Imperial soldiers be like
5d 15h ago by lemmy.ml/u/yogthos in memes@lemmy.ml from lemmy.ml
America loves thier soldiers until they have to take care of them
So much this. The same people saying "thank you for your service" are the same people that constantly want to cut veteran services. Sure they care when you're a tool for their goals, but why can't you then just instantly become an invisible member of society once you're done?
Oh, you want more?! Wasn't service enough for you? How dare you be traumatized by killing people and having bombs nearly blow you up! Maybe you should be a man.
But maybe I'm just too sensitive about this...
There's no contradiction here. The US military exists to preserve and extend capitalism. Taking care of veterans would be socialist. Being abandoned by the state, as soon as you no longer serve a purpose for generating profit, is the best way to say thank you. It shows that everything you fought for is successful and working better than ever!
Meanwhile, the suckers and loose...err soldiers get the healthcare and support that they deny the average citizen.
Stop soldiering and they take it away.
I don’t like Veteran’s Day and I’ve been called out for that.
I do respect and appreciate veterans for what they’ve done, but I cannot respect or celebrate the military complex that has thrown people into a meat grinder and then discarded them for decades, which is what that day represents to me.
I cannot support these wars, where people are brainwashed, used, then cast aside, to benefit elites and politicians who will never feel that pain and will literally party when dropping their bombs.
Fuck everything about that.
I do respect and appreciate veterans for what they’ve done
WW2 veterans like, sure, but what other US veterans do tou respect for what they've done?
I feel like Vietnam veterans who were objectors could fall in this category. Plenty of them were forced to go. In the end, anyone who was drafted and didn't want to be would have some level of understanding from me.
I taught my son to be a conscientious objector.
I caught hell for that, especially in conversations in my very, very small town where many people sent their kids into this meat grinder.
I told my son he was too good for that, and some locals hate me for that. Like they thought I was saying my son was better than theirs.
No, I just understand the system, and I’m not going to groom my kid to be chopped meat. You don’t have to do that either.
You do you. That’s not beautiful to me, though, e: and my son is the most beautiful thing in the world to me.
Wonderful job, I think that's telltale sign that you're a wonderful parent
fuck your war criminals
i can't think of the last time, if ever, i loved and hated a meme so much at the same time
Yeah, its hardcore
I despise anyone who becomes a soldier of their own free will. The moment you enlist, you accept that you could be obliged to kill, and that you will have no control over whether that killing will be justified.
In other words, you accept the possibility that you could become a murderer.
That's why the US likes to keep a well stocked under class which makes the Army one of the few options to get out of abject poverty.
"I had to join this gang that kills 160 in a girls schools on the first day of our unprovoked war because I really wanted to go to university"
This is what I want to hear in my imaginary court so I can have a laugh while sentencing this fucker to his deserved hanging.
I wonder what would happen if we didn't have a military at all
but think of the stock market!
This is what I look like when listening to the new Gorillaz album.
What kind of fantasy world are you living in?
I prefer that even more
Ah, I see. So when the U.S. bombs another country, it's genocide. But if someone does it to the U.S. it's a good thing? Got it.
The US Empire is an empire, countries opposing the US Empire are presently not imperialist. You're comparing them by abstracting the concept of bombing outside of the necessary context it exists in, ie you're using metaphysics to analyze reality.
Depends on your definition. The U.S. fits the definition of "Informal Empire" pretty well, but it's definitely not an old school empire like Rome or Britain
Imperialism isn't something that exists as a static concept, but functions differently depending on the dominant mode of production. The US Empire absolutely fits the Marxist understanding of imperialism as a specific stage of late-monopoly capitalism.
Imperialism as a concept predates Marxism and isn’t reducible to Lenin’s model. We can debate which framework is more useful, but pretending there’s only one definition isn’t serious.
The processes of earlier forms of imperialism predate Marxism, such as Roman imperialism. The analysis of capitalist imperialism, on the other hand, is most well-understood by how Lenin analyzed it with Marxism. Lenin wasn't invalidating earlier forms of imperialism, but analyzing the specific character of capitalist imperialism, the form that by far matters the most today.
Lenin’s framework is one influential analysis of capitalist imperialism. That doesn’t make it exhaustive. Modern geopolitics also includes state security competition, regional spheres of influence, and non-capitalist power projection.
