"I don't know whether that's parody or whether that's real," says Ben after watching a TikTok. "Either way, it's the end of our civilization, because some of what this person is saying is absolutely true. Do you think that Gen Z is qualified to defend the country in any serious way — mentally, physically, emotionally? I don't either."
Here's Ben, watching the TikTok:
Now, I think the guy in the video is intentionally and skillfully performing satire of his generation and he intends critique. It's just too good and too funny to happen by chance to some clueless idiot!@ninoto2362306 Gen-Z Is Not Qualified for This...
♬ nhạc nền - Ben Shapiro.fans
Here's the original TikTok, which is by @bacteriababy:
You can find other comic takes on the idea of Gen Z getting drafted on TikTok. There's this:@bacteriababy Gen z is absolutely not getting drafted we have a life to live #genz #draft #genzhumor #tacky #gay #lgbt ♬ original sound - bacteriababy
And this:@xanderkerber Drop and give me ten, queen #genz #drafted #military #fyp ♬ original sound - Xander Kerber
And here's another one by @bacteriababy:@that_man_breck I cant see us getting drafted fr we not serious at all #fypシ゚viral #fyp #viralvideo #army #military #foryoupage #viralvideosofficial ♬ original sound - that-Man_Breck
ADDED: "Social media among many barriers to bringing back a draft, report says" (Military Times).@bacteriababy Gen Z CAN make it in battle yall were basically there!! Wheres my badussy was vets??? #genzdraft #genz #satire #wwiiimemes #badussywar #floptropica #floptok ♬ original sound - bacteriababy
The House passage of its version of the annual defense policy bill this month included a provision that would make Selective Service enrollment automatic. That, combined with comments by Chris Miller, the former acting defense secretary, about his interest in implementing mandatory service have again spurred curiosity and concern over the possibility of a future draft.
Against that backdrop, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS) released a report this week about what it would take to do just that. The 35-page document, titled “Back to the Drafting Board,” contains 11 recommendations pulled from a tabletop exercise run by the think tank to simulate the mobilization of conscripts in a military crisis....
Based on the exercise, it appears that American culture and resistance to the draft in its historical form may present a major obstacle, the report shows. The U.S. public has to believe that the draft is enforceable for mobilization to work, the report’s authors found, and social media messaging could amplify perceptions of inequity or perpetuate disinformation from adversaries....
A viral video of a pop star ripping up a draft notice, or a social media allegation that a local draft board is racist, for example, could quickly turn the tide of public opinion against drafting authorities....
The military... would have to plan and prepare to accept draftees in a way that emphasizes their skills and contributions and does not create the perception they’re “cannon fodder”...
Posts
77 comments:
Draft? Head for the transfer portal, guys!
Like most things in America, if you believe the media about what America is then you are likely to be fooled. The US isn’t Hollywood and GenX isn’t TikTok. Hollywood and TikTok are loud voices, but they are not the majority they and fools think they are.
I find Ben Shapiro interesting. He’s very smart about some things, but he has biases that keep him from being a reliable and trustworthy person. Take this matter. If he was right, then explain Brett Cooper and her audience? She’s one of your hosts, Ben. Heck, your entire platform at Dailywire succeeds because it fills a void not covered by Hollywood and TikTok.
Has Shapiro always looked AI-generated?
Has Shapiro always looked AI-generated
He and Ben Affleck are the only ones I got wrong!
Call him a limp-wristed twink with an addiction to prescriptions, but at least he's aware of his own limitations- and he's quite happy that they make him draft-ineligible. Would I trust him or any standard tranny to crush Ben Shapiro in a boxing match? Absolutely.
At the end of the day, awareness and willpower determines who wins wars. I have news for you: most Americans HATE the Uniparty government, regardless of flavor. They are much more likely to take up arms for student debt relief or to protect Donald Trump, ahead of whatever foreign scheme the oligarchs have in mind.
War is when you have to be pointed at the enemy. Revolution is when you decide for yourself who the enemy is.
Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire have destroyed all credibility they ever had over the Candace Owens firing.
Ben Shapiro pretended it was about "antisemitism" but it was really because Owens was right about several issues like Trump, COVID, the Ukraine War, the Israeli war, and Ben Shapiro was wrong.
Shapiro is a dead brand at this point. He is a neocon who was so wrong about Trump that it is comical. He also supported lock downs and vaccine mandates.
He is really only good for embarrassing dumb college kids and is not a serious thinker.
Ben Shapiro is a dead brand. He is only good for embarrassing college kids.
