Military Drafts: What would you do?

[HSW]

It's easy to say " I would enlist" now knowing that there is practically no chance

of being drafted. Faced with the mess that was Vietnam I am willing to bet

that a LOT of people would not be so glib with their response. I would go

if drafted but I would not be singing the National Anthem while going.

I would be one pissed off cranky MF...

[twa]

Did he simply live by it because it was most effective for the situation though?:evilg:

Maybe you can answer what choice he would have made in the Civil War?

Circumstances influence choices and tactics chosen.

Obama is a good example of that today.

[AsburySkinsFan]

Did he simply live by it because it was most effective for the situation though?:evilg:

Read is material and you'll see. :evilg:

Maybe you can answer what choice he would have made in the Civil War?

Circumstances influence choices and tactics chosen.

Oh no you don't, this is the equivalent to the question of "Who would win Rocky Balboa or Ali?" If MLK had lived back then he wouldn't have been the MLK of the 60's, lack of education, lack or opportunity etc etc etc.

Obama is a good example of that today.

So you agree that Obama is the next MLK. That's a joke BTW.

[twa]

I fully understand, but you also have to at the same time recognize that MLK's non-violent position was not just a tactic, but also an ideal he lived by. So to use MLK's words in the concert of war would be to suggest that the military should employ the tactic of non-violent resistance to the enemy in order to force change. To used his words as a call to arms well, that is placing what one wants in his words and treating his words as an empty jar to which we are allowed to fill with our own content as we desire.

But we do employ non-violent restraint with our military to gain the moral high ground...it is indeed a tactic,one preached in counterinsurgency manuals.

Hearts and minds:)

It is not directed at winning over the opponent (just as MLK's were not),but rather the always significant others...the fence sitters and leaners.

It IS a tactic of defining the enemy and removing any moral justification for their actions.

btw ...I have read MLK's works and examined his actions....I have no doubt how he would choose if he was leader during the Civil War.

[AsburySkinsFan]

btw ...I have read MLK's works and examined his actions....I have no doubt how he would choose if he was leader during the Civil War.

Well, I didn't know you were an MLK expert. Frankly I think that's an absurd statement to make since none of us know how we would have been during the civil war, and its an impossibility to know those things. Now if you said "I believe that I can speculate on how MLK would have chosen" that would be different.

Frankly, I my speculation is that MLK would have taken part in the underground railroad.

But we do employ non-violent restraint with our military to gain the moral high ground...it is indeed a tactic,one preached in counterinsurgency manuals.

Hearts and minds

It is not directed at winning over the opponent (just as MLK's were not),but rather the always significant others...the fence sitters and leaners.

It IS a tactic of defining the enemy and removing any moral justification for their actions.

That's a different tactic, because it is not used against the "enemy" themselves but instead the populace in the hopes that they will not take sides with the enemy. You do not see our soldiers laying themselves at the mercy of the folks who are looking to kill them. MLK put his people at the hands of the "enemy".

[twa]

You do not see our soldiers laying themselves at the mercy of the folks who are looking to kill them. MLK put his people at the hands of the "enemy".

You do see them restrained,which is laying themselves at their mercy.

MLK baited the racists,just as we do by patrolling

[shuler74]

I would try with all my might not to go....heck I cant shoot an animal without feelin bad.

[AsburySkinsFan]

You do see them restrained,which is laying themselves at their mercy.

MLK baited the racists,just as we do by patrolling

That's simply not the same twa, if the US baits those who would do violence to them it is only to draw them out so they can kill them. No matter how you try to play this you will not equate MLK's non-violence to the violence of the military.

[Hunter44]

I would serve and do my duty!

[twa]

That's simply not the same twa, if the US baits those who would do violence to them it is only to draw them out so they can kill them.

Kill,destroy,remove from power,impose your will

You say tomatoe,I say tomato

Try as YOU might you will not equate MLK's non-violent tactics to Pacifism

Do you deny he planned to provoke a violent response to achieve his aim?

[AsburySkinsFan]

Kill,destroy,remove from power,impose your will

You say tomatoe,I say tomato

This is not about semantics there is a very real difference here.

Try as YOU might you will not equate MLK's non-violent tactics to Pacifism

By the narrow definition of pacifism that you are using where Pacifism means total passivity; read door mat. However, that's not the only version of Pacifism just as nuclear war isn't the only version of war.

Do you deny he planned to provoke a violent response to achieve his aim?

Yes, he put himself and others out there to exercise their rights knowing there would be the potential for a violent response, but not to provoke it.

[twa]

This is not about semantics there is a very real difference here.

Of course there is,but the fact remains that they both use violence to achieve a goal....and people get hurt and even die by design to achieve a purpose.

There is a difference in being willing to take a life for a cause and encouraging another to be willing to lose his for a cause.

Of course pain and death can result from both choices.

Both killing for a cause and dying for one can ether be worthless or worthy.

It rather depends on the cause rather than the method chosen.

W/o the violent response there is much less chance of swaying the fence sitters,if it makes ya feel better to think MLK didn't provoke violence go ahead....he knew what he faced"afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house"