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Subject: 
Re: Voluntary, private discrimination (Was: Disparicies in Sentencing)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Tue, 14 Sep 1999 13:09:20 GMT
Viewed: 
2215 times
  
On Tue, 14 Sep 1999 20:37:01 GMT, "Moz (Chris Moseley)"
<moz1@ihug.com.au> wrote:

Mike, while I don't want to get into a debate with you about military service
in general, the issue of "who is the enemy" is a very fuzzy one, and at
various times all sorts of people have been included.

Yup.  And sometimes it's crystal clear.

One issue right now is: if I go to East Timor in an attempt to promote peace,
and refuse to bear arms or defend myself, is the Indonesian Army justified
in having me killed? My whole purpose in being there is to act as an enemy of
the state (the Indonesian one) by bearing witness to their activities. I
am helpless, but only insofar as I choose to be. Kill me or not?

Guess that depends on your perspective.  They'd say yes, I'd say no,
you'd probably agree with me.

Flip side: how can an army work if its members all have the right to withdraw
at any time if they decide that an order is immoral? A lot of military stuff
only works (as far as I can tell) by reflex obedience to orders, and that is
not compatible with holding soldiers responsible in detail for obeying orders.

In most cases, yes.  And in most cases, obeying is almost a reflex.

But there have been some times in recent history when orders should
have been or were disobeyed, and I'm sure there will be in the future.
Those who blindly follow orders may do so out of fear of punishment -
it takes a strong person to disobey because he feels something is
wrong.

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Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Voluntary, private discrimination (Was: Disparicies in Sentencing)
 
Mike Stanley <cjc@NOSPAMnewsguy.com> wrote (...) Mike, while I don't want to get into a debate with you about military service in general, the issue of "who is the enemy" is a very fuzzy one, and at various times all sorts of people have been (...) (25 years ago, 14-Sep-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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