He has been wrong about almost every major issue since Trump made his entrance and this has led him to make several very poor choices recently.
It's definitely satire. Not the best, but I've seen worse.
Yes, to universal Selective Service registration. Men, women, NBs, everyone.
That quaint document known as the Constitution states that the Central Government has the power to "To raise and support Armies..., To provide and maintain a Navy..."
Start registering the Valley Girls, the Columbia Keffiyeh Klowns, the nose-ring mafia.
Shit's gonna get real.
I don't believe any of this doom saying--boot camp has always been about breaking people down to build them back up again and gen z is no different from earlier generations in any important respect. We are what evolution made us just as much now as 100 years ago.
That said, the whole concept of a draft is silly. It would take the better part of a year to form an effective fighting force through the draft and no opponent strong enough to put us in a position to need millions of soldiers is going to give us a year to raise them. The timelines of modern warfare make a draft impracticable.
There is no Russia to our Ukraine. Certainly not China, which is by far the closest candidate.
Imagine Ben Shapiro with a gun in his hand in battle. I got a laugh out of that image, too.
When viewing any number of videos showing Gen Zers on the fringe doing what they do, I will often use as my catch-phrase, "This is not the generation that is going to storm the beaches at Normandy."
Well...even if I'm joking a bit, it's only a bit. For the most part, I mean it. There are many reasons for it, but let's face it, previous generations were raised in tougher circumstances. But also, previous generations grew up learning about their country, learning to love it, even the warts on it, and were willing to defend their way of life.
The current youngest generations are born into greater wealth than the world has ever seen. Even the poorest among us have beautiful TVs, cable/wifi, car or cars (if they choose to), and more comfort than the middle class in previous generations. There is no sweat other than the stress they put on themselves via social media- striving to look like that beautiful guy or gal, or being told they're not good enough, or wondering if the world is going to end via climate change in the next 2 years. Hell, they don't even intend to have kids. If you don't love your country, and you don't even have a family to defend, what are you going to fight for?
There is not a gut-level love for this country among the generation. So how are you going to get them to fight for the country, possibly offer up their lives for the country, when they're priorities are so far off that plantation as to not even be in the same hemisphere?
I agree with Ben Shapiro on this one. Even though I'm sure it's a satirical post, it's on target. We are fucked. And though I may make light of it in other posts, on other sites, I do believe that we've reached an end here in America. Until we grow men again, we're fucked. Another favorite phrase of mine to pull out when talking about men: You'll miss us when we're gone.
"Yes, to universal Selective Service registration. Men, women, NBs, everyone.
That quaint document known as the Constitution states that the Central Government has the power to "To raise and support Armies..., To provide and maintain a Navy..."
Start registering the Valley Girls, the Columbia Keffiyeh Klowns, the nose-ring mafia.
Shit's gonna get real."
Preach. I want total fairness. I believe in total equity, and if that means enbies, trannies, valley girls, and drag queens get spammed to death by PRC drone-swarms in the Paracels, then who am I to argue with Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity. It's time for Becky to get a taste of the suck.
Btw, did you know they're showing young white guys in military ads again? WWIII here we come. We're back baby!
The next major wars will be fought with robots.
These videos are stupid. This draft resolution is stupid. It is all a distraction.
Take a good look at a Trump rally. Those aren't all grannies yelling USA!
The U.S. military branches are finding it increasingly difficult to fill their requirements given our greatly over-extended commitments across the entire planet. If I had teenage boys as sons today, I would argue vociferously against them from joining any of the U.S. military branches- fuck this government- fuck them all. Don't put yourself or your blood relatives in a position of having to fight for the policies enacted by the present U.S. government- they don't have our interests in mind any longer and probably haven't for at least the last quarter century. If they want to fight a war somewhere, let them try to bring the draft back- make them do it so that minds can be clarified about what we are dealing with.
and does not create the perception they’re “cannon fodder”...
The perception? The best way to avoid the perception draftees are cannon fodder is to not treat them or any servicemember in the military as cannon fodder. Though I do not think our military does that. I'm of the Robert Heinlein school on drafts in that I think they are fundamentally immoral. If the military is having trouble filling its ranks perhaps that is a sign that the conflicts it gets in or looks like it might get in don't strike the average American as a true threat to their country. People will fight if they feel their home is under threat. In the Civil War the overwhelming majority of people who fought for the South were volunteers, something like 90%. And no they didn't fight to protect slavery. Almost all the volunteers were not and never had hopes to be wealthy enough to be slaveowners.