Marxists have also continued to expand analysis of imperialism beyond Lenin. One such example is Cheng Enfu's analysis of neoimperialism, where imperialist countries have ralied behind a single dominant Empire, the US, rather than compete with each other (though this is falling apart now). Geopolitics isn't limited to imperialism, but imperialism is the principle contradiction driving development in the world today, that being the socialization of global labor struggling against the privatization of the profits made by global labor in the hands of the few in imperialist countries.
Calling imperialism the principal contradiction is a theoretical commitment, not an empirical conclusion. Other schools like realism or institutionalism would identify state security competition or balance-of-power dynamics as primary.
And what are the opposing tendencies in these contradictions?
In realism, the opposing tendencies are expansion of one state’s power and balancing by others to preserve sovereignty. In institutionalism, it’s integration versus fragmentation. Neither requires framing global politics as capital versus labor.
And yet both of these are largely driven by imperialism, as secondary contradictions of the single most important factor in the global economy.
We’re working from fundamentally different priors. I don’t think global politics reduces to a single economic contradiction. I’ll leave it there.
I don't believe it does either, though, just that one issue is primary.
Wont someone please consider the genociders??
We wouldn't see images like the Iranian girl's rucksack smeared with blood.
What do you think the drones are for?
because we wouldn't have the internet. the US military contributed significantly to the development of today's internet.
Would we have the Autobahn if Hitler hadn't built it?
probably with some time delay, the germans love a good race (/s)
apart from that, the military did some significant research into a lot of technology, including airplanes (and rockets), internet, nuclear energy.
You failed to get the point I was making. Just because the military is a driving factor to technological progress, doesn't mean it's a good thing all of a sudden. And all that progress could also have been made by science. Wernher von Braun didn't care who funded his research into rockets.
Good point. But let me ask you this:
Without a military or nuclear weapons, what is preventing other countries from taking advantage at the first chance they get?
Criticize the U.S. all you want. But the country is full of valuable resources that other countries want. Take away the U.S.'s ability to defend themselves and the risk of foreign nations taking advantage will spike dramatically. Nukes are basically the ultimate "don't even think about it" sign.
sorry full of valuable resources? what, corn? dataservers? pedophiles?
the U.S. is not some piggy bank waiting to be cracked. Realistically, the current US military exists to defend America from all the nations it's pissed off by invading them in the past. It's a self-fullfilling system.
I'm talking about big oil and gas production, food and farmland, massive agricultural output and the ability to export it at scale, freshwater and arable land (underappreciated, but increasingly strategic as climate stress rises elsewhere), minerals (some, not all).
And don't forget non natural resources the U.S. has like:
Capital markets: Deep, liquid markets that can fund governments and companies. Money is a resource; the U.S. is one of the main wells.
technology and IP: Advanced R&D, software, aerospace, biotech, semiconductors design, and the companies that sit on them.
Security alliances and military reach: Not a resource in nature, but it functions like one. i It shapes trade routes, deters threats, and sets terms.
The world's reserve currency system: Being able to transact, borrow, and settle trade in USD is a kind of meta-resource. Others want access to it more than they want a mine.
That bundle is why the U.S. stays permanently relevant, for better and worse.
w-what if those foreigners do to us what we do to them
Your conscience is projecting
the U.S.'s ability to defend themselves
If you have nukes and are the only sick fucks ever top use it why do you need to 'defend' yourself everywhere in the world unprovoked.
get fucked with your BS. You're parroting regime propaganda.
Even they at least became less hypocritical in naming it the Dep of War, not defense.
Maybe follow that lead if you want to be a little warcriminal imperialist bootlicker.
Every fucking day there's some fucker online that makes me despise that cancer country even more.
Absolute scum of the earth
They say ignorance is bliss. It must be nice to be as delusional as you and live in a peaceful hippy dippy little fantasy world.
I never specifically said "joining US military is bad", I said joining the military in general is a bad thing. And neither did I talk about nukes, which are the ultimate evil.
I also never demanded to remove the military capabilities of one country, leaving it open for other countries to attack. I never talked about these things, about balance of power, about mutually assured destruction and all these geostrategic aspects of military logic.
