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A comment on The downside of encouraging ‘the fight’ on the streets of Ukraine. Parent comment

Re:The downside of encouraging ‘the fight’ on the streets of... by 683686285 on Saturday March 05, 2022 @07:38AM (#30567002)
Nobody should be forced to participate in a war. These men (and trans women who the state considers to be men) are being victimized twice. First by the Russian government who brought war to their home, and then again by the Ukrainian government who is forcing them to participate in that war.

While forcing even more people to fight would obviously be even worse, the exclusion of one sex makes it feel worse because of its fundamental unfairness and the sexism it perpetuates. Perhaps it's illogical, but I actually feel better about being from a country with equal conscription where twice as many people are at risk of being forced to kill and die for the state, although I would of course prefer if the state relinquished its claim to its citizen's lives and gave everyone a choice.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The downside of encouraging ‘the fight’ on the streets of... by Brian_K_White on Saturday March 05, 2022 @12:03PM (#30569287)
Being forced to participate in defense is different than being forced to participate in offense.

Defending is like paying taxes. Everyone has to do their part, and the day of payment coming due for enjoying the citizenship is too late to decide "maybe I want to change citizenships".

It's frankly dishonest to try to reduce and equate everything to "forced to participate in war".

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The downside of encouraging ‘the fight’ on the streets of... by 683686285 on Saturday March 05, 2022 @01:00PM (#30569986)
I fundamentally disagree. People don't choose where they are born and don't owe any aligiance to the state that happens to control that territory.

Just because the local mob accepted my protection money and left me alone doesn't mean I have a moral obligation to defend them against a competitor.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The downside of encouraging ‘the fight’ on the streets of... by Brian_K_White on Saturday March 05, 2022 @06:01PM (#30572852)
People don't even choose to be born at all. That isn't an argument.

There is no place one even could choose to live that doesn't have some sort of communal shared structure and resources, which everyone benefits from, and everyone must contribute to, and so "didn't choose" is yet again, not an argument.

[ Parent | on HN ]