The government targeted disabled people from some of the poorest communities in the country, who McNamara referred to as, “the subterranean poor.”
Many of those drafted were illiterate, they had to be taught to tie their shoes, and they didn’t know things like who the president was, even as they were being sent to kill and die on his orders for an imperialist war, for reasons they could not understand.
A book called McNamera’s Folly records some stories of those recruited in the program. One thought a nickel was worth more than a dime, because it was bigger. One of them failed to attend training and was sentenced to four years of labor in prison, and the sergeant asked if anyone “wanted to join them in the stockade.” Another conscript didn’t know what the word “stockade” meant and thought it meant going home, so he said yes - he received the same sentence.
If you can believe it, this was actually sold to the public as a “progressive” program, as part of Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” The claim was that this would be a way to help the conscripts learn useful skills. in reality, a study by the DoD itself found:
Comparisons between Project 100,000 participants and their non-veteran peers showed that, in terms of employment status, educational achievement, and income, non-veterans appeared better off. Veterans were more likely to be unemployed and to have a significantly lower level of education. Income differences ranged from $5,000 [to] $7,000 in favor of non-veterans. Veterans were more likely to have been divorced.
Obviously.
And remember boys and girls, these are the actions of good Christian people, which tells you a lot about what Christianity is about. Just to be clear, this isn’t exceptionally bad behavior for Christians, this is pretty much the standard, I’d expect no less from them.
Fuck ALL religions, all religions are evil and all religions should be prohibited as it’s all just an excuse to be an asshole and yet appear pious. Fuck it all
Vietnam was about oil, do not blame religion they knew what they were doing. It’s always class warfare.
Oooohh, you found an exception!
I’m sure there are more, but way to go with completely missing the point
You are mistaken. I see your point, I just disagree with it.
Well let me put it differently then
Yeah, I’m sure quite a few wars weren’t about religion directly. I’m also quite sure that Gods and religion has been used in almost all wars to convince people they are the righteous, to convince them to commit horrible atrocities
Even the Nazis had “god ist mitt uns” (pardon my horrible German) in their belt buckles.
Religion is a tool and was one of the first forms of government, a proto-government. States are also a tool, do the same shit (resource control) and now that god is capital. Many modern religious folks do more mutual aid in their community than the average terminally online leftist and I don’t blanket blame others for seeking meaning when lives are complicated and messy. People need social safety nets and now churches are fallbacks when states fail in different areas. Be kind to individuals and ruthless to systems. States are just continuing where the schism with religion left off. Religious institutions managed surplus extraction, states took over that function (often incorporating religious legitimation), and now capital operates as the organising logic with its own quasi-sacred justifications. New Atheist attitudes often miss the forest for the trees and function as a reactionary sentiment not grounded in materialism. It treats religion as a causal prime mover rather than as an institution shaped by and serving material interests. I have book reccomendations if you are interested in this.
Lmao. The article says nothing about religion. Do do you just like proselytizing? You should consider joining a church if you have that level of fanaticism
Maybe he’s referring to the fact that McNamara, the architect of this and all-around terrible person, was an Elder in his Presbyterian church during the time he was also conceiving and running this program. IDK, that’s the first direct connection I could find. That, and a lot of this was under Kennedy, who was famously and publicly and proudly the first Catholic president. So I agree it’s not a great look for Kennedy in terms of his Catholicism being a major part of his identity, to have allowed his SecDef to run this program on “the least among us” if you will.
You sound Christian. Try thinking around your brainwashing and you will see it’s all a tool to make you feel good about your in group to the point they can do no wrong. Same with Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, any and all of them.
They make you feel powerful via strength in numbers, following shallow rules that, to be fair, can keep you healthy (Halal and Kosher are mostly about preventing food poisoning and/or unhealthy eating habits), etc
And then they say “give all your material value to us! For the cause!” or else sky daddy is going to smite you! Or punish you for ETERNITY!
You must do what this human man said a god says to do or else the god will torture you endlessly sums up like 99% of all organized religions.
Pretty fucking sus.
Is this your first day on the left side of the interwebs? Atheists and agnostics are the norm. We’re mostly over it and not every shitty thing done is a direct religious issue.
Religion is just another control. Causes not symptoms.
This. I won’t hate on someone for their beliefs. I will not tolerate hate and intolerance though. I will judge you by your actions and inactions. Ya wanna worship TFSM, cool, wear your collander in pride. Go forth and show peace to all, I shall not infringe.