i never once saw that fucker sober.
This is what gets to me. I've seen footage of pilots who flew the planes that took Northern Korea back to the stone age. They looked completely haunted by what they'd done once they realized it was wrong. How is it that these men who were almost certainly not Communists show more regret and contrition than some "Socialists"
The funny thing is, I don't even think that joining the military is morally irredeemable. I just hate this "Look, I'm just as much of a victim as the children I killed" attitude. Mike Prysner is an ex member of the Waffen SS and he's dedicated his life to defeating American Imperialism.
Absolutely. I immediately thought of his essay. These people are not misled fools who are brainwashed by propaganda into hating China or joining the military or whatever. They are imperial subjects who knowingly seek out imperial deals and simply find the terms acceptable.
On the notion of "but the propaganda!"
There is far, far more copaganda in the US than military propaganda. Almost all of the top ten shows in the US at any given time for decades have been cop shows.
If "but the propaganda" elides guilt for the military, why not cops? Is it because cops affect you and the military doesn't? I'm open to alternative explanations.
"I had no choice" no the choice you had was to remain poor like the people you murdered who didn't happen to have a Nazi jobs program they could sign up for.
I remember a Twitter struggle session from a month or so ago where everyone was outraged at the notion that they wouldn't be able to see through modern-day Iraq War-equivalent propaganda.
I wonder if there was some kind of famous athlete who sacrificed his career so as not to go do some genocide.
The vast majority of troops in Vietnam volunteered to commit genocide.
Every single one of them could've taken a prison sentence, where they would not die, would not commit genocide, and would not see their friends die.
They went there because they are vermin Americans, and, like you, consider foreigners subhumans and their deaths an acceptable price.
I think if you're a Liberal, it's extremely hard to write a story about how you defeat Fascism because of your ideological blinders. Fascism is an evil that results from a master plan, and when you defeat Hitler, you win and can now reform your way to an equitable society instead of organizing a new one.
One aspect I enjoyed was the presentation of a Fascist society from within that society. I think Triumph of the Will has so thoroughly made Fascism into this grand and serious thing when there were millions of Fascists who spent their days hanging out with their friends and having meals and making jokes. This predominant depiction of Nazis I think turns then into an alien force of things that look like humans but just goose-step and kill people (and the show utilizes that imagery when it depicts the Ishtvalan genocide).
That said, I think it undermines itself with the ending and turns Fascism back into an alien force imposed on humanity, but even then it shows how people can be easily taken in and corrupted by institutions and their propaganda.
Tangential retail anecdote: it always makes me laugh when customers threaten to take their business elsewhere. Make my fucking day, asshole, it's just one less infant for me to babysit. Even then, they'll probably be back once they learn that having a crying fit at the Rite Aid doesn't get them any better results.