Longterm if the military is worried about enrollment numbers the solution is to fix education so it starts teaching civic virtue and patriotism again. Shitcan all the K-12 teachers who teach America is an evil racist country.
I still hold the belief that when shit hits the fan people step up. You don't really know what you'll do until you're in an emergency situation. COVID demonstrated a bunch of things, good and bad, about modern society. But one positive was that most people wanted to "pitch in and do their part," whether that meant the distancing, the masks or at the ultimate the shots.
There was indeed a national shared sense of urgency that I think cuts against Ben's supposition. We won't know if ANYONE, Gen Z or anyone else, will be equipped until we absolutely need them and America has a history of doing the right thing when faced with a serious threat. People have an overwhelming need to feel worthy and to be part of something great, and to be challenged to excel, and helping defend the country can be a great motivator.
Temujin said...
Even the poorest among us have beautiful TVs, cable/wifi, car or cars (if they choose to), and more comfort than the middle class in previous generations. There is no sweat other than the stress they put on themselves via social media-
6/25/24, 8:18 AM
You're confusing the boheme quarters of urban enclaves with America. I really encourage people who think this to actually go out into "flyover country" and repeat it to the people who can't easily get to a grocery store.
I like to think many Americans are in a pre-revolutionary moment, and they absolutely are, but I'm taken aback at how unready normal people are for what's coming.
Instapundit had a link (https://unherd.com/2024/06/who-will-win-a-post-heroic-war/) to a post on who will fight now that we've fewer spare sons? Not just in the US, but in most countries.
The extreme case here is China, with its fertility rate of 1.1. President Xi is, by all accounts, a bellicose man who enjoys threatening war against Taiwan. And yet, curiously, in 2020 he took eight months to reveal that one PLA officer and three soldiers had died during the fighting on India’s Ladakh frontier. During that period of official silence, the families of the four were re-housed and provided with welfare payments or better jobs; the officer’s wife who taught piano in a village school was elevated to the Xi’an Conservatory of Music, with a new house to go with it. Each of the four also became the subject of dedicated media campaigns, which portrayed the youngest as cinematically good-looking and the officer as so conscientious that, up in cold Tibet, he would wake up before his soldiers to prepare hot-water bottles for them. Later, the names of the four were added to many highway bridges to remind all of their sacrifice.
Why the grand acts of remembrance? The answer is demographic. Thanks to China’s one-child policy, imposed in 1980 with the abundant use of forced abortions, the four deaths extinguished eight family lines.
And this is not new. The Sullivan Brothers were a big deal in WWII. And what was 'Saving Private Ryan' about?
Mother’s Day 1943 was not a day of celebration in the Sullivan house in Waterloo, Iowa. Just four months earlier, Alleta Sullivan along with her husband Tom, her daughter Genevieve, and her grandson James received official word that all five of her sons had been lost after the ship on which they all served, USS Juneau, was sunk Nov. 13, 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
"If I had teenage boys as sons today, I would argue vociferously against them from joining any of the U.S. military branches- fuck this government- fuck them all. Don't put yourself or your blood relatives in a position of having to fight for the policies enacted by the present U.S. government- they don't have our interests in mind any longer and probably haven't for at least the last quarter century."
If you have sons or grandsons or great-grandsons, and you love them, you should "argue vociferously" against them joining the US military. Unless things improve drastically - and they won't - the US government represents the primary antagonist of both personal liberty and justice in the United States. The enemy of the people is not across the ocean, it's on the other side of the Potomac.
If you love them, keep them out. I say this as a 20 year US Army veteran. They. Are. Not. Worth. It.
5:30 would have been sleeping in when I was in Basic. Up at 5:00 with the strong possibility that you had skipped one to two hours of sleep because you had pulled various duties (fire guard, assistant CQ) and up even earlier if you pulled KP.
I don't want Generation Z to be drafted, or be asked to lay down their lives for America's corrupt government. I've watched the US waste enough lives in my lifetime.
Currently we are wasting the lives of young Ukrainian men.
When China attacks Kadena and other airports in Japan, along with Guam, and lobs some missiles at Pearl too, as it MUST if it wants to have a chance of successfully taking Taiwan... this chest-thumping about opposing a draft will be as popular as Ward Churchill was after 9/11. That's how it always is.
Blogger Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
"I still hold the belief that when shit hits the fan people step up."
