Military

The forum has been kinda dead so I thought hey why not stir things up with some controversial topic. Namely the military. The profession of a soldier is quite glamorized and idolized. In some on some countries more in some countries less(curiously enough the more recently a country was in a war the less soldiers are idolized) but in all cases the soldier seems to have a special place.

And in all cases like this the reasons are said to be because the soldiers are out there protecting us.

Now objectively speaking this doesn't make sense to me. Now in the past and currently in some less developed countries that may be the case but in reality modern industrialized countries aren't really in danger of being invaded by anyone. Soldiers serve only to enforce their political and economical interests. But even if we accept that soldiers are out there protecting us in theory we have actual people like cops literally protecting our homes and streets. We have doctors protecting our health and so on. And yet they don't get a fraction of the respect and benefits a soldier gets even though objectively they contribute far more to our well being

In fact it's even socially accepted to bash cops and you will always find someone to join you about thrashing the pigs. Same with doctors. You can always find someone to share your complains about how rude a doctor was or how greedy or whatever. But if you try to bash soldiers you will instantly get outrage

And it's not just the attitude of the people but it's actually institutionalized. Now I am familiar with details especially country to country but I am pretty damn sure that neither doctors or policeman are anywhere near as encouraged (both directly financially or with various benefits) as soldiers. Hell I doubt there is a fraction of the holidays,parades, honorings ,stateus or whatever dedicated to them as there are to soldiers

Of course this makes sense logically. Society has to find a way to get people to join the miliatary especially nowadays but is this healthy?

And I am not just talking about underapreaciating other jobs but I am talking about the soldiers themselves. By idolizing them like this it makes criticism very difficult. People just assume that soldier= heroes but this is really not the case. Soldiers are just human beings and like all other human beings there are a shitload of bastards in the military. From what I understand there are an estimate over 10 000+ rapes every year in the military. That's thousands of rapists preying on female personal and yet at best a few hundred of those see anything even resembling justice and this idolization makes things much more difficult to get them

And this is just what they do to their comrades. Can you imagine what these thousands if not tens of thousands of bastards are doing to innocent civilians where they are stationed? And yet a big chunk of society is ready to support them in any case. It doesn't matter if someone rapes and murders woman,children or whatever. If he is a solider they would support him

This doesn't seem right to me. They are many soldiers in the military who really are worthy of being idols. Men who are brave ,selfless and all the good stuff but they are heroes not because they are soldiers but because of their actions. And the fact that assholes and criminals gets the same respect and almost immunity as these man just because they share the title of soldier just doesn't seem right to me

I agree that blindly idolizing soldiers is a bad idea. Just because they put on the uniform doesn't they are a different person. They can be just as likely to do something horrible, kill innocents and rape and other evil shit.

For me I do respect those in the military. Maybe they are not always used to protect us and their are other motivations for sending troops anywhere. However I do respect them for willingly putting themselves in the middle of a battlefield for their country and ultimately for you.

BUt I also think they become an easy target in movies/TV to become the villians. NCIS is an entire cop show revolved around the less then honorable side of the Navy and Marines. The killer or killers are just as likely to be a marine/navy officer then it is to be a civilian.

Of course there is True Blood's Terry storyline. Where they went out and got drunk and ended up killing countless civilians.

Oh and then there is Leverage. Eliot's backstory is one of a former military man who ends up performing wet works and sometime joining that big nasty villian from a season ago.

So as much praise and love the military can get from the public they also end up being protrayed as villians in TV and movies. Whether they were former military or still are military.

As for the Cops. You are right. They should definitely have a lot more respect then they do. but I think if the roles were reversed. Those same soldiers who were praised as heroes would become 'pigs'

The way I see it is fairly simple. Cops get a lot of hate because they are often seen as 'breaking up' the fun. Now of course Cops are not perfect either. So there is still a whole lot of hate towards them because of the actions of a few... or many depending on the city.

But in general people don't like Cops because they are often seen as intefereing with someones idea of fun and of course business. Such things as drug dealing/use prostitution(on the business list) underage drinking and al that.

But this is just my guess. So if the military was patroling the streets instead of the cops. The military would end up on that hate list.

or maybe I dunno.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, they're just people. Not every person in the military is the glorified hero that you see in the movies. Being human, they make mistakes and bad choices just like anyone else. There are scumbag soldiers just like there are scumbag I don't know..pick a lesser profession. But on the other hand, they are doing a job that I know I wouldn't be able to do.

