I'm in favor of mandatory public service (not exclusively military) but I also don't think a private company should be weighing in on such topics, since it's just a bunch of capital owners preaching about what everyone else should do.
Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
141–150 of 252 posts
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#142Bizarre for them to suggest this right after the US unilaterally launched the most unpopular war in modern history. A war with almost no tangible upside for US citizens, and a war many people think was started on the whims of another country.
What are they thinking lol
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Generally speaking I am a fan of the idea that everyone should be required to do some kind of community service for 2 years once they turn 18. Why? I get the warm-and-fuzzy angle of "instilling civic responsibility", but you're effectively instilling that at gunpoint: the government forces you to do this, else you go to prison. Is that really such an enlightened thing to do? It takes away two years of your life, po…
It also implies that most normal work isn't in the interest of society, which if that were true, would be a major problem on its own. In what sense is 2 years of military service or "community service" strictly better for society than going to school, or working as a waiter, or starting a small business?
The only reason to force two years of service is to reinforce conformity and suppress outward signs of neurodivergence.
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#144Other countries have compulsory military service, for example Finland. Generally speaking I am a fan of the idea that everyone should be required to do some kind of community service for 2 years once they turn 18. Military service would just be one option, could be other kinds of civic engagement. This can really help people feel connected to their society and understand that there is something to show up for. BUT -…
I like the idea of civic engagement / service in theory too, but I feel like the Vietnam war was a demonstration of possible failure modes when draft is in place: a lot of poor kids died, some rich kids allegedly used parental influence to dodge the draft. No incentive for leaders to avoid war while loop holes remain for their own interests.
Also the poor kids started killing the rich kids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragging
A major reason why the draft was stopped is that because when you take a disunified and unwilling populace and start giving them weapons, their target may not be the enemy.
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#145Unless you have popular support behind you, a draft is a great way to make your military less effective. You get a bunch of soldiers who don't want to be there, who may not do their job to the utmost either out of apathy or active malice. It also gives lots of people, who might otherwise passively disagree with your war, a great incentive to actively resist your war and your attempts to force them to fight in it. It…
This is very much anecdotal but the concept of fragging has gone mainstream in my social media feeds. Mostly gen z joking about ww3 when the Iran conflict kicked off
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#146[flagged]
We can’t discuss eventualities on this platform. It has to be a surprise for some people, apparently.
The problem is that you can’t argue against violence if the topic has been banned.
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Generally speaking I am a fan of the idea that everyone should be required to do some kind of community service for 2 years once they turn 18. Why? I get the warm-and-fuzzy angle of "instilling civic responsibility", but you're effectively instilling that at gunpoint: the government forces you to do this, else you go to prison. Is that really such an enlightened thing to do? It takes away two years of your life, po…
What if it didn't delay your education? In some countries an undergrad degree is only three years. I'd take a person with 1 year of civil service + 3 years of a degree over someone with 4 years of a degree any day. Somebody who is confident enough to handle a rifle and throw a hand grenade is way more useful to me than someone who was forced to another literature or geology course. Have someone demonstrate a command…
Who's going to pay for that?
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
> why should they also be able to draft you for some free labor if there's no war or other emergency going on? You can only prepare for a fire before it starts.
Sure, but you also don't keep 1.3 million firefighters idling in case of a really big fire.
Of course you do, thats how fire brigades work!? Though you are somewhat right, its closer to only 1.1 million firefighters across the US.
https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/nfpa-re...
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
People greatly overestimate the number of Vietnam vets who were drafted.
For others' sake, I double-checked: 2.59 million served, of which 648,500 were draftees. Right at 25% Is there a study of soldiers who enlisted but only because their draft number was low? There were substantial benefits to enlisting, because you could choose your branch of service.
It would be more interesting to see those numbers broken down by frontline service. What percentage of the guys actually dying in the jungle were drafted?
Re: Palantir Wants to Reinstate the Draft
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Generally speaking I am a fan of the idea that everyone should be required to do some kind of community service for 2 years once they turn 18. Why? I get the warm-and-fuzzy angle of "instilling civic responsibility", but you're effectively instilling that at gunpoint: the government forces you to do this, else you go to prison. Is that really such an enlightened thing to do? It takes away two years of your life, po…
It also implies that most normal work isn't in the interest of society, which if that were true, would be a major problem on its own. In what sense is 2 years of military service or "community service" strictly better for society than going to school, or working as a waiter, or starting a small business?
Roughly speaking, 2 years of community service should be worth some % of local & federal taxes.
In a developed society, I'm not sure what kind of labor an 18-year old can perform (what I mean is that it would be mostly unskilled labor), that would be better than taxing this same individual later in life, without delaying their education by 2 years.
I suppose there would have to be exemptions for college students as there typically are in such schemes in other countries?