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Originally Posted by sixpakistan
Why? Regardless of your personal opinions of either, from a logistic perspective it makes perfect sense.
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Not really. But then logical arguments don't always have just one possible outcome.
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Neither do I. Do you think that made it OK for intelligent, aware people to wave flags and yell about "supporting OUR troops" while they went around the world committing atrocities?
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Are we talking about soldiers or jingoists here? I'm sorry, I thought it was the former.
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I don't think that's analogous to a superior-subordinate paradigm. Ever heard of the Nuremberg defense?
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Fair enough. How about the Milgram experiments? Normal, everyday people were willing to do something that one could reasonably believe was killing someone - a person that they had already met and gotten to know a little, not an anonymous "face in the crowd". But, since they were being assured, and bullied in some cases, by an authority figure, most continued. And this was not in a setting where they perceived some threat from their "opponent". They were hurting someone (or believed they were) simply because an authority figure told them to.
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You don't think any of them are evil?
What exactly do you define as "evil?"
See above, re: Nuremberg defense. At what point do supposedly intelligent adults cease to be responsible for their own actions?
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OK, so some of them may be evil. Just as some Muslims may be evil. However, the vast majority aren't. Just like the vast majority of Muslims aren't. Saying that every US soldier is evil is just as retarded as Ann Coulter saying "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."
Well, to me, evil is masterminding destruction or suffering for one's own gain or pleasure. Malicious leaders are evil. Their foot soldiers aren't necessarily evil - though there may be evil psychopaths amongst them who are capable of inciting evil acts on the ground (cf. Casualties of War, 1989). I'm not justifying immoral behavior. I'm just saying that it's entirely possible for normal people to commit horrific acts without being inherently evil.