Are there any other disagreeable groups we absolutely need to extend olive branches to in order to win their loyalty, in spite of any collective and individual crimes?
It surely wouldn’t hurt to have some cops on our side, and I mean I have heard enough jokes about cop school being the last resort for small town fuckup bullies to draw a conclusion that some can be turned around.
Talking seriously though, this is in no way an alternative to being mean to and alienating imperialist veterans, there must be a line drawn when it comes to how veterans actually have to atone and repay their victims before they can seriously be considered revolutionary allies. Just being sad about it and deciding to be a leftist at home isn’t enough, you’ve still benefited from participating in international crimes and those victims rarely get to come back to the states for those same benefits.
We cant seriously sit around and decide that “we have no choice but appeasement” is a serious strategy, if we must absolutely have a strategy.
Catholic sacrament of penance brain.
I mean this insultingly, you cannot be absolved of imperialist deeds by words and thoughts alone.
You are still maintaining some variety of Christian penance brain if you understand things in terms of “absolution”.
I don’t take issue with critiquing the military, but with dunking on the “poor boys” as OP did.
Cops are a good example of this. I’m sure ACAB alienates some folks. I don’t care about that. I think it’s a good slogan and cops are, in general, bad. But this post (specifically the comment I was replying to and the greater context of why this BS even started) is similar to dunking on black and brown cops rather the system or even on the white thumbs overwhelmingly in charge of it. It’s a very weird hill to die on.
Should black and brown cops be criticised? Absolutely. But you can’t deny it’s kinda sus to focus on them rather than any other or the system they’re a part of.
They didn’t mention it but this all started because a leftist veteran died recently and a certain empanada on Twitter meme’d about it.
And OP already claimed they don’t believe revolution is possible so I don’t see a need to argue the point further with them. If all you want to do is meme and doom post, then there’s clearly no reason to take you seriously.
Edit: Also, the main point I was making still stands. I don’t think it’s possible to have a revolution in the West, especially America, without having a chunk of the military on your side. And that chunk will have to be people like the ones OP is dunking on.
The reason that “poor boys” get dunked on is the same reason that “good cops”, ethnic minority cops or even “queer cops” get dunked on and focused on.
Their existence is presented and focused upon as one line of defense in favor of these systems, so critiques will go after these groups since they have been made into a living argument.
Hating the troops is literally mainstream now. Remember Trump going mask off and calling them losers and suckers? That’s not controversial anymore, you just can’t say it out loud in polite company, but no one “respects” the troops except the biggest liberals and rubes. It’s not some epic dunk on the right wing or the imperialists to hate soldiers, they don’t like them either.
Imo this attitude should be exploited by the left. The best way to help “the troops” is to put an end to imperialist ventures they get sent on.
