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A comment on Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends in tech. Parent comment

Re:Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends... by ramesh31 on Monday April 04, 2022 @08:38PM (#30913853)
>The flip-side is that with mandatory manpower for military adventurism, politicians and the military leaders who advise them have fewer reasons to temper their aspirations.

That's not really true. Open democratic societies that still practice conscription like Israel for instance, have a much higher level of civic engagement and understanding of foreign affairs amongst the average people. The population is ultimately much less tolerant of macho strong men and war mongering when they know what it looks like in reality.

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Re:Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends... by wolverine876 on Tuesday April 05, 2022 @12:04AM (#30915170)
While I hope that's true, and could see how it might be, how do we know it?

Israel uses their military heavily, so I'm not sure it will provide a great example.

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Re:Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends... by ramesh31 on Tuesday April 05, 2022 @10:19AM (#30919306)
>Israel uses their military heavily, so I'm not sure it will provide a great example.

Take a look at their neighbors. When you're surrounded by people who are ideologically bent on your complete destruction, paranoia is no longer an irrational response.

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Re:Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends... by wolverine876 on Tuesday April 05, 2022 @05:47PM (#30925461)
That changes the discussion from, 'do drafts in democratic countries temper civilian perspectives on the military' to 'is Israeli military policy justified'. Tangents happen, but what do you think of the former issue?
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Re:Why I'm in the Army Reserve – an explainer for my friends... by cjbgkagh on Tuesday April 05, 2022 @01:23AM (#30915561)
Israel? AFAIK Israel is increasingly radicalizing itself. Starting as an experimental European Socialists complete with communes and ending up rather jingoistic. Not an example I would use at all. I wouldn’t put all the blame on conscription as there are many other factors at play, but I also wouldn’t use Israel as an example less war mongering via conscription.
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