[extropy-chat] all that concerns me is the future of education

[Al Brooks]

Actually, spike, there is not that much real
disagreement on this subject between us. I never
denied the Service could be a good deal for most who
enlist. The point was, as you write in another
paragraph even the older & experienced don't know what
is going on in the world, enlistment-age youths know
even less; being only partially aware of why they are
enlisting and what is occuring in the larger world
they are almost entirely out of touch, they are to put
it bluntly fighting machines, the military is about
reducing the enemy, servicemen are trained to fight,
the purpose of their training isn't exactly
nation-building, peacekeeping, or defending the US
Constitution. In our narrowly-focused nationalistic
world the military is in service mostly of a national
interest, not so much of in a higher purpose-- often
not at all. I don't accept the virtue of it, I go by
Churchill's dictum our nationalistic way is
pernicious, but the totalist (or extreme
authoritarian) enemy is worse. That is the judgment
call, and we don't change our minds every five
minutes, every time the wind blows in another
direction. We accept a bad situation and make the best
of it. It's a fiction, a necessary one, that
servicemen are fighting for truth, justice, the
'American' way, such is a sanitized way of looking at
it. Truth, justice, and all the rest are part of it
but as you know there is a dark, nationalistic side to
it as well. Everyone has a combination of good & bad
intentions, we are in pursuit of truth, justice; but
we are also in pursuit of familial, dynastic, and of
course nationalistic interests as well.
As long as conscription isn't reintroduced my
conscience isn't disturbed.



> > bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Al Brooks
> > Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] all that concerns me
> is the future of
> > education
> > 
> > No doubt they are-- but as Robert Bradbury writes
> > there's more to it.
> > Spike, hope you're not suggesting that an eighteen
> or
> > twenty year old knows what is going on in the
> world.
> 
> 
> Not at all, nor do they need to.  We adults don't
> really know what is going
> on this world either.  Much of what we think we know
> is wrong.  
> 
> Your wondered why anyone would join the military,
> given the risk of death or
> third degree burns etc.  Humans take risk just for
> fun.  I could take you to
> the local rock face where every weekend, young men
> and a few young women
> climb that rock utterly without protective
> equipment, no ropes, no bolts,
> just hands, feet, and skill.  One slip and it is
> over, or possibly
> paralysis.  Every weekend they are out there,
> risking it all just for fun.
> Any night of the week, people are pulled over by the
> constabulary and
> charged with being intoxicated as they attempt to
> guide their detroits.
> Huge risk, taken just for fun.
> 
> In comparison, the risk of being in the military is
> not so great.  The
> numbers of those slain in battle compared to the
> totals, they are probably
> safer in the service than out.  If you wish to craft
> your arguments that 18
> year olds know not what they are being asked to
> fight for, well, I would
> dispute that too.  However if it is a question only
> of risk, we will find
> plenty of takers.  
> 
> If one ignores the service to country aspect of it
> and looks at just the
> risk vs payoff, the military is not a bad deal for
> an aimless young person.
> It carries opportunity to get with the
> establishment, to learn how things
> work, to be part of something significant, option to
> retire after 20 years
> with a pension and plenty of time to start a new
> career, etc.  One could
> definitely do worse. 
> 
> spike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 



 
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