8 ms·

Surprise, surprise, the military-industrial complex is destroying our planet. How people can still support this is beyond me.

by Roxo 7y ago

tim333 7y ago
There are still a few questionable non democratic countries out there that may make it worth keeping a military so as to keep them in check. Russia, China, Iran and the like.
- izacus 7y ago
  And destroying the whole planet with pollution of the most expensive army in the world is going to help this how?
leaveyou 7y ago
When was the last time the "people" were asked if they agree with the size of their country's army ? EDIT: we agree to disagree but my impression is that when it comes to army and security services the tail is wagging the dog almost everywhere - not only in US. Any congressman can be presented with classified information which with the right interpretation can justify basically anything and the said congressman will simply ignore the public will.
- bkohlmann 7y ago
  At least in the US, every 2 years. Congress funds the military and determines its size.
  - brlewis 7y ago
    Just to close the loop on this and connect back to "the people": Congress funds the military. The military funds large corporations. Large corporations fund congressional election campaigns. And "the people" base their votes off of campaigns.
    - zip1234 7y ago
      Congress wants to fund the military, especially when their are bases in their own state. That means lots of dollars taken from elsewhere in the country and spent in their state.
- Voloskaya 7y ago
  How is this different than any other topic? People get asked their opinion on this every time they are asked to go to vote. Support candidate that aren't promoting an isolationist and/or world police agenda for example.
- CalRobert 7y ago
  Every election when they choose to support candidates who have stated policies regarding the military, really.
  - cf141q5325 7y ago
    In a defacto two party system with both parties agreeing in general that a large military is needed and see interventions to topple governments as a time honored tradition.
  - clarkmoody 7y ago
    Spoken as if the establishment doesn't actively pick which candidates the people get to "choose" from.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
mc32 7y ago
I think you have to balance that against not preventing instability around the world. What would it look like if China, Russia, Iran and many others were unchecked and we let them do whatever they wanted... Now, the current admin is cutting back on involvement. Some candidates call for more interventionism. That we’re retreating from “our duty” to be international police, essentially. So what is it?
- ssijak 7y ago
  I think you are living inside a big bubble. When was the last time China showed military aggresion outside its borders, especialy on the other side of the world? US doing the “checking” around the world left countless people dead for nothing, and a lot of countries ruined. Not to mention trillions od dollars spent on financing that. US complain about Russia meddling with US elections (through 150k worth of Facebook ads lol) but then proceeds to overturn number of democratically elected governments around the world. Hipocracry much?
  - spoovy 7y ago
    China is constantly showing aggression in the South China sea, outside of it's borders. Amazing how people can post with such confidence on something they clearly know literally nothing about.
  - griffinkelly 7y ago
    China is showing force against Taiwan: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3004049/taiwan-blasts-china-reckless-and-provocative-fighter-jet https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3004049/tai... China is building islands all around the South China Sea: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2133483/china-has-built-seven-new-military-bases-south-china https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/21... China now has a presence in Africa too: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/africa/pentagon-accuses-chinese-blinding-djibouti-based-u-s-pilots-lasers-n871096 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/africa/pentagon-accuses-chinese...
    - 7y ago
readme 7y ago
I'm sure Russia and China would love if we dialed it back a bit! Of course, then our pollution will just be displaced by theirs. Then, if we all do it, aliens will arrive and they'll pollute the planet when they destroy us. I know a lot of people think aliens would have sufficiently advanced technology, that we'd be defenseless. I'm not so sure about that. We have nuclear weapons...
- martin_a 7y ago
  You really need to get yourself checked.
ryanmercer 7y ago
>How people can still support this is beyond me. Because it prevents foreign troops from attempting to land on U.S. soil and attack us, it also gives us means to take most air and ocean-based attacks out long before they get near the continental United States. With the exception of 9/11 (which wasn't actually military but does seem to have been state-sponsored to some degree), we've gone the better part of 2 centuries without hostile military action on the continental United States. Because it has provided jobs for many of us and our families. My mother retired from DoD, I have no less than 2-dozen friends that served in Afghanistan and/or Iraq and many more that are/were guard/reserve, my aunt's husband retired from the USAF and then went to work as a contractor for them, one of my half-brothers was in the Navy and even served on a sub, one of my aunts was USCG reserve, from my grandfathers (Army Air Corp, Navy) back we've fought in every single war since the War of Independence, my godfather was Navy UDT, the guy I owe my sobriety to is a purple heart carrying 18D. Several members of my Lodge are veterans, several members of my Ward are members, several people in my office are veterans or are married to them, the founder of my company that employs 425k people is a Vietnam-vet Marine and a lot of our pilots are former military. Several of my friends were able to get college educations thanks to the military, my mother's father had multiple heart surgeries over the years thanks to the VA, etc etc. Because space exploration, GPS and literally every other type of satellite our civilization relies upon, effectively all nuclear technologies (power, medicine), advanced prosthetics, handheld radios, RADAR, airliners, digital photography, the internet, etc etc so on and so forth are all direct results of technologies developed by various branches of the U.S., and foreign, military branches? I mean, without the U.S. military, you wouldn't even have safe and reliable ocean shipping. The United States Navy and United States Coast Guard patrol international shipping lanes and are the largest deterrent to piracy (which is a multi-billion dollar economic loss annually)
ionised 7y ago
It's as if people don't consider Generals Smedley D. Butler and Dwight D. Eisenhower as authorities on the subject when they warned against the racket of the military-industrial complex. It's depressing and utterly pathetic that we refuse to listen to wise words because our primitive monkey feelings don't jive with the advice they gave.
gerytu 7y ago
Our true enemies are our governments. They exist because we give them power. We give them power because they teach us to fear.