Well, yes, enemy boots on American soil will change things. But to send your child to die for the foreign policy whims of a Harvard, Georgetown or Columbia graduate/professor, that's different.
It's a direct consequence of those same 'elite' not letting the US military win a war since 1946. Do to well, they sabotage the mission.
Vietnam was mostly about the 'elites' demonstrating to the Soviets that they too would send thousands to their deaths with no real goal just to oppose "communism". And the communists won the propaganda war when they got Walter Cronkite to turn the Tet Offensive in the an American loss by his blatant lies from his "news" desk. Imagine that times 1 million on social media.
Mike: "I still hold the belief that when shit hits the fan people step up."
I think you're absolutely right.
Oh, and as an army veteran, I too discourage people from joining up. If nothing else, what happens if you don't support children being sexually mutilated or the trans agenda all together. If that offends someone who has power over you they can screw-up your life. Even a less than honorable discharge will keep you from getting any kind of decent job.
I always try to be careful about accepting what's on the internet and media as something that fact-premised. It isn't. I could compare it to what's around me, what I see in the behaviors of younger people. What I see, I find reassuring - although there are plenty of bums too.
If the draft resumes, and I think it ought to, there will be those whose behavior matches that shown in the satirical video. If our military fails to reform, and keeps appointing men in skirts and butch women to positions of power and policy-making, then yes, the Republic will vanish from the face of the Earth. But: Claiming Tik Tok superiority does not equal a legitimate claim to cultural supremacy. Clicks are not votes.
It would be very helpful if the draft was undertaken in earnest and some institutionalized rigor was applied to young people, because it's helpful to any generation of misguided, mal-educated kids as a way of getting them focused civically, a way of learning respect for oneself and others, and respect for country. Don't forget, it's not too long ago that mal-educated kids were that way because there weren't enough schools, or enough food. Make'em serve 2 years: the first to get into shape, the second to benefit society. We need the Dollar-a-year men again.
First, Ben shapiro is a 5 foot 2 inch dwarf with girly arms. The idea of him serving in the military is hilarious. BTW, ever notice our biggest chicken-hawks are always 4-eyed nerds, women, fatsos, twinks, or old men? Plus, a sprinkling of "Vets" like David French or Vindman who pushed paper during a minor War and act like they stormed Omaha Beach with a bowie knife
Also, noticed that Ben Shapiro has devil ears. Coincidence?
Anyway, the USA is 6.5 trillion in debt, we can't afford a big military anymore. Sorry, all you macho Globalists who dream of goin' toe to toe with Ruskiees over Estonia, or taking on the Chicoms over Taiwan. Ain't goin' happen.
WTI reminds of another truth about the draft. The Vietnam draft brought people into the military that never should have been in it. People that matched the GenZ’r on TikTok in every way. Those people shouldn’t be drafted and utilization of the draft for anything other than protection of the US interior is a bad idea.
If we had a real country, we'd stop illegal and most of the legal immigration, secure the border and institute a year of national service for 18 y/o. They could then "pick the crops" and work in old folks homes etc, and do some service in the military. In return, they'd get some help going to college.
Of course, if we did that, the Globalist elite would use it as an excuse to EXPAND our army back to 600,000 or 1 million and we'd be off to another war - probably against Iran.
So, it'd only work if we had a new power elite, which isn't going to happen.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/
people-surprised-and-worried-uk-army-ad-
showing-exclusively-white-people
If Britons know the score, you can bet Americans do. The idea that Ben Shapiro is going to shame anyone into joining the military is absolutely hilarious.
RCOCEAN II said...
secure the border and institute a year of national service for 18 y/o.
6/25/24, 9:02 AM
Haha! This is the Rishi Sunak National Service policy, and it got him laughed away. Thanks to his idiot leadership, the Tories might actually be supplanted by Nigel Farage!
There is no shortcut to building, or keeping, a nation.
One of the reasons we do not have a national consensus on Ukraine is the lack of any clear explanation from Biden of our "national interest." There are many more reasons, of course, starting with the unaccountability of the people to whom we are handing cash and weapons, but the lack of leadership is a killer to this cause. It's not clear why the urgency went from zero to code red when Russia's behavior in 2014 was essentially the same as 2021, but defending Ukraine wasn't important enough to move quickly before that.
My fear is the Taiwan issue, because if "shit hits the fan" soon, with the same poor communicators and mealy-mouthed weanies in charge America will NOT be motivated to fight China. And Taiwan, unlike Ukraine, is an ally worth defending. What I truly fear is WWIII, which is very likely given Iran Russia China alliance and the open aggression all three actors display. Like others I agree technology alone won't do it and our armed forces have forgotten how to train and arm up for actual ships in the water and boots on the ground war.
