this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
1014 points (97.5% liked)
Greentext
6228 readers
1437 users here now
This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.
Be warned:
- Anon is often crazy.
- Anon is often depressed.
- Anon frequently shares thoughts that are immature, offensive, or incomprehensible.
If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I think if you asked the dude he'd admit he was doing it out of self-preservation as opposed to a moral stance.
He's got a fascinating life story: His father was upper class in Russia in the early 20th C. and got drafted into the red army at the start of WW2 as an officer, but got captured by nazis and defected. When Berlin fell his father deserted, married the first German girl he saw and they emmigrated to the USA. My Dad's friend was literally born on the boat over.
His father was highly educated but due to being in the two least popular armies in US history he had yearly visits from the intelligence services. Wasn't allowed to get a good job and spent his entire life shifting chemical drums while the family grew up in poverty in New Jersey.
Self-preservation is a morally acceptable reason to not do something unless a reasonable case can be made that you should do that thing.
It's not cowardly to not throw your life away for no good reason. Unless he had a moral reason to go, he had a moral right to not go.
Conscription produces bad soldiers and it's morally reprehensible to conscript soldiers to invade a country that does not pose a threat to you.
Yeah I broadly agree. Idk when I was younger (and doing a lot more psychedelics) I had this idea that all soldiers were murders and being a conscientious objector was a moral imperative.
I've softened that view the older I've gotten but certain wars, like you point out, such as Vietnam or Iraq where the country isn't posing a threat probably retain that same moral calculus.
It is different when your country is under threat like if you were Ukranian. However I'm not sure what I'd do if I were put in that situation. To be honest I might also try to chase self-preservation over anything else.