• letmesleep@feddit.de
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    4 months ago

    No, it is forced labor and indeed a serious infraction on human rights, but it’s by no means slavery. Slaves can be sold and subjected to a bunch of other abuses.

    Unlike slavery forced labor can be acceptable in certain conditions. I don’t think conscription in Western countries falls under that. It’s far too expensive (delaying people’s entry to the workforce by a year should cost more than 2% of GDP and you can buy a lot of advanced weaponry with that much money) and in most places getting enough people into the military should be doable by offering more benefits. But in countries like Ukraine or in the West when we’re talking about things like natuaral disasters it may be necessary to force people to work for the community.

    • index@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      work for the community.

      Shooting at people and dropping bombs it’s not work. The community is not the government.

      • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Shooting at people and dropping bombs it’s not work.

        Is that all you think military service teaches you?

        The community is not the government.

        I guess we could discuss the validity of each country’s implementation of democracy , but, at least in theory, the power to govern derives from a mandate from the community. So no, the community is by extension the government.

        • index@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          Is that all you think military service teaches you?

          No i’m sure they teach you how to play the guitar and draw paintings, not using guns designed and built to kill people.