We'd have willing recruits, but they'd be signing up more for Omaha Beach than Grenada, to put it in historical perspective.
"WTI reminds of another truth about the draft. The Vietnam draft brought people into the military that never should have been in it. People that matched the GenZ’r on TikTok in every way. Those people shouldn’t be drafted and utilization of the draft for anything other than protection of the US interior is a bad idea."
There are people in the US military who join voluntary right now that shouldn't be in it. Our military has become a giant welfare program. Large numbers of 'volunteers' do so without the proper attitude with an eye toward doing the bare minimum as long as possible till they can get the maximum amount in disability. For a depressingly large number of recruits - even officers - wearing the uniform is just a job.
The responsibility for this multi-decade catastrophe lies directly with DOD leadership, but more so with the political leadership of this country. The number of people that we should be encouraging to volunteer has been dwindling since before The Surge, and the people that have been encouraged are people we shouldn't necessarily want in our military. I know that statement is controversial, but from my perspective it is absolutely true.
In current year America, the draft would amplify this disparity, and an all-volunteer force appears wanting with every passing year. If I was a modern Omar Bradley, I would tear the whole thing apart and rebuild from the ground up, but that's impossible with what's on the horizon.
The 13th Amendment made the draft unconstitutional. Not that any Democrat cares about that.
If the United States of America cannot afford to hire an army, then it will just need to do without one. A draft is simply a 100% tax on a group of people selected for their youth and good health. If it is morally justifiable to draft young men to get killed in Democrat wars, then it is certainly morally justifiable to draft doctors and lawyers and force them to work for minimum wage, simply because they are qualified to perform the desired labor.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
What I truly fear is WWIII, which is very likely given Iran Russia China alliance and the open aggression all three actors display.
6/25/24, 9:20 AM
You forgot North Korea. I was recently shocked to realize how important South Korea is to shipbuilding and electronics production throughout the West. I guarantee the Chinese aren't ignoring them.
It's very likely for the Chinese to issue an ultimatum: all American forces withdraw from South Korea or the PLA gets busy. It's a much better war for China than any amphibious invasion of Taiwan, and it's vital to any ambition of pushing back American influence.
My nephew planned to join the Marines after his high school graduation. His mother (a witch) talked him out of it. I think he would be a much better man today if he had become a Marine.
Blogger Jupiter said...
The 13th Amendment made the draft unconstitutional.
You are forgetting that it has an exception to the prohibition of involuntary servitude for cases where the servitude is part of punishment for a crime. We'll just start a massive prosecution campaign to get a conviction on however many hundreds of thousands, or millions of service members we need. Checkmate Draft-Dodger!
I love human beings.
One day - o no, the birth rate is cratering, we’re going extinct!
Next day - so are we all ready to kill each other in the next war?
Any want to tell me in concrete terms why we need defend Ukraine against Russia, or care about who controls the Donbass?
I'll save time and give the expected answers. We need to stop Putin, because he's just like Hitler, and if don't help Ukraine we'll be fighting him in Miami beach. In other words, we need to wage a defacto preventive war. Its the domino theory all over again. Just like always.
And like always its a weak reason. THere's no reason we cant let Russia have a sphere of influence in Ukraine, like they have in belorussia. And we already have a "Bright line" to discourage Russian expansion. Its called NATO, and if they to invade Turkey, Rumania, Poland, etc. it will be war.
Other than a desire for our power elite to "Play the great game" there has never good reason from a USA standpoint to expanding NATO into the Baltics, Finland, or Ukraine. Its brought us into conflict with Russia, could start WW III, and adds nothing to our defense.
Comes on day Israel Supreme Court rules no draft exemption for ultra-orthodox males, now up to 13% of draft age population and growing. (Projections to 50%)
"Any want to tell me in concrete terms why we need defend Ukraine against Russia, or care about who controls the Donbass?"
Because Russia has untapped resources in 3/4th's of its landmass that are potentially worth twice current global GDP and won't play ball with the West's banks that secretly run the whole fucking show. This has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with raw economics in a world that's getting more and more expensive to exploit. The economic 'carrying capacity' of Western nations is declining, and what the West has always done is expand to new regions to exploit those resources for pennies on the dollar.
