But American kids are soft. When I was in Basic, keeping in mind we all volunteered, there were some recruits who asked the 1st Sgt why we had to do push ups. Some asked why did the DSs yell at us. And these weren’t pampered kids from some coastal suburbs but kids who grew up in the South. Interestingly, in general, the toughest ones were the Hispanic dudes from California or NYC and a 40 year old cop from South Carolina.
I’d say that it depends a lot on “your perspective.” The demographics is destiny trope doesn’t really seem to be playing out. Some states are getting bluer and others are getting redder. You can draw parallels between Texas and certain western states such as Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona that are becoming bluer and predict the same for Texas. But on the other hand, Texas has other parallels to Florida, or midwestern states that are getting redder. And all of these other states that are trending one way or the other can also easily reverse themselves if other factors change.
Democrats were hoping that predictions that a browner America would be a bluer America would be self fulfilling. Recent history seems to suggest they aren’t.
I hope you read the kid the riot act. Holy shit. “You get a break when I’m tired and bored, not when you’re tired and bored. It doesn’t mean anything when you’re tired.”
A buddy and I were talking yesterday about some of this stuff. When he was last in the shit they had to give a new kid a ranger IV because he didn’t want to drink their water issue. Because…“it tastes like copper”. Ended up getting severely dehydrated and needed emergency hydration.
Like what the fuck man, that’s the dumbest reason ever to not drink a damn canteen of water. “Sorry I can’t drink that, I only drink Dasani” 
I think this idea makes a lot of sense. No doubt there are a lot of potential problems with any attempted solution, but then… If you do the same things you get the same old results.
Nope, no apologies! We need some damn common sense. And even if I disagree it’s valuable to have your insights.
Color me completely unsurprised at this.
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Most Mexicans I’ve met are either extremely hard working manual laborers or actual tough guys (who may or may not participate in illicit activities, haha). So yeah, not too shocking.
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Hopefully not cartel related endeavours. Those cartels are some of the most barbaric, sociopathic groups on this planet.
Dissolving people alive in drums of acid and whatnot… They rank akin to religious terrorist organisations on my level of hatred for them.
And these monsters were a product of an objectively brilliant business decision by the Colombians.
Just sayin’.
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I worked with a few guys that fit jshaving’s description. Worked really hard, but were most likely selling some drugs. The lifestyle didn’t match their income by a good stretch.
The narcocorrido music genre is really something… Bringing a shipment to LA and getting double crossed…
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So I knew these guys when I was working with them at a car wash in high school, and the first year in college. They would play that stuff loud all day. Drove me nuts. I called it Mexican polka.
Kinda funny when you think that is what the gangsters are listening to.
Well, the lyrics are important. All corridos (and narcocorridos especially) sound like sped up polka in Spanish but the lyrics can be really fucked up.
It’s no wonder the cartels have such a grip on society when moving tons of coke across the border and executing your enemies by cutting their heads off is glorified in pop culture music.
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My Spanish was never good enough to pick it up in music. They were very poor English speakers, so we used Spanish, but they would have to go slow.
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Probably not that well connected. Local pot dealers, maybe some coke or something as well. But they’re not hurting people. (Not that drugs don’t hurt people/communities. I typically despise drugs and often people who sell them.)
The people they get it from, or the people those people get it from? Yeah they’re probably bad dudes.
That’s an example of cultural appropriation.
And that’s the strongest argument I can think of for NOT being an objectivist or a utilitarian.
I know it’s serious… But I just can’t take a man in that much glitter and sequins seriously
This is why I’m not seeing how in the world you guys would implement any form of compulsory military service. If you wanted out in a country with such a system, you’d have to spend the rest of the time you’re supposed to serve in the detention barracks or serving wouldn’t be considered compulsory. They’re mostly filled with Jehovah Witness members who cannot carry arms but they go pretty easy on them.
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On the one hand, I can see the benefits of it but then I look at the reality of America at the moment and don’t see it as a possibility.
I was watching local news a few years ago and they asked people coming out of a grocery store what would an appropriate age be to start learning to fire a gun. One woman replied no age because, “no one should own guns.” Yeah, try selling her on the idea that her son going into the military is a good thing.
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14… That’s when I went from BB/pellet guns to real guns when I lived in the US.
I think to shoot a gun one ought to be mature enough to understand the gravity of the situation at hand… The potential seriousness of ramifications that can entail from firearm misuse.
When I lived there I knew this guy that had an arsenal, let his 12-13y/o sun sleep with pistols in his room/under his bed etc.
Well when I went shooting with then the son would do stupid, stupid shit like try shoot heavy calibre, large pistols with one hand with the pistol turned sideways like a wannabe gangster or something. I’d say he was a little bit TOO comfortable with guns
I shot quite a bit of stuff, it was a lot of fun… including assault rifles of which I’m not sure if they were legal to shoot in my state. Didn’t matter as I didn’t own a gun though
Haven’t gone shooting since I was eighteen…
Which is why I think it should be compulsory public service rather than military service, specifically. We do ok on military recruitment / retention as it is, and I think it should be acceptable to spend your time with the Department of the Interior or your state’s Department of Human Services as an alternative to military service. Very different experiences, of course, but I think it gets to the same end of being forced to make a contribution to broader interests.
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Wouldn’t compulsory service delay entry into the workforce/economy of the first classes and likely cause a drop in the economy? Eg. An engineer would not start their engineering job, nor spend their salary for the duration of service. Or low paying retail jobs would have a tough time filling positions with the entire 18-20 demographic gone to service. It would only be an issue for the first couple years of the program, but might create a significant pay/experience gap in the economy and cause some ripple effects.
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