• qarbone@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      You’re claiming “forests” (“militaries treat young, enlisted lives as expendable for unnecessary wars”) exist and then pointing at a cardboard standee of a tree you brought as evidence.

      Yeah, you’re right, but you can admit when your attempt at artistry fails your point.

      • vzqq@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        24 days ago

        You’re claiming “forests” (“militaries treat young, enlisted lives as expendable for unnecessary wars”)

        Read my comment again. You are reading things that are not there.

          • qarbone@lemmy.world
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            24 days ago

            Because, like, it’s plain obvious your “run toward a firing machine gun” is a figure of speech.

            I’m curious what you think OP meant by their statement seeing as they claim my interpretation was reading something that wasn’t there. You’re saying it’s not literal and they’re saying it’s not the idea that war wastes lives carelessly. So how should someone read the statement that the military teaches people to run into machine gun fire? It reads as a critique, although I suppose that could be the start of the misunderstanding.

              • qarbone@lemmy.world
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                24 days ago

                It’s about teaching people to disregard their own self-preservation, when following orders. That’s why they say “it scares me”.

                Perfectly valid to fear being compelled to move toward danger.

                But can we agree that: 1) saying “teaching you to run into machine fire” is negative tonally, and 2) you could make the quoted point illustratively, without phrasing it so reductively?

                The most obvious read of the original line is “jarheads being sent to their deaths,” – they told me to, so I’m going to run into machine gun fire – which would obviously receive pushback.

                And that’s saying nothing about the actual philosophies of how to deal with danger, vis a vis fleeing it or neutralizing it.

        • qarbone@lemmy.world
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          24 days ago

          Sorry, I was trying to think of a more reasonable alternative than your literal statement that didn’t make sense.

          Can you please explain what you meant by

          It’s basically an organization designed to take young people and teach them to run toward a firing machine gun when told to do so.

          Such that you think someone who explained that the statement is false is missing the forest?

          • vzqq@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            24 days ago

            Read back your comment. Does it sound like an honest, good faith effort at dialog?

            I’m blocking you now and I’m not going to think twice about this exchange.

            • qarbone@lemmy.world
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              24 days ago

              This is for people that will come after (assuming the whole post isn’t randomly deleted).

              I think my reading of your comment’s anti-military message was reasonable, certainly not mean-spirited. However, I will admit my first comment was more declarative than inquisitive. A more open dialogue might have been “Then what is the forest?”