But the frontier is closed now. There isn't anywhere to go except those places which remain firmly outside our sphere of influence and they have shit that our banks need to shore up massively over-leveraged balance sheets from 90 years of credit expansion. Defending Ukraine, expanding NATO, economically isolating Russia, and vilifying them within the global framework are all part of a massive campaign to collapse Russia's government and replace it with something that will economically play fucking ball, or do away with it all together.
Russia and China and many others believe their resources and their ability to generate value should be reserved for their people. Heresy.
I'm with Mike on this.
Interesting side note on the Russian artillery in Ukraine.
Russia is buying their artillery shells from North Korea. The quality of these shells is so bad they often predetonate in the barrel of the gun. Injuring the crew and wrecking the gun.
My goodness, so many points.
* Many military volunteers are not fit to serve when they volunteer - that's true. They join - and have ALWAYS joined - because of economic benefit. But until recently (if the sense I get that training has changed dramatically is true), military training changed many of these unfit volunteers physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually. They became better people, and that benefit outlasted their service.
* My objections to the draft are the same as two presented above: that morally it's wrong, and that practically it's unworkable, especially in modern warfare.
* Last weekend we took our daughter and two of her friends boating. The dock situation was such that it was quite a hike from the boat slip back to our car, and all the dock carts were in use. One of my daughter's friends, a rather femme, overweight, out of shape gay guy, picked up the still-heavy cooler unasked and schlepped it all the way alone - and when one of its handles suddenly snapped halfway there, he first apologized for breaking it (which of course wasn't his fault!) and then hoisted it up in his arms and kept walking. Thankfully it appears that a lot of men still step up, even the ones we might consider unlikely.
* Shapiro occupies strange ground. The left thinks he's an own-the-libs bro type, and the right thinks he's variously a woefully out of date neocon or an insufficiently masculine elf they'd like to disavow or a precious parser. I don't think he's any of these things. I think he understands that we're dealing in trade-offs, which - as Sowell gloomily tells us - pleases no one.
* One point he makes is that the left zipped up the Overton window tight so that nothing is acceptable any more - my perception was rather that they've shifted it super far leftward and EVERYTHING over there is acceptable but nothing remotely close to the center is, but the rest of his point still applies - and that, in response, some influential elements of the right have declared that there should be no Overton window. His position is that we DO need societally acceptable discourse and actions - you know, the Constitution (and especially the First Amendment) isn't a suicide pact and all that. But, he says, the influential progressive left and even the mainstream silent right are so far apart on what that societally acceptable window should be that maybe there's no more common ground.
The rainbow military will accommodate these guys, easily. Defend the country with them? Not so much. Shapiro is right.
I'm totally opposed to a draft, but I was surprised how vociferously some people opposed the prospect of drafting both men and women. If things are dire enough that we need to conscript people into service, I don't see any reason why women should be excluded from that.
Doctrev: "The idea that Ben Shapiro is going to shame anyone into joining the military is absolutely hilarious." 9:10 AM
Whose idea is that?
This guy is a huge nerd.
All parody with stinging truths. Those guys are hilarious.
"Plus, I'm mentally ill. I've got like six of these [bottle of pills]. I'm not qualified to carry a gun within 600 yards of anything."
Brilliant. Glad these kids know not to sacrifice their lives to some asshole in DC.
Now only if they could figure out the student debt scam colleges are running.
The uniformity of the draft is essential for social cohesion. Otherwise you have a segment of the population that can advocate military conflict, without personal bodily risk.
Israel’s Army Must Start Drafting Ultra-Orthodox, High Court Rules
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israels-army-must-start-drafting-ultra-orthodox-high-court-rules-0b0419eb
Do you think these people look in the mirror and reflect on just how bad it looks? Goading a government to war and refusing to fight?
Rich said, "The uniformity of the draft is essential for social cohesion. Otherwise you have a segment of the population that can advocate military conflict, without personal bodily risk."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am completely in favor of drafting all Riches, Chucks, Ingas, and DinkyDaus for the sake of social cohesion and putting them at personal risk for things they advocate for.
doctrev @ 09:02 said
"You're confusing the boheme quarters of urban enclaves with America. I really encourage people who think this to actually go out into "flyover country" and repeat it to the people who can't easily get to a grocery store."
I agree with the analysis and conclusion made here.
That stupid old crook former US Rep. Charles Rangel proposed as federal law that the entire enrollment of America's elite preps & highschools as well as the top colleges all be drafted into the Army for infantry service whenever mil force is authorized by Congress. This sounds exactly fair to me. That is what a just society would & should do.
