Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit
genocidicbunny | on: Leak Exposes 41,000 Homeland Security Workers–Including Undercover ICE Agents
> They can choose to not be soldiers but not everyone will be in a position economically to ignore the possible benefits. Miltary service is a strong path to escape poverty especially in the US.

Adding to this, if you're in the peacetime military and have a long contract, and congress or the executive orders the military to deploy somewhere, those soldiers won't even have much of a choice. As long as you're under contract, if the military says jump, most often all you can respond with is "how high?"

Computer0 | parent
So we should ignore the atrocities of people who sold their soul for cash because they sold their soul?
genocidicbunny | root | parent | next
In that same light, all of us programmers sold our souls for cash to make the Facebooks and Flocks and OpenAI's of the world. Don't throw stones when you live in a glass house.
Computer0 | root | parent
Yeah I think those people are morally objectionable. I can defend every second of my history.
croon | root | parent
While I'm some degree of a pacifist, it's tough to argue against the concept of a defense army, in the face of human nature. Defense in the larger sense also has to mean (preventative) intervention, for example world war 2 might have ended very differently unless the US joined.

I also recognize that the US has perverted this concept countless times since with blatant imperialistic motives, it does however still not break the concept of a just responsive military force.

TL;DR: They're not selling their souls if they (mistakenly) trust elected officials to work for the will of the people and only deploy for just causes.

couchand | root | parent
How can anyone look at hundreds of years of US imperialism with rose-colored glasses anymore? Who is really misguided into thinking the US army is defensive in nature? You have constructed a beautiful straw man.

Fortunately the Nuremberg principles rescue us here. Following orders is no excuse for abdicating a moral responsibility.

loading story #50290147