Friday, January 23, 2015

Why do we always send the poor?

                Is there any moral justification to sending the poor to war and using them as scapegoat when things go wrong? It's a well-known way of thinking and is prevalent throughout history: the rich send those beneath them to fight their own battles. These are a people who struggle just to survive each day, and we punish them for that by sending them to fight battles, and many politicians tell everyone that the benefits given to them (food stamps, for example) are a huge reason this country is not only in debt but is falling behind other nations: people “sit back in their hammock” and just take the help as it comes without working.
                This brings up a good point, though: are those who struggle and survive the more logical choice for even more struggling? They have a drive and a way of thinking to keep going under fire, which is ideal in war times. The rich are known to believe their lives are worth more because of the power they hold and the wealth they've accumulated. War is not something I believe is morally correct but I understand it’s how the world works. But does the world work in this way because the powerful want it to? Is Thrasymachus correct?
                I believe he is. History is written by the winner, the present is written by the powerful. Laws are added and removed, around the world in each nation, because times change and figureheads change. Part of why people try to get into a powerful and advantageous position is to change the world more in their favor (Republicans and Democrats for instance) and it’s hard to find evidence to solidly shut that opinion out.
                Justice is about perspective, as is right-and-wrong. To tell someone that they’re bad is to tell them that your opinion is different.

1 comment:

  1. Yes some justice is about perspective. Take Hitler everyone will, without hesitation, say that he was a very cruel and evil man. And yes to most everyone he was. But in his mind he was helping the world to become a better and "safer" place. In his mind Jews were like a disease to the world. They were unclean and corrupting the world. He thought the best way to "cure" the world from Jews was to kill them all. But even though in his mind he was right and not evil, we all know what he did was very wrong. Although in the military we study him because, take away the Holocaust, he was a very great military leader.

    Now some rich did work hard to become rich, but other did not. And I do not think its right for the government to send the poor to fight in the war. Now the military is a volunteer military, so anyone can sign up to fight to protect our great Nation. In my own opinion I think everyone should serve a little, not just to protect our freedom but to see how hard we in the military actually work hard and the things we give up to protect freedom. I've been told by older people that they had more respect for the military protecting freedom because they served, even if it was only a short time.

    History is written by those who stand up, but the present is written by everybody. Yes some people do get into power to change things for themselves but most want to be the voice of the people they are representing.

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