Calling Americans "the most propagandized people on Earth" excuses their actions by deferring blame onto some "brainwashing" force. The reality is that propaganda cannot hypnotize or brainwash people. When people believe lies told by the media, they often do so not because they are hypnotized but because the lies are flattering to their own worldview. People will not "wake up" from this "hypnosis" by being coddled and told that it isn't their fault that they benefit from the empire.
It doesn't have a strong bearing on this question and it also somewhat overstated its case when genuine misinformation exists and is kind of important too.
What type of misinformation could possibly justify people volunteering to fly across the sea halfway around the world to kill people they know literally nothing about though
Perhaps they believe that, if not for the actions of the US military, there would be more 9/11s. It's a bit late to completely stop one such attack when the plane is already in the air over populated ground.
Perhaps they believe the [what we know to be puppet] governments that they fight "on behalf of" are actually the rightful power that seeks to practice democracy.
Who gives a shit what they believe? Who gives a shit if they honestly think they're saving the world from some Marvel supervillain? They're still going and murdering people to serve the interests of the empire. I thought you were the one arguing for the need of material analysis here and cautioning against idealism. Anyone who signs up to kill anyone else (even all of us leftists) is obligated to seek out the fucking truth of the matter. Misinformation is powerful, but reality can still be discovered despite it. "They thought they were fighting the good fight" is perhaps the lamest argument for letting imperial troops off the hook yet.
I think it's borderline a corner case because most troops simply don't give a shit or are horrible chauvinists, but materialism doesn't mean that mental states don't exist, and what you are describing is a failure in personal epistemology, which is a much softer condemnation than most arguments put forward in this thread so long as we don't have this hypothetical marvel kid drafting party positions.
Most people need some degree of re-education, that stupid asshole heartily included. What I am saying is that it's not some deformity of his soul that prevents him from doing pro-social work in the future.
Have you read this short essay before? It offers a materialist analysis on Americans and Westerners being propagandized
https://redsails.org/masses-elites-and-rebels/
Calling Americans "the most propagandized people on Earth" excuses their actions by deferring blame onto some "brainwashing" force. The reality is that propaganda cannot hypnotize or brainwash people. When people believe lies told by the media, they often do so not because they are hypnotized but because the lies are flattering to their own worldview. People will not "wake up" from this "hypnosis" by being coddled and told that it isn't their fault that they benefit from the empire.
It doesn't have a strong bearing on this question and it also somewhat overstated its case when genuine misinformation exists and is kind of important too.
What type of misinformation could possibly justify people volunteering to fly across the sea halfway around the world to kill people they know literally nothing about though
Perhaps they believe that, if not for the actions of the US military, there would be more 9/11s. It's a bit late to completely stop one such attack when the plane is already in the air over populated ground.
Perhaps they believe the [what we know to be puppet] governments that they fight "on behalf of" are actually the rightful power that seeks to practice democracy.
You would need to ask the vet what they thought.
Who gives a shit what they believe? Who gives a shit if they honestly think they're saving the world from some Marvel supervillain? They're still going and murdering people to serve the interests of the empire. I thought you were the one arguing for the need of material analysis here and cautioning against idealism. Anyone who signs up to kill anyone else (even all of us leftists) is obligated to seek out the fucking truth of the matter. Misinformation is powerful, but reality can still be discovered despite it. "They thought they were fighting the good fight" is perhaps the lamest argument for letting imperial troops off the hook yet.
I think it's borderline a corner case because most troops simply don't give a shit or are horrible chauvinists, but materialism doesn't mean that mental states don't exist, and what you are describing is a failure in personal epistemology, which is a much softer condemnation than most arguments put forward in this thread so long as we don't have this hypothetical marvel kid drafting party positions.
Most people need some degree of re-education, that stupid asshole heartily included. What I am saying is that it's not some deformity of his soul that prevents him from doing pro-social work in the future.