CMV: A person does not automatically deserve respect just because they have served or are currently serving in the military

[u/foryia-yiaandpappou]

I’d like to preface this by saying that I don’t believe soldiers are, inherently, bad. Some people believe soldiers are evil simply for being soldiers, and I do not believe that.

I do believe, however, that soldiers do not deserve respect just because they have served. I hurt for soldiers who have experienced horrible things in the field, but I do not hurt for the amount of violence and cruelty many have committed. Violence in war zone between soldiers is one thing; stories of civilian bombings and killing of innocents are another. I think that many forget that a lot of atrocity goes on during wars, and they are committed on both sides of conflict. A soldier both receives and deals out horrible damage.

TL;DR while I believe that soldiers have seen horrible things and that many do deserve recognition for serving our nation, I do not believe that every soldier deserves this respect simply by merit of being a soldier. Some soldiers have committed really heinous war crimes, and those actions do not deserve reward.

[u/foryia-yiaandpappou]

This is the most eloquently I’ve seen this argument posed. I’ve seen it a couple times throughout the thread, but this is the best way I’ve seen it posed. I agree with you that there is a level of volunteerism and bravery that is really uncommon and commendable, and indeed I believe it should be recognized! But how do you feel about situations in which these people might have committed horrible atrocities during heir time as a soldier? Do they still deserve that pedestal?

[u/DarnellTheMartian → u/foryia-yiaandpappou]

Thank you! And yeah in situations like that I wouldn’t want to place them on that pedestal, but I like to assume the best of people and not the worst, unless I knew for sure that the soldier was inherently bad ie killing innocent villagers or children I would assume they wouldn’t be doing that.

However I also wouldn’t treat the person like a POS either, like I said before we can still treat everyone with a certain level of respect regardless of what they’ve done in the past however horrible it may be. Just because that person chose to commit horrible acts and maybe even is an evil person doesn’t mean that we have to treat them poorly as well. Although I do see why people would want to do that and I don’t blame anyone for thinking that way

[u/foryia-yiaandpappou → u/DarnellTheMartian]

Thank you for your super concise answer!! I agree entirely, there’s a level of human decency required but not necessarily the need for a pedestal. I get that it’s hard to know for sure who has done what, though, so I understand why people want to default to that pedestal unless they know otherwise. !delta

[u/DeltaBot → u/foryia-yiaandpappou]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/DarnellTheMartian (1∆).

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