All I said was - if you are a person who joins your country's military, I despise you. Period. This is a statement I made completely disregarding all these other aspects you mention, and it is completely logically valid on its own.
Correct. You never demanded to remove the military capabilities of one country.
I said "I wonder what would happen if we didn't have a military", and you made a comment about the little girl's backpack. I followed up with a counter argument.
This is how conversations work.
This is also how they end.
Thats the trick. If a country doesn't have a military and they have something like resources other countries want. The become puppets of the countries that have militaries. The exceptions are small countries that don't have enough of anything anyone wants for others to bother taking it. They don't tend to do so well usually.
It's a race to the bottom.
So what you're saying is... superpower nations shouldn't exist
but they do. And now it is just a game of brinksmanshit
Correct. If there is one, then others have to exist to balance them out. Only with none can we all exist without militaries. And that really should be a goal.
ironically the countries with more natural resources typically have lower quality of life. this is known as the resource curse phenomenon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse
Yeah i'm sure it's a curse, and not centuries of colonialism, imperialism, uneven trade etc etc.
The Third World is not poor. You don't go to poor countries to make money. There are very few poor countries in this world. Most countries are rich! The Philippines are rich! Brazil is rich! Mexico is rich! Chile is rich—only the people are poor. But there's billions to be made there, to be carved out, and to be taken—there's been billions for 400 years! The Capitalist European and North American powers have carved out and taken the timber, the flax, the hemp, the cocoa, the rum, the tin, the copper, the iron, the rubber, the bauxite, the slaves, and the cheap labour. They have taken out of these countries—these countries are not underdeveloped—they're overexploited!
-Michael Parenti
The "resource curse" is just people trying to pretend imperialism isn't responsible. Norway has plenty of oil and they have a high quality of life, because nobody invaded them.
Plenty of these countries had leaders who wanted to use their resources to help the people, but the powers that be, most often the US, didn't want that. And so for example Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran, a peaceful, democratically elected progressive, was overthrown by the CIA, and he was replaced by a monarch who could be easily bribed and would use the oil to enrich himself. And when that monarch caved to domestic pressure and participated in an oil embargo, US support was withdrawn and he was overthrown and the current government came to power.
There's no "mystery" or "curse." It's just imperialism. The story generally goes that these resources were stolen by force during colonialism and remained in foreign hands after independence and the country still functions as a neocolony, leading to poverty and exploitation, or war and instability if they challenge it.
Very much so. So ewhere there is a balance of having enough to be a stable country, but not so much to draw attention. But it's a very small point to balance on.
Not true for the USN. They hand you a contract that you sign. You only have to do what is contained in that contract. To change your job they have to get you to sign a new contract. I was never close to combat, and neither would any other Navy Nuke, though they actually left the school for the fleet. I skipped that step. There are tons of non-combat jobs in the US military that will never be anywhere close to combat. Logistics is why our military works.
That being said, it's worse than you are making it out to be. A lot of the people who signed up for combat roles were looking to kill people before they ever signed the contract.
You join the USN, you help with the logistics, someone you've helped in some way or another presses a button somewhere, a cruise missile is fired, obliterates a target and a few bad guys, some civilians die as collateral damage - to me, you've helped kill these civilians even though, admittedly, you've only played a very minor role. I very much doubt there are any contracts at the USN that 100% exclude that possibility and I'm not giving anyone a benefit of the doubt.
There are tons of contracts in the USN that absolutely guarantee that you will never see anywhere close to combat. All Nukes only serve on Carriers and Subs. Corpsmen (Navy Doctors and nurses) tend the wounded. You KNOW what you are signing up to do before they ever even send you to MEPS for medical testing. The only people that might not have specifically signed up for firing a weapon is whoever launches the missiles that we shoot from our frigates. I don't know if "Gunner" is still a job, but I would assume it is since the Navy has all the big guns.
I can't speak to what happens in the fleet. I went to Navy Nuke school, learned to operate power plants, and they gave me a new extremely lucrative contract to stay there and teach other people to operate power plants.
I also cannot speak for The Army, Air Force, or Marines. Though with the first and third, it's hard to imagine that one wouldn't know that they are signing up to potentially kill people.
