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The military creeps me out

So being this is my blog, and I\'m really bad at hiding things, once in a while I\'ll probably write about something pretty unpopular. This will be one of those posts. I\'m taking the opportunity this day of independence to write about our military. Now if you\'re one of those \"rah-rah\" folks who reply with things like \"you should be thanking them for fighting for you\" then please do us both a favor and stop reading right now. I\'m serious.

I\'ve been given a bad rap lately because I\'m not comfortable being around people that are in the military. They creep me out. And I\'m generally creeped out even before I know what they do for a\...job.

Example from a month or so ago: I was at a bar. There were all these kinda douche-bagish, clean cut guys. All playing the \"matcho\" game. \"Yeah bro\", \"I\'m totally fucking her\", etc etc. I left thinking \"Holy crap, that\'s the biggest collection of asshole douchebags I\'ve had to be around for a while.\" Someone replied \"Those weren\'t douchebags, they were military.\"

Being in Omaha there\'s some murder-plane air base near here. I honestly had no idea before I moved here. In fact knowing about it I probably would have thought twice about coming. It\'s because I have a problem with the attitudes of people that go through that \"system\". The military takes the guys who wanted to kick my ass in high school and breed them into brain-washed machines. They come out all with the exact same haircut. All wearing the same clothes. All speaking the same way. And all thinking the same way. They are cookie cutter people who live in cookie cutter houses. The only thing not cookie cutter is when they drop them out of planes to shoot people in wars we shouldn\'t be involved in.

And if you\'re thinking \"you should be thankful that they go jump out of those planes so you don\'t have to\" then what are you doing reading this far? I told you to stop. That\'s a conversation about why they\'re jumping out of the planes in the first place. They shouldn\'t be. But that\'s not going to be discussed here.

I\'ve also been told \"It\'s just the career path that was chosen, like any other job.\" I have an issue with that as well. Like for me, I always wanted to be in technology. That\'s a career path. So is \"killing\" also a career path? Do people really grow up saying \"I want to kill when I\'m older?\" Is that a lifelong career path goal? And I do understand there are plenty of things that aren\'t the act of killing in the military. There\'s tons of technology there as well. But I just don\'t know what would bring someone to join the military instead of getting another job. Wouldn\'t you need to believe in what they\'re doing in order to take part in it? It\'s not just a job. It\'s a lifestyle. A lifestyle where

at the center is the domination and control over the world\'s people and resources. That\'s far different than when I decided what company I wanted to work for. (Maybe not, my company can be pretty evil too.) I just know if I don\'t show up to work they can\'t throw me in jail for it.

Don\'t get me wrong. I\'m stereotyping. This may even be seen as the biggest example of stereotyping you\'ve ever read on the internet. But there\'s truth in it. There are also exceptions. But keep in mind an exception to this stereotype is a failure on the government\'s part. The military imprint didn\'t stick.

So I think i\'ve said my piece. Any time I meet someone and I\'m introduced that they\'re in the military I\'m probably going to step back. I\'m probably going to think \"wow, so that\'s the kind of person they are. That\'s what they chose to do with their life?\" I\'ll know a subset of their views and beliefs right away, and I\'ll probably try to get out of that conversation. And that\'s ok. There are probably people they\'d enjoy talking to more who jive with their lifestyle more anyway.

Happy Independance Day.

(btw I\'m keeping comments off on this one for your sake. You\'ll probably say something pretty mean.)