Since it's hard for me to view conscription as anything other than human slavery, I'd be pretty much ethically bound to not only dodge the draft, but also discontinue paying taxes and work daily towards an end to the draft. But, it's easy to talk tough when the situation doesn't exist. The war in Iraq is pretty despicable to me, but I don't spend an inordinate amount of time fighting to end it...though I have given over $2000 to pro-peace candidates for office this year alone. It's far less than I could be doing, I suppose.
Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
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Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#12I'm curious to hear about the people that say no. Duty to your country? What makes me consider yes is the idea that war is an essentially human experience that may not exist for much longer, as we become more and more peaceful as society becomes more globalized. It is certainly not a good or romantic human experience.
Duty & self accomplishment.
I admire your sense of duty, but want to play devil's advocate for a second.
Should a slave continue to be enslaved out of a sense of duty to their master? Should a kid brought up in a religious family choose to remain in that faith merely out of a sense of duty?
It's curious how patriotism seems to instill a sense of duty in rational minds where even religion can find it tough to stick.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#13Do college and grad school deferments count as dodging?
Ask an expert of five deferments - Dick Cheney.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#14Last years that we had the mandated military service in my country, a lot of people were choosing "substituroy social service". I didn't because I didn't consider that I had any moral reason not to serve. Neither had most of people that were choosing it anyway, but that's another story.
In war time it would have been a very different matter. I won't pretend I have the faintest idea of what I'd had done if I'd been an american.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#15After dodging the draft in college for 4 years, I enlisted in 1972. Because back then a white boy with a college degree wasn't going to end up in a rifle company.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Duty & self accomplishment.
I admire your sense of duty, but want to play devil's advocate for a second. Should a slave continue to be enslaved out of a sense of duty to their master? Should a kid brought up in a religious family choose to remain in that faith merely out of a sense of duty? It's curious how patriotism seems to instill a sense of duty in rational minds where even religion can find it tough to stick.
It's interesting that people are comparing the draft to slavery. Aren't wars fought to avoid being enslaved to the enemy.
I think modern wars are less clear cut but certainly for WWII Brits signed up to avoid slavery under the hun.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#17Do college and grad school deferments count as dodging?
Only if you ever want to run for high office. High being a senatorial seat or the Presidency. The issue is that there is bound to be a Kerry, McCain, Murtha etc when the time comes for you to run. Meaning you would have to search for a state without Ivy league war heroes, or opt out of being an office holder. I think in our generation, though, that less heady decisions will impact our future lives and careers. I chuc…
you're probably right about the future of search and people's words coming back to bite them.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I admire your sense of duty, but want to play devil's advocate for a second. Should a slave continue to be enslaved out of a sense of duty to their master? Should a kid brought up in a religious family choose to remain in that faith merely out of a sense of duty? It's curious how patriotism seems to instill a sense of duty in rational minds where even religion can find it tough to stick.
It's interesting that people are comparing the draft to slavery. Aren't wars fought to avoid being enslaved to the enemy. I think modern wars are less clear cut but certainly for WWII Brits signed up to avoid slavery under the hun.
If the people of a country are in serious danger of being enslaved by an enemy, chances are that many people will voluntarily join the army. An unpopular war of choice, on the other hand, may struggle greatly to raise as many voluntary troops as the government desires, and this is a circumstance where conscription is both most likely and most questionable. In WW2, British men not only "signed up" but were conscripted, but in this case I think you rightly allude to the fact that it was called for under the circumstances; there was a real danger of much greater evils than conscription being visited on the British people if the Nazis were to triumph. But since the thread started with a question about Vietnam, I think it's worth considering the smallness of the possibility of the Vietnamese achieving the enslavement of the American people or anything of the kind at the point in time when conscription was instituted for the prosecution of that war.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
I admire your sense of duty, but want to play devil's advocate for a second. Should a slave continue to be enslaved out of a sense of duty to their master? Should a kid brought up in a religious family choose to remain in that faith merely out of a sense of duty? It's curious how patriotism seems to instill a sense of duty in rational minds where even religion can find it tough to stick.
It's interesting that people are comparing the draft to slavery. Aren't wars fought to avoid being enslaved to the enemy. I think modern wars are less clear cut but certainly for WWII Brits signed up to avoid slavery under the hun.
I was comparing patriotism to slavery, not the draft per-se. The concept of feeling duty for "one's country" seems very weird when you look at it with some detachment. In a very literal sense, my loyalties end at my family, let alone my town, county, country, planet, or whatever.
In any case, modern wars are far less clear. In terms of this specific post, no-one from Vietnam was getting ready to invade or enslave the US or Europe. It could be argued Vietnam was a necessary show of force to demonstrate that the West wouldn't allow the USSR to mark its mark all around the world, but it'd be a tenuous argument at best.
Re: Poll: Would you have dodged the Vietnam draft?
#20I'm curious to hear about the people that say no. Duty to your country? What makes me consider yes is the idea that war is an essentially human experience that may not exist for much longer, as we become more and more peaceful as society becomes more globalized. It is certainly not a good or romantic human experience.
I was in the army after high school, albeit Canadian, and I don't think my choices would have changed if a war was on or not.