • @Dasus@lemmy.world
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          31 year ago

          Isn’t NK’s military just rebranded China’s?

          I wouldn’t trust either one, tbh.

          I wish Putin and his oligarchs will be sent to Hauge sooner.

          In a more just world

        • Isn’t NK’s military just rebranded China’s?

          No. They come from two very distinct brands of communist ideological thought and are sharply divided on a host of issues particular to 20th century communist organizing. In fact, its something of a sticking point between the two countries. In the fine leftist tradition of purist infighting, NK leadership and Chinese leadership insist the other side did it wrong.

          I wish Putin and his oligarchs will be sent to Hauge sooner.

          I’m sure they’ll arrive shortly before Netanyahu and some time slightly after Maduro, Assad, and Abdourahamane Tchiani.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      your cheapest option is the military

      That was truer 60 years ago, when enlistment promised WW2-era benefits and minimal wealth disparity meant your dollar stretched significantly farther. Today, over 1.2M veterans are on some form of food assistance. Military health benefits have been privatized to the point of comic relief. The old GI Bill and housing benefits have been whittled down to a small recruitment bonus and some tax exemptions. The pay for your first five years of service is well below what you could earn in the private sector and there’s virtually no path to advancement outside of the officer’s corps.

      But what military recruiters lack in financial incentives, the make up for with bald face lying. You get sold a pack of lies about “job experience” in technology fields, when most of the actual work is menial labor (professional jobs are heavily outsourced to private military contractors). You get promised a package of benefits that are nearly impossible to claim, even assuming you make it all the way through your term of service with an honorable discharge. You’re subject to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse for which you have no recourse. And also there’s the question of your proximity to a combat zone, which cares a litany of additional perils.

      The military is not a cheap option, it is a high stakes gamble. Its possible to come out the other side better off than a peer who worked a trade job or took debt to get through community college. But the tail risks are enormous, and the benefits are increasingly illusionary.

      Let’s carry on that anti-military sentiment.

      Its a shit job for suckers. Even assuming you’re a rah-rah keyboard commando, you’ve got no interest in actually taking these jobs. That’s the whole reason why poor people are targeted. They’re not being offered a sweat heart deal. They’re simply the most misinformed and desperate group of people and therefore most likely to fall for the bait.

      • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Poor people and teenagers. But there are some options. It’s definitely a minefield for anyone though, and you’re going to step on one if you just trust a recruiter.

    • OBJECTION!
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      1 year ago

      Totally get that. I was also poor after school so I became a hitman. Just a few easy murders and I was able to pay for college and get enough for a down payment on a starter home. I know some people don’t approve of it, but it’s important to understand how much of a resource joining the mafia can be for social mobility.

      And not everyone has to be a hitman like me. My buddy is a getaway driver and he’s never harmed anyone and he’s helped me get out of a lot of tight spots. Want to sit in a room messing around with numbers all day? I hear the boss is looking for an accountant. Want to change jobs to patching up bullet wounds after a shootout without going to a hospital to get medical experience? They’ll pay for that.

      Everyone will downvote me too, let’s keep up the anti-mafia sentiment.

      • @uis@lemm.ee
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        31 year ago

        You just said exactly same thing…

        Oh, nevermind, you added accountant.

    • @uis@lemm.ee
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      81 year ago

      Doesn’t your country provide higher education for everyone? Want to be electrical engieneer? Go to university. Want to relair airplanes? Go to technical school.

      • I have already been through college and the next step for me would be to earn a Ph.D. There aren’t many scholarship opportunities for that. There are many opportunities for people who are beginning college for the first time and earning a bachelor’s degree. I was informed that a person cannot return to earn a second bachelor’s degree to broaden their job opportunities. If you don’t double major, then you can’t return to earn a second bachelor’s. So, if I am now more interested in the medical field, then I cannot return to earn a B.S. to nursing and climb the academic ladder again, from there. I might be able to take courses as a returning alumni and use that to knock out the pre-requisites for programs after that, but I don’t know how that is viewed by the professionals in the medical field.

    • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Medical is a horrible example for a couple reasons, first of all they are front line soldiers. They see everything the Infantry sees. Secondly nursing and physician’s assistant degrees have some of the best access to scholarships and loan forgiveness. If you wanted to do something highly technical like fly/repair planes/helicopters then the military shines. Also if you get a commission and work as a logistics officer you can pretty much write your ticket with the delivery corporations after your 6 year commitment. There are a vast array of jobs in the military but anyone looking to pick up technical skills should really ask a veteran first. For example, cooks? they boil a lot of stuff in huge vats. Yes some of them go to culinary school. It probably won’t be you though. Military Police still have to go through the civilian police training pipeline, and police departments prefer Infantry veterans. (Yeah. We know.) IT isn’t teaching you anything you couldn’t pay a few hundred dollars for online.

      The list goes on, if you want technical training from the military do not trust the recruiter; ask a veteran. They’ll know who to ask if they don’t know the answer themselves. Obvious alibi for people in poverty who just want that anything going ticket to get out of poverty.

  • @buzz86us@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If there is a draft for some oil resource war then I’m out of the US… We have all the tools to replace it I’m not fighting for some mega corp’s right to exploit the environment

  • /home/pineapplelover
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    61 year ago

    Iirc we used to have some kind of deal to cut down nuclear weapons but that those numbers have climbed up.

  • @Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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    41 year ago

    Soldiers are a “solution” to a problem they themselves cause.

    If there were no soldiers, we wouldn’t need any either.

    So any person who wants to become a soldier is just a fool. There are of course those who have no choice, but the ones who do and still chose that life definitely are idiots.

    • Flying SquidOP
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      71 year ago

      So any person who wants to become a soldier is just a fool.

      Or they’re desperate. I can’t speak for other countries, but in the U.S., if you grow up in poverty, the military is one of the only ways out. Especially if you don’t have the academics or athletic talent to earn a really good scholarship.

      It sucks.

    • I don’t know about you, but my country borders Russia. What do you suggest I do when the first tanks roll across the border, the first glide-bombs start raining down on the city, and the first occupiers come to take my father, mother, sister and girlfriend for “interrogation” in a cellar? I could choose to run away.