Jamie said...
* Shapiro occupies strange ground. The left thinks he's an own-the-libs bro type, and the right thinks he's variously a woefully out of date neocon or an insufficiently masculine elf they'd like to disavow or a precious parser. I don't think he's any of these things. I think he understands that we're dealing in trade-offs, which - as Sowell gloomily tells us - pleases no one.
Shapiro is an absolutely disingenuous cunt. He has been wrong about everything since Trump announced including and especially Trump.
He sent a spy pretending to be an intern to "work" for Candace Owens.
He has been paying people to write articles attacking other conservative news outlets like Tucker.
The way the Daily Wire operates is Con Inc to the core.
RideSpaceMountain said...
There are people in the US military who join voluntary right now that shouldn't be in it. Our military has become a giant welfare program. Large numbers of 'volunteers' do so without the proper attitude with an eye toward doing the bare minimum as long as possible till they can get the maximum amount in disability. For a depressingly large number of recruits - even officers - wearing the uniform is just a job.
It was like this when I was in.
About 10% of people that deployed ever went outside the wire. The rest cooked food and ran the PX.
The whole thing was about spending money, not waging war.
Deep State Reformer said...
This sounds exactly fair to me. That is what a just society would & should do.
6/25/24, 11:50 AM
Historically aristocrats have been very enthusiastic for such things. This was a necessity to justify their lands and sumptuary privileges during feudalism. Later, their wealth and supposed intelligence made them "natural" leaders capable of buying commissions and keeping the military in line.
Now, of course, all sorts of decadent children are in no position to serve, much less serve well. Hunter Biden is an example, of course, but most "elites" are barely qualified to operate a smartphone, let alone military equipment.
Recruitment pitch: "You're a racist, your country is racist. Risk death to fight for your racist country, racist. And to decrease your chance of survival, you have a diversity C.O."
I, for one, think that making the enemy fight not only our weapons but the whining of our soldat draftees would probably be just as salutary against enemy military cohesion as shooting all their officers as the battle begins.
On high school athletic fields anywhere - east to west, north to south - I'm certain you'd find Gen Z's of both sexes who can do whatever the country needs. TikTok is not all-knowing. It's just entertainment.
I am astonished at those who think the modern army is like WWII where they need infantry. Drafting cannon fodder is nonsense, but recruiting the geeks playing computer games in their mom's basement to use their talent for drone strikes is the future of combat, not GI Joe (Or GI Jane).
Fuhgeddaboudit.
As others have pointed out, it takes many months or even years to make a willing draftee into a useful soldier, and WTSHTF there won't be much time or many willing draftees . . .
Both the Russians and the Ukrainians are seeing a lot of dodging and shirking, and they arguably have good reasons to fight. I'd estimate that a goodly portion (10-15%) of young Americans would be more willing to fight against this country than for it.
Better to avoid the test.
Yancey Ward:
Imagine Ben Shapiro with a gun in his hand in battle. I got a laugh out of that image, too.
I kinda sorta agree with you. However, courage is not defined exclusively in Rambo like characteristics. I have no problem seeing him in a role similar to Desmond Doss.
RCOCEAN II:
Any want to tell me in concrete terms why we need defend Ukraine against Russia, or care about who controls the Donbass?
There's a lot we disagree on but I asked that question on the first posting here about the U/R war and have yet to get an adequate answer.
The Selective Service can assure them they won't be cannon fodder. More likely drone fodder. Drones are cool.
RCOCEAN II said...
Any want to tell me in concrete terms why we need defend Ukraine against Russia, or care about who controls the Donbass?
6/25/24, 9:46 AM
Let me field the real national interests:
1) In practical terms, Russia is a major arms supplier to Hezbollah and Iran. If that continues, national security is hugely imperiled.
2) A large recent flood of immigrants from Russia and Ukraine hate Russia and want it destroyed, partly for historical reasons and partly because they know they can never go back under a Putin government.
3) And of course, October 7th Changed Everything, which means the neos are really losing their minds.
Oh, you meant AMERICAN national security interests? Yeah, even Lindsey Graham doesn't believe the standard boilerplate. And Joe Biden doesn't have the heat to cause this much risk to Europe and the American homeland. Not without some major backing.
The problems with our military are at the top, not at the bottom.
The War Between the States was the first war where we had a draft but not that many were drafted. I wondered found this
According to the US National Park Service, approximately 2,672,341 men fought for the
Union during the four years of the Civil War.164 During this time, approximately only 46,000
conscripts were actually drafted into service for the North
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1470&context=srhonors_theses
WWI and WWII relied much more heavily on a draft. About 70% in both cases.
