• @bleepingblorp
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    21 year ago

    I never said it was an excuse. The first thing I said was that it isn’t an excuse, here:

    First, going to get this straight: I do not support what the US did in Vietnam or really everywhere. I firmly believe those who commit war crimes should be held responsible.

    I was saying that too many of the comments showed a lack of understanding about how military recruitment works, the motivations for joining (if willing), the motivations for complying with draft/conscription, etc etc repeat what I already said.

    My intention was to bring to light some of the nuance of the situation that was barely touched upon, if at all, since otherwise it would’ve been an echo-chamber of people praising PTSD.

    • Muad'DibberA
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      71 year ago

      The first thing I said was that it isn’t an excuse, here

      And then your next few paragraphs go on to sympathize with these “poor imperialists who had no choice.”

      The entire US presence in Vietnam was a war crime, and no imperialist footsoldier is absolved of that.

      My intention was to bring to light some of the nuance of the situation that was barely touched upon, if at all, since otherwise it would’ve been an echo-chamber of people praising PTSD.

      This is what I can’t stand about all of these “nuance”-posts, that their compassion extends not to the victims of US imperialism, but the perpertrators of it. Again, being poor or being uneducated is not an excuse to go kill people and destroy families in other countries.


      You see american choppers in the bright blue sky, hundreds and hundreds of screaming american soldiers drop from it, you look across the field and see the tanks rolling in. You hear a loud explosion and realise that the shrine you have protected for thousands of years with tooth and nail is destroyed by the empire, you come to the realisation that this is very probably the end of your people who’ve struggled to survive all these centuries.You realise that very soon there is going to be a river of blood of your people here; white phosphorus and depleted uranium will be shot very soon, deforming babies for decades to come, and millions of your people are gonna be killed. Your millennia old language and religion will be wiped out, you’re very likely the last of your kind.

      Suddenly, an American soldier kicks you down, puts his foot on your neck and aims his standard ar-15 on the side of your head all while screaming; you realise you’re gonna die, and you won’t have to see the destruction of your community that you fostered so carefully all these centuries for.

      Just before he pulls the trigger, you think to yourself, “To be fair to him, he probably had a low GPA in highschool and didnt have a health-care, those are notoriously hard to get in America”.

      • @bleepingblorp
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        41 year ago

        After thinking about your post, I see where I am wrong.

        Joining out of some form of necessity is one thing, but to have fallen so far as to perform or knowingly enable the actions you’ve described is unforgivable even if your own freedom from prison or family economy is at stake. It was tone deaf of me to even remotely equate those things and my original post was poorly thought out.

        The only point I made originally I will defend is this: We should not be wishing mental illness, homelessness/poverty, or drug addiction on anyone. I refuse to believe this is what Communist justice looks like.

        • Muad'DibberA
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          41 year ago

          No probs comrade, I also agree that we should not be wishing additional suffering on these people, and should provide all the social services, both mental and economic, necessary for them to recuperate and re-integrate into society.

      • @FuckBigTech347
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        21 year ago

        Just before he pulls the trigger, you think to yourself, “To be fair to him, he probably had a low GPA in highschool and didnt have a health-care, those are notoriously hard to get in America”.

        LMAO this is some legendary stuff ;D