Surprise, surprise, the military-industrial complex is destroying our planet. How people can still support this is beyond me.

by Roxo 7y ago

Surprise, surprise, the military-industrial complex is destroying our planet. How people can still support this is beyond me.

tim333 7y ago

There are still a few questionable non democratic countries out there that may make it worth keeping a military so as to keep them in check. Russia, China, Iran and the like.

izacus 7y ago
And destroying the whole planet with pollution of the most expensive army in the world is going to help this how?

leaveyou 7y ago

When was the last time the "people" were asked if they agree with the size of their country's army ? EDIT: we agree to disagree but my impression is that when it comes to army and security services the tail is wagging the dog almost everywhere - not only in US. Any congressman can be presented with classified information which with the right interpretation can justify basically anything and the said congressman will simply ignore the public will.

bkohlmann 7y ago
At least in the US, every 2 years. Congress funds the military and determines its size.
- brlewis 7y ago
  Just to close the loop on this and connect back to "the people": Congress funds the military. The military funds large corporations. Large corporations fund congressional election campaigns. And "the people" base their votes off of campaigns.
  - zip1234 7y ago
    Congress wants to fund the military, especially when their are bases in their own state. That means lots of dollars taken from elsewhere in the country and spent in their state.
Voloskaya 7y ago
How is this different than any other topic? People get asked their opinion on this every time they are asked to go to vote. Support candidate that aren't promoting an isolationist and/or world police agenda for example.
CalRobert 7y ago
Every election when they choose to support candidates who have stated policies regarding the military, really.
- cf141q5325 7y ago
  In a defacto two party system with both parties agreeing in general that a large military is needed and see interventions to topple governments as a time honored tradition.
- clarkmoody 7y ago
  Spoken as if the establishment doesn't actively pick which candidates the people get to "choose" from.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

mc32 7y ago

I think you have to balance that against not preventing instability around the world. What would it look like if China, Russia, Iran and many others were unchecked and we let them do whatever they wanted... Now, the current admin is cutting back on involvement. Some candidates call for more interventionism. That we’re retreating from “our duty” to be international police, essentially. So what is it?

ssijak 7y ago
I think you are living inside a big bubble. When was the last time China showed military aggresion outside its borders, especialy on the other side of the world? US doing the “checking” around the world left countless people dead for nothing, and a lot of countries ruined. Not to mention trillions od dollars spent on financing that. US complain about Russia meddling with US elections (through 150k worth of Facebook ads lol) but then proceeds to overturn number of democratically elected governments around the world. Hipocracry much?
- spoovy 7y ago
  China is constantly showing aggression in the South China sea, outside of it's borders. Amazing how people can post with such confidence on something they clearly know literally nothing about.
- griffinkelly 7y ago
  China is showing force against Taiwan: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3004049/taiwan-blasts-china-reckless-and-provocative-fighter-jet https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3004049/tai... China is building islands all around the South China Sea: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2133483/china-has-built-seven-new-military-bases-south-china https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/21... China now has a presence in Africa too: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/africa/pentagon-accuses-chinese-blinding-djibouti-based-u-s-pilots-lasers-n871096 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/africa/pentagon-accuses-chinese...
  - 7y ago

readme 7y ago

I'm sure Russia and China would love if we dialed it back a bit! Of course, then our pollution will just be displaced by theirs. Then, if we all do it, aliens will arrive and they'll pollute the planet when they destroy us. I know a lot of people think aliens would have sufficiently advanced technology, that we'd be defenseless. I'm not so sure about that. We have nuclear weapons...

martin_a 7y ago
You really need to get yourself checked.

ryanmercer 7y ago

>How people can still support this is beyond me. Because it prevents foreign troops from attempting to land on U.S. soil and attack us, it also gives us means to take most air and ocean-based attacks out long before they get near the continental United States. With the exception of 9/11 (which wasn't actually military but does seem to have been state-sponsored to some degree), we've gone the better part of 2 centuries without hostile military action on the continental United States. Because it has provided jobs for many of us and our families. My mother retired from DoD, I have no less than 2-dozen friends that served in Afghanistan and/or Iraq and many more that are/were guard/reserve, my aunt's husband retired from the USAF and then went to work as a contractor for them, one of my half-brothers was in the Navy and even served on a sub, one of my aunts was USCG reserve, from my grandfathers (Army Air Corp, Navy) back we've fought in every single war since the War of Independence, my godfather was Navy UDT, the guy I owe my sobriety to is a purple heart carrying 18D. Several members of my Lodge are veterans, several members of my Ward are members, several people in my office are veterans or are married to them, the founder of my company that employs 425k people is a Vietnam-vet Marine and a lot of our pilots are former military. Several of my friends were able to get college educations thanks to the military, my mother's father had multiple heart surgeries over the years thanks to the VA, etc etc. Because space exploration, GPS and literally every other type of satellite our civilization relies upon, effectively all nuclear technologies (power, medicine), advanced prosthetics, handheld radios, RADAR, airliners, digital photography, the internet, etc etc so on and so forth are all direct results of technologies developed by various branches of the U.S., and foreign, military branches? I mean, without the U.S. military, you wouldn't even have safe and reliable ocean shipping. The United States Navy and United States Coast Guard patrol international shipping lanes and are the largest deterrent to piracy (which is a multi-billion dollar economic loss annually)

ionised 7y ago

It's as if people don't consider Generals Smedley D. Butler and Dwight D. Eisenhower as authorities on the subject when they warned against the racket of the military-industrial complex. It's depressing and utterly pathetic that we refuse to listen to wise words because our primitive monkey feelings don't jive with the advice they gave.

gerytu 7y ago

Our true enemies are our governments. They exist because we give them power. We give them power because they teach us to fear.