I have a good friend that is a cardiologist in the air force. Joined the military when he got into med school to cover his tuition and the get guaranteed residency. He's never been deployed over seas, never been in a war area, and never designed a process or item that has led to an indirect killing. An exception could be if he saved someone that went back to kill someone, but that would be true for all doctors military or not, so that's not a valid comparison.
There are many military jobs that are simple office jobs like accounting. Not everyone of them is linked to battle.
If you think these more mundane jobs indirectly lead to military related casualties, you better start hating on your local grocery store, because odds are they have given supplies to a soldier that eventually indirectly killed someone. Or probably any public service a soldier could use, because indirectly, that may help the soldier kill someone.
The grocery’s job doesn’t rely upon the imperial pillaging of other places to make economic sense. “Non combat roles” in the military do. The military doctor’s job is to get the boys back out doing more slaughter. That’s the point. If they didn’t do that they wouldn’t be doing their job. Other doctors, that’s not the point…it could be some distant effect, sure, but for a military doctor it’s direct. Other doctors see patients who are not involved in imperialist slaughter of innocents. Military doctors do not.
This is like Von Braun saying “I was only an SS officer developing military weapons for the science! I wasn’t like…info it, you know, you can’t hold it against me.” Accountants for the Nazis should have quit, and it’s okay to say they’re awful people and complicit in the holocost. Anyone who works for the US military is complicit in the imperialist crimes of that organization. I’m sorry if that’s you or people you love. If it is, you should do something about it.
Absolutely agree.
I happen to be German, by the way. My grandfather was forced into the Wehrmacht, he tried fleeing the battlefield, he got executed.
Anyone who works for the military enables politicians to wage war. And no soldier will ever be able to 100% prove their actions never led to anyone getting hurt.
Soldiers know and accept that and that's why I despise them.
Your grandfather was very brave ❤️ It’s sad that ordinary people are sometimes forced to choose between bravery and monstrosity. But there it is.
And frankly, us military members are not forced. They can just…have a normal life instead.
Yeah. Why not just lead a normal life.
I wish society would frown upon people choosing to become soldiers like they do upon prostitutes. But instead, all this glorification and militarism makes them think being a soldier is a commendable thing.
In my view, prostitutes should get the medals. They literally make love, not war.
Gather round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun,
A man whose allegiance
Is ruled by expedience.
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown.
"Ha, Nazi Schmazi," says Wernher von Braun.
Don't say that he's hypocritical,
Say rather that he's apolitical.
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun.
Some have harsh words for this man of renown,
But some think our attitude
Should be one of gratitude,
Like the widows and cripples in old London town
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun.
Working for the military makes you a war enabler. Best case. You help making it possible for some government asshole to wage war. Worst case, you become a murderer.
So whether you're in battle or not only decides if you're a murderer or helping murderers.
None of these possibilities are acceptable. Period.
Paying your taxes makes you a much bigger war enabler than the non combat military. And with taxes, you not only enable your country to go to war. You enable other countries to do so too, as your gov pays for weapons to give them. The fact is, noone is innocent. And the people truely causing the wars for thier own interest just want us to blame each other instead of them. Clearly, you are giving them what they want.
If you read my first comment, I explicitly said "of their own free will". I do not pay taxes out of my own free will, so your comparison is invalid.
Um... If they really had a choice, the vast majority would not join the military. There are exceptions of course. But most feel they have no other options. Just like technically you don't have to pay your taxes (you can file a form to have nothing withheld from your paycheck). But it is the best choice if you want to make a living. So still, very much valid.
Feeling you have no other option (despite a lot of other jobs being on offer) and totally not having any other option (because they'll put you in jail for not paying taxes) are two completely different things.
With all due respect, but there is no reason to join the army unless they force you to. Even when Germany still had mandatory military service and they wanted to draft me in 1997, I opted to wipe old peoples' butts in an old people's home instead because that was the only way out. Don't you dare tell me there is no other option.
I'm sorry you were forced into that, but I have mad respect for you helping the elderly instead of joining the military.
Thank you very much for saying that, but in hindsight it was actually a great life experience. I met a man who was 103 at the time, in 1997. So he was 21 years old when WWI broke out. He later joined the German socialist party SPD, he resisted the Nazis and was forced to emigrate, he had such amazing stories to tell.
