As per the board's apparent "soldiers are a sacred cow" policy, it was immediately HoSed by some mod who chose not to identify himself, whereupon the vultures immediately leapt upon it, instead of being split here as it should have been (it is a general comment on the morality of being a soldier, which is only tangentially relevant to the original thread which was about a very specific set of circumstances and one particular soldier).Sokartawi wrote:I think soldiers in fact can be blamed for participating in an unjustified war such as this one Iraq, or Vietnam in the past, or other wars such as that. They knew they would be turned into nothing more then a tool for the government when they signed their contract or swore their oath. They are fully to blame for signing that contract or swearing their oath, selling their soul so to speak. It's their own fault they are soldiers, and it's also their fault if they get sent to a place they shouldn't be in.
As for respect for the job they do, I have none. I respect firemen that risk their lives. But I have no respect for soldiers, because soldiers do not only risk their lives, they risk to take another life, which is unforgivable. As for the people that do not share this mindset, let's turn it to "they risk to take innocent livesand see if you still find that completely acceptable.
However, it should be noted that despite some peoples' wishes to the contrary (or the fact that I personally disagree with her position), the fact that an opinion is anti-soldier does not warrant automatic classification as trolling. It is tactics that determine that, not the opinion itself unless it qualifies as outright hate speech (eg- someone who posts "kill all the Jews" is engaged in outright hatemongering).
Having said that, some people can no doubt generate some reasoned arguments against this position. For example, the outcome-based utilitarian argument would be a good place to start. Nevertheless, we do not automatically classify something as trolling based on political alignment rather than tactics. If you want to argue against her position, do it here instead of being a vulture.