Every male in my family served in the armed forces, and my mother served in the WACS- yet I know that soldiers are generally trained to kill. They are trained to do other things as well, but the primary duty of a soldier is to kill. That fact destroyed my father, who was gentle, and very young, when he idealistically signed up to fight in WWII. That war destroyed him, and I have no doubt he thought he was a serial killer (or just a really big killer) for what he did in that war- because he felt overwhelming guilt, and he was only doing his duty in a "good" war.
While Jacob's comments were provocative, they certainly seem to me to be supportable, if you look at the military as a killing machine (which, imo, is what it is). Of course the moniker "serial killer" applies to any army- was Jacob saying it only applied to our army? I didn't read that post all that carefully- but I do remember the point about Mao, because I've always been fascinated by Mao. The Mao point is separate from the serial killer thing, imo. I realize you think the two things are intimately connected, but I don't agree with you. |
