31–40 of 111 posts
Everyone acts like military research is obviously evil. Is it really so terrible to research arms for the people who risk their lives keep us safe?
Everyone acts like military research is obviously evil. Is it really so terrible to research arms for the people who risk their lives keep us safe?
This is ultimately a decision that everyone has to make on its own, and it's an ethically complex issue with many facets. My take on it is that if you contribute in any way to the development of a weapon that is used in morally unjustifiable ways, then you're complicit to murder and manslaughter, and you should be aware of that. For example, the US is conducting drone strikes in Afghanistan, which are essentially pol…
Then you need to basically move out of society. Every western country has provided funds to develop or employ some kind of military weapon that has led to the death of a civilian at some point. If you pay taxes or are not actively an anti-government anarchist then by default you are "contributing."
Whether you think your contribution is large enough to warrant complicity or not is just a matter of where you draw the line in your own head.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twitter and Facebook are used frequently to track down foreign combatants to be killed. Should people who work there be shamed as well? In fact, those social media sites have been used to manipulate foreign militant uprisings and sway political discourses (whether in the U.S. or in other countries). Also, people who worked on GPS technology are directly responsible for the GPS-guided missiles that have been fired int…
> Twitter and Facebook are used frequently to track down foreign combatants to be killed. Should people who work there be shamed as well? yes, and not only for the reason you listed (although that certainly is one)
Right down the road from the newly formed and growing DHS alphabet soup of agencies.
Everyone acts like military research is obviously evil. Is it really so terrible to research arms for the people who risk their lives keep us safe?
And "us" refers to exclusively America, <5% of the world. The ones that are seen as dangerous are anyone and everyone in a non-allied country.
Everyone acts like military research is obviously evil. Is it really so terrible to research arms for the people who risk their lives keep us safe?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is it really so terrible to research arms for the people who risk their lives keep us safe? If this was the only thing the weapons were used for, then maybe people wouldn't be upset about this kind of stuff. The same arms will however also be used to extrajudicially assassinate people based on nothing else than their phone signal, in countries we are not at war with; they might be sold to regimes like Saudi Arabia…
Are you sure you want to be unarmed in front of enemy just because someone else may use your weapons unresponsively? Look at Ukraine then. Ukraine exchanged their nuclear arsenal for promises of safety by Russia, Britain, and USA. Is Ukraine safe place now?
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"evil" assume we attach a moral judgment to the people in the military. But personally I don't. I understand why they do it. I understand the cost. I know the pros and the cons. I don't have a hate for people in the military. I'm not even against weapons, after all I go to the shooting range. I just don't want to have anything to do with the activity of war and I'm lucky enough to have life currently giving me the fr…
Yes. But the excessive DoD budget is unconscionable. "We spend more on defense than the next ten countries combined." - POTUS Obama - State of The Union 2016 What makes matters even worse is we're still building (over-budget) fighter jets while our adversaries are focusing on cyber based "weapons." If we have more military but are less safe then something is not what it is said to be.
Everyone acts like military research is obviously evil. Is it really so terrible to research arms for the people who risk their lives keep us safe?
safe from all of those naked starving vietnamese peasants on the other side of the earth?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. But the excessive DoD budget is unconscionable. "We spend more on defense than the next ten countries combined." - POTUS Obama - State of The Union 2016 What makes matters even worse is we're still building (over-budget) fighter jets while our adversaries are focusing on cyber based "weapons." If we have more military but are less safe then something is not what it is said to be.
Oh but that's not a military problem per say as much as an American problem. Most countries in Europe have an army, and the bomb, but we don't do things that way. I think it's important to separate the 2 debates, one is quite universal, while the second one is a contextual issue to solve.
The military's responsibility is to defend the country. If they're buying fighter jets when they should be buying laptops then they are failing to do their duty.