Why do we glorify soldiers and the military?

Maybe not today, but what about a few hundred years down the line? People have been at war for as long they lived in societies, and that's what I mean by people not learning from mistakes of the past. We continue to fight one another - it's just part of the human condition.

Because currently we see each other as aliens .
An example would be the Americans see the Mexicans as aliens

You are some Hippie!!
Cowboys vs Aliens was an amazing film dude!!

Soldiers are only pawns in a game they have no influence over. They join up because of the sense of pride and duty that being a soldier bestows upon them, not because they're murderers looking for a legitimate way to sate their bloodlust.

Idk, I'm anti-war ( ) but it still makes me uneasy when people criticise soldiers. At the very least, their hearts are in the right place, and they believe they're laying their lives on the line for the good of their country.

Perhaps the word "murderer" was wrong; "selfish", perhaps, is more appropriate in this case. Selfish in the sense that they are defending only their own country, rather than thinking about the bigger picture.

I cannot sympathize with those who lay their lives on the line for the good of their own country, but thereby forget to consider the other side. Do they not have a mind, or a conscience?

Especially nowadays, they shouldn't be blind puppets without freedom of thought and expression. Why would they submit to a mini-dictatorship of command?

No excuses from history and biology. We can create mechanisms to stop them, or to continue them.

How? Education. And making changes in deep-wired notions among society. I think, for instance, by teaching kids that war is bad and conflicts can be solved through other methods. Education.

You know, during WW2 and even before that, they used to glorify war in kids' cartoons?

That needs to be reduced, even if very little remains today. It should be abolished.

It would be perfectly possible if there were less cynics around the block

P.S.: I found it disgusting how the British armed forces advertise using social media, Facebook. Kids see that. Kids are encouraged to see the world as a violent place and prepare for it, instead of working towards changing it.

Self-fulfilling prophecies. Man, on Facebook.

Long live Assange!

I know it's a phrase that's been littered around this whole thread, but they are just doing their job.

I don't think any soldier rationalises what they do the way you just did. I imagine they think that they're doing their bit to combat evil or to ensure the freedom of others.

Do you think there's such a thing as a just war? Soldiers - or at least the majority of soldiers, I hope - think they're fighting a just war.

But I assume that EVERYONE thinks they are doing the right thing, including criminal murderers.

However, do you think everyone is right?

Someone has to be wrong, or we live in an anarchy of relativist morals.

Then you're making some pretty mental and idiotic assumptions. I'm sure there's the odd few criminals who think what they're doing is right, but the larger number are doing it because they feel they need to, not because it's right.


I've just read through this thread, you don't want a discussion, you just want people to agree with you. Read this: they don't. Your arguments aren't going to change that, and sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting them down isn't going to stop that either.

Our country has been unconquered for almost 1000 years... yet enough people have tried... didn't happen by magic.

I empathize with everything you said above.

But I wish to add that, were people more conscious of what they were doing, they should take initiative and quit such job.

Just because a job exists doesn't make it alright to exist.

Leading by example.

Do foreign populations push their despots to become freer societies because the West forced them to, or because they saw the success of the West in certain matters?

I don't see how your post contributes with any argument to the discussion.

I've just read through this thread, you don't want a discussion, you just want people to agree with you. Read this: they don't. Your arguments aren't going to change that, and sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting them down isn't going to stop that either.