One thing I have read is that after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a surge of enlistments. That surge declined a week later when Germany declared war on us. A large number of potential enlestees were willing to fight the Japanese, but not the Germans. Basically, the feeling among the majority of the US population was that we had no beef with the Germans. That feeling continued, though at a lower level, even after the Germans finally declared war on us. We then (formally) declared war on them the next day, although we had been at war for several years already.
John Henry
Ben Shapiro lies about his height.
He’s a weasel
I do not see how we can have a draft that does not include women equally with men. If women are exempt, all one has to do is declare themself a woman.
I disagree in general with the idea of a draft. If the pols can't convince people to join, perhaps the cause is not worth fighting for.
As a couple have mentioned, I also don't think that a draft is particular useful for military reasons.
John Henry
LLR-democratical Rich: "The uniformity of the draft is essential for social cohesion. Otherwise you have a segment of the population that can advocate military conflict, without personal bodily risk."
LOL
Yeah, that really worked out well in Vietnam, didn't it dolt?
The all volunteer force was a necessary pre-requisite to building an unparalleled competent fighting force in the 1980's and 90s.
Can anyone imagine how horrific it would be to have to depend on a Rich or a Chuck or a lonejustice or a gadfly in a combat zone?
I shudder just thinking about it.
Besides, as Achilles pointed out, we are already in a scenario where future battles in space, air, land and sea will be drone swarm wars and we are just beginning to understand what that will look like on a large scale.
I still hold the belief that when shit hits the fan people step up.
Depends upon whose shit and where.
JK Brown said...
Instapundit had a link (https://unherd.com/2024/06/who-will-win-a-post-heroic-war/) to a post on who will fight now that we've fewer spare sons? Not just in the US, but in most countries.
At age 69, I have 5 children. Makes me an outlier. From my suburban HS Facebook feed, the most anyone else ever posts about is 3, and the average is <2.
The essay referenced above should be taken seriously. Ukraine vs Russia- Who's the good guy? Neither. The Russians are notably the badder guy, they started it. I'm all for arming the Ukes to bleed the Russkies dry. But not on favor of sending my children or grandchildren to fight someone else's war in which we have no dog in the fight.
The populations of our two main adversaries, Russia and China, are imploding. Not just shrinking, imploding. And they're both tarting to lash out at the nations around them. Reality 101- Taiwan is a nation unto itself, not a part of China. China has almost routine military border clashes with India- and loses. From my view, we have no moral nor economic reason to support Ukraine. But bleeding Russia of manpower and arms at the cost of mere money and arms, well, Why Not? Taiwan? We have both a moral and some very serious economic reasons for supporting their independence. And we can do it without sending manpower. 100 miles or so from one to the other. One lesson from the Ukraine conflict- there will never again be a successful D-Day or Inchon type amphibious operation. Especially not across 100 miles of ocean. Drones are cheap, moving across oceans slow, and in today's world of satellite, such large operations cannot be hidden. Every single vessel would be a sitting duck. TBH, Taiwan can probably produce the drones they need faster then we can.
For a draft to work in a Republic, popular support for a war would have to be widespread. I don't see see any overseas wars where we would take casualties where that's going to be the case. Russia is drafting people- but not in Russia proper. in all their outlying areas. And they're running out of people to draft...
BacteriaBoy is picturing a MASH scenario where he sits about sneering at militarism. The reality is that we may be attacked without warning as happened to Israel and the attackers will simply shoot him if he's in their pathway as they did at the Nova Music festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yYtQJ71Rkg 3 minutes, nice music.
The question I'd like to see him answer is whether anyone should risk their life trying to save him if a similar situation developed here. Maybe types like him could wear a DNR badge, i.e., "Do Not Rescue - I was all about myself and it's only right to keep it that way."
"Otherwise you have a segment of the population that can advocate military conflict, without personal bodily risk."
This is the same guy who supports Joe "Five Deferments" Biden for President. The Joe Biden who voted for the Iraq War, and then his family benefited to the tune of billions rebuilding the housing that he voted to bomb.
The kid makes some good points, though. "Let's just talk."
The thing is that he is the base of support of the regime that is pushing all of this military conflict, and the regime currently in place absolutely loathes the young men who used to sign up, leaving our ships undermanned, and cutting voluntary recruitment to the armed forces in half.
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