chiefohara said:
Im only a reservist, so i can't speak for frontline soldiers.
I nearly got in a fistfight tonight with someone who cheapened what the Irish army does, and belittled their contribution to UN peace keeping mission by labeling them mercenaries.
They broadened their vague assertions to all western armies and then had the gall to lecture me on patriotism, whilst at the same time belittling what little bit i have contributed when they have done nothing. This wasn't someone trolling me for fun, but a genuine arsehole who hates the army but is more manly than them..... how is christ's name do you deal/educate a person like that and not willingly murder them?
He called me a cheerleader, and you know what... fine.... I'll happily laud to everyone the contributions the defence forces make, ill readily admit im only a reservist sandbag scumbag.... A civilian can only contribute so much, but what i can do, i bloody well do. Why should i be ashamed of that, and why should i be ashamed of the Irish army? Why should anyone be ashamed of their army?
The basic truth is that the more prosperous a country and the better the standard of living, the more people dislike the military. When people are safe and comfortable long enough they tend to see that as the default state of being, and everyone else in the world being like them. They tend to forget why their nation is prosperous to begin with and how many nations want to increase their standard of living at the expense of anyone else they can find.
When someone is safe enough to render themselves unaware of how dangerous and messed up the world is, they lose respect for the military, the few things that get through the military tend to become the fault of the military for "provoking the attack". Likewise people become decadent and uncomfortable with the idea of killing people in other countries to maintain what they have, feeling that things could be maintained if they didn't do this.
Not to mention the constant fear that the peace and safety will be shattered, as a standing military and other threats means there is always a chance of being drafted.
In short it comes down to people feeling that if they ignore problems they won't affect them, and the guys dealing with those problems become the bad guys. It's not just Ireland, it's everywhere in the western world.
I'm not sure if I'm explaining it corectly, but the bottom line is that it's not something you can really deal with because it's an "out of context problem". The guys who are anti-military, or get all enraged over violence and collateral damage in other countries, are products of their enviroment and the way they have been raised in peace snd safety. They cannot get their mind around people in other parts of the world being fundementally differant and presenting a threat. They want to leave everything alone, in the belief that in turn they will be left along and things will just keep going on the way they are. You cannot verbally convince such people they are wrong, because they lack the experience to really understand what the world is like. The fact that they probably think themselves quite wordly due to all of the media reinforcing what they want to believe, doesn't help matters either.
The entire first world/western world has this problem to an extent. Ironically it's the price of our own success, and our militaries being so effective overall that people forget why they exist.
At least in the US I've actually thought it might be "fun" to tell the military, homeland security, and other forces to stop doing their jobs entirely for a while, let some major attacks happen, and then get back to business, by way of making a point about exactly why our military exists, and why it does what it does. I'd imagine Ireland is probably in a similar situation overall, but with differant issues, even if it's military is mostly supporting other forces.