I think he played a big part in why I became interested in politics, German history and also why I became an antifascist and anti-militarist. Him and the fact that the Nazis executed one of my two grandfathers for "defaitism".
That's amazing, thank you for sharing that
Well, as you say. If you don't pay your taxes, they will put you in jail. So you do have the free will to choose. You could of course also move to a country with a less interventionist military so that your taxes aren't paying for it. In the US, kids from poor neighborhoods have very few job options. We don't have good public transit, so they can only go so far for a job. Moving is usually out of the question expensewise because they are living with their parents already.
For many who end up in combat roles, it is often a choice between making a living via crime or the military. At least with the military they have a decent chance to become a productive citizen after a few years. So it is the better of two bad options.
Others are just not too bright. They have no idea how the military is used. They just hear the words of a sweet talking recruiter telling them how good a person they will be for signing up. It's hard to blame them for being dumb.
I am not saying noone in the military is a bad person. But I am saying that not all are. The US military has like a 50% resign rate. You could say the ones that sign up for a second tour are choosing of thier own free will, with thier eyes open. That I will agree to.
. "Being alive makes you a war enabler. Just fucking kill yourself."
This guy, apparently
Holy reaching Batman. That's quite a reach from serving in the military doesn't ackchually serve the military in some cases to your grocery is probably serving the military.
No wonder yankistanis like getting dominated by your government. Keep kissing that boot though and wondering why the government turned fascist, it's probably the local groceries fault.
they are killing people worldwide because they are imperialistic nazis, not because they are afraid of any consequences related to epstein, because there won't be.
No consequences from the Epstein-class or their puppet politicians, but there could be consequences from people like you and me if we organize a revolution.
Just my opinion but I feel this right here is the real reason they are pushing so hard on AI advancement and online identity verification, along with the general dislike for privacy preserving communication tools (which they'll come for next along with the rest of open source technology). Can't build momentum if they know everything you do.
that's a big if
Sure, so let's start organizing now and make that "if" smaller.
hahah fat chance.
usians are still stuck at "voting for democrats" and "attacking iran is justified"
you'd also have to contend with the fact about a third of the population wants this.
My dude. That's why we have to organize. No one said it would be easy.
then put your money where your mouth is already instead of making excuses.
"Don't worry! I'll come back and be venerated as a hero for protecting Western imperialism. And possibly become a "progressive" candidate for Maine, if I get enough nazi tattoos."
Update:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/platner-sat-lengthy-interview-antisemitic-075439570.html
Platner sat for lengthy interview with antisemitic conspiracy theorist, said he was ‘longtime fan’ of his show
Matthew Kassel Fri, February 27, 2026 at 11:54 PM PST 4 min read
Yeah but the ones that die are "suckers and losers".
(Quote from Pedolf Shitler)
even a broken clock is right twice a day
except if it's an electronic clock
Except if THAT is a 12 o'clock flasher, in which case it is correct about 30 times each day.
Love Pedolf Shitler that’s great. I was using pedolini and the rise of the turd Reich
One of the very few true things he's said.
Born too late to die in the middle east.
Born too early to die in the middle east.
Born just in time to die in the middle east.
USA Imperial boots try not to butcher people. mission: impossible
Every one of these fuckers should skip ahead to the part where they shoot themselves drunk
20 a day become one of the good ones
No you don't understand, they are doing it to get into college! /sarcasm
If we had free college tuition and universal healthcare, there would be no one to fight the pedo oligarchs' wars for them.
Which is why republicans and centrist democrats oppose both free tuition and universal healthcare.
That's an angle that more people should talk about, honestly.
The mistreatment of the American populace isn't just to keep a steady supply of cheap labor for the rich people's investments, it's to keep a steady supply of cheap lives for the government to do their dirty work.
My generation's dead and disabled veterans fell in service to that sweet Iraqi oil. Oh and the Saddam hidden underground meme, can't forget that one!
It's almost like soldiers are not immune to the material conditions that help perpetuate the capitalist empire......?
Historically one of the most important missions for any revolution is to spread class consciousness among the imperialist troops.
I don't really know how people really expect a revolution to be possible while withholding class solidarity from the only people who have military training.
The pedocracy. New term coined.