I don't see why someone in the military should get overly extravagant pay, or super special treatment. They know what they're signing up for. They shouldn't be paid any more than the state police would, which is plenty for a family to live comfortably on. Of course if they're deployed and involved in combat, they should be paid more and they certainly deserve a "Thank you" with a hand shake when they return, but I think people get a little carried away with the patriotism.

I dig cops. I've never understood why people dislike them, not to mention the uniform is hot. Of course there are douchebag policemen and women, but not all of them are dicks. Don't break the law and chances are, they aren't going to bother you.
People go way overboard with cops though when they die on the job, way more so than soldiers. We still hear about one who was shot years ago; I think I was still in high school. The man now has a highway named after him and the anniversary of his death is always brought up on the news. There's a park being built for another. Where are the parks and things being built for each of the men(don't think there were any women) from the area who died in Iraq? Wait, I take that back. I think there is a post office named after one. But still.

Unit7 wrote:I agree that blindly idolizing soldiers is a bad idea. Just because they put on the uniform doesn't they are a different person. They can be just as likely to do something horrible, kill innocents and rape and other evil shit.

For me I do respect those in the military. Maybe they are not always used to protect us and their are other motivations for sending troops anywhere. However I do respect them for willingly putting themselves in the middle of a battlefield for their country and ultimately for you.

BUt I also think they become an easy target in movies/TV to become the villians. NCIS is an entire cop show revolved around the less then honorable side of the Navy and Marines. The killer or killers are just as likely to be a marine/navy officer then it is to be a civilian.

Of course there is True Blood's Terry storyline. Where they went out and got drunk and ended up killing countless civilians.

Oh and then there is Leverage. Eliot's backstory is one of a former military man who ends up performing wet works and sometime joining that big nasty villian from a season ago.

So as much praise and love the military can get from the public they also end up being protrayed as villians in TV and movies. Whether they were former military or still are military.

As for the Cops. You are right. They should definitely have a lot more respect then they do. but I think if the roles were reversed. Those same soldiers who were praised as heroes would become 'pigs'

The way I see it is fairly simple. Cops get a lot of hate because they are often seen as 'breaking up' the fun. Now of course Cops are not perfect either. So there is still a whole lot of hate towards them because of the actions of a few... or many depending on the city.

But in general people don't like Cops because they are often seen as intefereing with someones idea of fun and of course business. Such things as drug dealing/use prostitution(on the business list) underage drinking and al that.

But this is just my guess. So if the military was patroling the streets instead of the cops. The military would end up on that hate list.

or maybe I dunno.

Interesting points. I am not that familiar with the ground situation. From what I notice it's the general trend in the internet(at least among americans) is to be far more protective of soldiers then from any others. And even on TV whenever there is a bad soldier they always seem to make it a point about how the good soldiers are still very much worth it

Also an interesting point. I personally wonder if it has more to do with history. USA has been lucky enough not to have a war on it's own soil for long enough for people to forget the true cost. They seem have a more heroic/romantic type of view when it comes to soldiers since to them they are always the good guys. But in other parts of the world you have both soldiers who protect and who come to ,kill,rape,pillage you and burn your home and this is still in living memory so the view might be slightly more cynical. Hmm or maybe it's something else

I dig cops. I've never understood why people dislike them, not to mention the uniform is hot. Of course there are douchebag policemen and women, but not all of them are dicks. Don't break the law and chances are, they aren't going to bother you.

Well to be fair I can't stand cops either despite my previous statements. I guess it's just something your grow up with and you don't even notice

I definitely agree that the term "military" doesn't automatically make someone a hero. With that said I have a tremendous about of respect for those certain individuals that are doing their job in the military. I have a few family member in the army, and it is not easy to be away from family, and put your self in harm's way. Those individuals that cause harm to women and what not shouldn't get praised.

I know some people might not like it, but I freaking hate most cops. I mean I understand that they are doing their job, but sometimes they abuse power. My experience with cops not a good one. Onetime I actually got stopped just because the officer wanted to know if the car I was driving was mine. I just don't like most of them.

I think the reason many people like the military is because maybe we don't see what the military does oversees. Maybe if they were governing us here, then we would dislike them. Or maybe I am just a little biased.