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OdiousOutlaw wrote

When it comes to politics, people have this odd obsession with compromise and "lesser evils". Small capitalists do less damage in terms of scale, so they are seen as preferable; it's also easier to "correct" any illegal or unethical small business owner than a corporation. So that means that small business owners are better, in that they're less worse (though, working for them would be a more "up close and personal" experience, which could skew one's opinion either way). You can blame the enlightenment for adding utilitarianism to Western society's already awful Christian deontology. Now we've got this poisonous mindset that less bad = good and that trying to rid the world of bad is naive and tyrannical.

Not as confusing to me as why some "ACAB" US leftists say "not all troops", though.

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lettuceLeafer OP wrote

Honestly Im a little in the not all troops crowd tbh. In the US many children are groomed from a young age to sign the indentured servitude contracts as soon as they are 18 or sometimes even younger.

Especially considering how recruiters explicitly target vulnerable people to groom. I.e. people with no friends, children in abusive homes ect.

I've met some people who just got flat out groomer and once they joined the military they realized how they are against it but cant quit bc they are forced to keep working for the military due to their contract

It's literal child predators preying on the most vulnerable kids to have them agree to be slaves once they hit 18.

Don't get me wrong fuck the US military but someone doing fucked up stuff bc they where literally groomed from a young age to become a slave doesn't say anything about their personal values.

This prob isn't most troops but that still leaves a large amount of people who are moreso victims of the military than actual shitty people. Idk, shitting on victims of grooming and slavery isn't something I'm a big fan of even if they perpetrated something horrible.

Like if you join the US military at 18 and then the next day you decide to leave bc you realized how fucked up it is the military is legally allowed to hunt you down and kill you. Now it's more likely you'll just be enslaved in regular prison in times of non at but still.

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OdiousOutlaw wrote

Yeah, but you've also criticized ACAB before, so you're at least being consistent.

Feels kinda weird to say "fuck the entire domestic arm of US authority" while giving the non-domestic arm a pass.

Like, I'm not gonna throw a fit if someone from whatever countries the US is bombing says that they hope everyone in "our" military dies, that they deserve to die, or the like. I'm also not gonna go out of my way to say that anyone currently in the US shouldn't say "fuck the troops" or anything to that effect.

But, like, if you hate cops and don't care about whatever positives that individuals may do on the job or whatever positive traits that individuals may have; then you should also extend this view to the military because there really isn't much of a difference unless you believe in some form of American exceptionalism.

Basically, "fuck the troops" is every bit about the overall structure of the military in the same way that "ACAB" is about policing.

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halfway_prince wrote (edited )

I haven't seen this comparison drawn before but I think it's really good to see articulated.

The only distinction i would see is that the military service is contained to a short period of time while policing is a life long career. I guess it's easier for me to see individuals making the decision to say "alright if i just sacrifice the next four years so that I can have healthcare, education, some financial stability for rest of my life" rather than "i'm going to commit my entire life to this career and be stuck doing evil shit forever but i guess i gotta eat somehow".

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lettuceLeafer OP wrote

I think ACAB n stuff is a critique of police as a whole and a statement of disliking cops as a whole. I feel the same way about the military and individual troops but due to the differences I think it's important to leave the door open a little to those who where taken advantage of the military in a way that doesn't apply to cops.

There are quite a few veterans I have met and seen online that fucking hate the military despite serving. Well there are probably some troops anarchists can get along with.

It's the troops that fucking hate the military that U can get along with and have some trust in as individuals. The troops who do like the military and individuals I don't really get along with and keep at arm's length.

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existential1 wrote

I'll second this sentiment. The military is shit. You can even say what troops do is shit. But, the way in which the military forces many groups of people of color and marginalized people in-general to receive an education or decent health care through military service is a tragic reality. It's ignorant to act like some people don't literally use military service for their own form of immigration.

The majority of black folks where I live are in the military, and most of them are from the south. If not for the military, they would never have been able to get out of where they came from without an entirely different set of shitty physical, mental, and spiritual risks.

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