A tale as old as time. We all need to develop some bone spurs.
No sympathy for willing imperial enforcers.
The media will hype "the troops" while ignoring the fact that "the troops" are being killed for oil, to make billionaires richer.
it's worse that that: a sizeable percentage of the troops know that they're killing innocent people, but doing it anyways because of orders.
some try to make up for it after committing those monstrous acts, but i doubt that's possible since their voices are just as muted as any leftist.
At least 153 girls in the first attack.
American soldiers are scum.
First time I open Lemmy and save a post so quickly.
According to the asswipe Krasnov, the 3 US soldiers that died yesterday were " a great deal for the rest of the world." Fuck him and his illegal war.
This might work for anybody who signed up for the military after Operation Epstein Fury started, but my guess is there aren't going to be many of those.
Most of the rest probably signed up while Biden was president, and thought at worst they'd be going to war to help keep the oil industry profitable.
Trump has been in power for over a year now, so at least a couple of ten thousand new people have signed up since then. And a couple ten thousand more renewed their contracts. Everyone in the US military is part of the war effort and nobody can claim innocence.
Most people who sign up as an enlisted soldier are dumb, desperate or both. Many probably believed the idea that Trump wasn't going to start any new wars. And, to be fair, maybe he wouldn't if the Epstein stuff hadn't been quite so devastating for him.
I don't think many signed up so that they could kill children to help distract from the Epstein stuff.
I understand the message here, but surely the remaining population could push for change while the military part worked down their contracts.
The US millitary has always been genocidal imperialists.
I know the nuance will be hard for some. So I will start by saying that I am very against the actions of our government, and have been since a pretty young.
But, the vast majority of our troops are in the military because it was the best or maybe only option to make a living. And that is the way the government design the economy. They make sure people have no or few other choices.
Now compare what the military is doing to distract from the epstien files to what the billionaire class is doing. Then look at who you work for. Odds are your job in some way supports the very people who made epstien possible. So we are all complicit. Yet we all have little choice but to work. So instead of pointing your anger at someone who just like you is complicit. Point it at the people actually responsible.
The same justification was made by my grandfather for joining the SA and for another two members of my extended family for joining the SS. Honestly, that is exactly what they said when I confronted them as old men.
I don’t know much about the SA. But my understanding was that the SS required a person to be pretty fanatical. So that is a little different than just joining the regular army to be a cook or something. It really would be more of a person by person determination, than a sweeping generalization of everyone who joined the military. There were and are certainly plenty of people who join looking to become murderers and such. But in todays military, that percentage is a lot lower then back there. There is just a lot more jobs that lead to a better career, and are often the only way many people can get to that stable life. This is of course one of the reasons they don't want college to be free. It's thier hook for a lot of people.
The SS did, in its early days, surely have high standards regarding fanaticism and race purity but later on lowered their expectations dramatically... if not on paper then at least in practice.
Those people in my family were not bad people, at least later in life I would categorize then as good men, but opportunism led them join horrible institutions.
Drug dealers and mobsters are often in it because that's their viable option for social mobility. Therefore I will give soldiers the same respect owed to drug dealers and mobsters. All accept the reality of maybe having murder innocents for some rich jackasses too.
Hm, the percent of drug dealers and mobsters that don't have an active combat like role is very very low. But the military has people like doctors and nurses among other very much non combat roles. So it isn't really a fair comparison. And some people join the military to avoid becoming a drug dealer or mobster. It's a step up, mostly because it is legal. And for some, they do one tour and then become productive members of society. That happens far less with drug dealers and mobsters. So at least give them the respect for choosing not to become a drug dealer or mobster.
It is completely fair to to your weazel words that amount to: MY LIFE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT IN THE WORLD AND I WILL EVEN KILL INNOCENTS WITHOUT HESITATION, NOT TO PRESERVE IT BUT JUST TO IMPROVE IT SOMEWHAT. That is what they all signed up for, many soldiers proudly.
Also mobs have a high amount of support personnel too and their master's goals necessitate far less of slaughter of innocent civilians.
Wow, your hands sure were busy shoving words in my mouth. Too bad you didn't try to make any logical points. Guess you just don't have any. And no, mobs don't have anywhere near the percent of support personal that the military has.