Something that always comes up during these conversations is an accusation that those who agree with the photo are “alienating potential military comrades”
That's because it is true. They are alienating potential veterans. Some of you seem to think you can lead a revolution with a bunch of armchair leftist edgelords posting on sites like this.
There are a lot of angry veterans who have been screwed over by the system and government and a number of them come out anti-war from their experiences and they're looking for something that can help them understand what they just went through. By telling these people to fuck off, yeah, you're alienating potential comrades who would be a lot more useful than just posting on Chapo. The ENTIRE Anti-war protest movement in the 2000s was composed of veterans. I guess those people don't matter?
If you observe the far right militia groups, you'll notice quickly that they target veterans. They do it cause A) They're useful with their knowledge of combat, weapons and machinery, and B) they are looking for answers to why the world is so fucked up.
And I’d like to flip this on its head for a second: what kind of comrade thinks that the needs of the first world and the in group matter more than the needs of everyone else? Do you genuinely believe someone who wouldn’t be a leftist if they had to confront their role in helping imperialism is going to support decisions that benefit groups that aren’t their own? I have no faith in that and I dont see how you could.
The problem with this thinking and many other in this same thread, is that you should be more angry at the system and the people at the top of the food chain that create these bad conditions that drive young people to join the military, rather than ranting about them with Third Worldism revisionism.
I come from the rural south. Most of the small towns here have been de-industrialized and there is absolutely no future for anyone here, unless you are content with working at a dollar store or McDonalds getting paid crap wages. They go into the military to ESCAPE. It's an ESCAPE to them, and they are flat out told it's an escape from their dead end of a future in their crappy hometown.
You could literally make this exact same argument in regards of someone joining a gang and telling them that they're exploiting vulnerable poor people by being part of that gang's criminal operation. People end up taking the opportunities they can to escape something and get out.
That's because it is true. They are alienating potential veterans. Some of you seem to think you can lead a revolution with a bunch of armchair leftist edgelords posting on sites like this.
There are a lot of angry veterans who have been screwed over by the system and government and a number of them come out anti-war from their experiences and they're looking for something that can help them understand what they just went through. By telling these people to fuck off, yeah, you're alienating potential comrades who would be a lot more useful than just posting on Chapo. The ENTIRE Anti-war protest movement in the 2000s was composed of veterans. I guess those people don't matter?
If you observe the far right militia groups, you'll notice quickly that they target veterans. They do it cause A) They're useful with their knowledge of combat, weapons and machinery, and B) they are looking for answers to why the world is so fucked up.
The problem with this thinking and many other in this same thread, is that you should be more angry at the system and the people at the top of the food chain that create these bad conditions that drive young people to join the military, rather than ranting about them with Third Worldism revisionism.
I come from the rural south. Most of the small towns here have been de-industrialized and there is absolutely no future for anyone here, unless you are content with working at a dollar store or McDonalds getting paid crap wages. They go into the military to ESCAPE. It's an ESCAPE to them, and they are flat out told it's an escape from their dead end of a future in their crappy hometown.
You could literally make this exact same argument in regards of someone joining a gang and telling them that they're exploiting vulnerable poor people by being part of that gang's criminal operation. People end up taking the opportunities they can to escape something and get out.
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