Selective service debate

fengpi · 2017-04-27T00:23:00+00:00

I think it's an excellent and obvious example of institutionalized gender discrimination. If men fail to sign-up, there are penalties. You can't get a student loan, for instance (it's right there on your FAFSA form). But if you need to argue in favor of it...

There is an argument to be made that it is a good collective experience from a national-identity-building perspective for people to have some sort of team-experience for the common good. A lot of South Korean, Israeli and Taiwanese men have had common experiences in their militaries or national-service programs. Military service in the US has also been a ladder out of poverty for many people, seeing as how they can get assistance for college, technical education, health coverage and other benefits such as discounts.

I will add that these benefits were not gifted by a benevolent government out of generosity, they were fought for (WWI veterans shut-down Washington DC in the 1930s because they weren't getting any assistance in a time of need; the GI Bill had opposition which argued the benefits were too generous) or were a result of heavily politicized decision-making (the VA system only agreed to cover Agent Orange-related health problems in the early 90s when Congress felt it would become a good precedent to make Iraq cover any future health costs in the event of chemical weapons use in the Gulf War; the military racially-integrated its units under Truman not because segregation was immoral and racist but mainly because the Soviets were getting a lot of propaganda about how the US was badly-treating its black citizens and racial segregation made no sense from an efficiency/effectiveness standpoint.)

That being said, if you're going to have it, it ought to be for everyone instead of the current system where the obligation is upon one sex only and which not-so-subtly implies that women make lousy soldiers. (Feminists, true to form, don't give a shit because making Selective Service mandatory for women isn't the opportunistic and convenience-based form of "equality" they insist upon whereby they demand equality with men to ride on the ship, but first dibs on the lifeboats when the ship hits an iceberg.)

meh613 · 2017-04-27T00:37:33+00:00

Assuming you're in the US, the registration of women is pending. I'm not sure why there is such a gender-based requirement, nor am I sure why the existence of selective service isn't very well advertised -- my politically-aware, astute, and American male cousin wasn't aware of the registration requirement till after he finished college, for example.

contractor808 · 2017-04-27T15:21:27+00:00

The affirmatives are regarding wars and that's about it (and the worth of conscripts is also under question). Unless you want to argue the "benefits" under current law and not the merits of those laws. (If you register you get student aid vs why do you have to register for student aid but women don't)

Vandechoz · 2017-04-27T21:35:32+00:00

Find a list of industries that even slightly war-related (stretch as much as possible) and male-dominated. Disregard the actual numbers, just find any that are more than 50/50 male. Take this giant list and assert that it shows that men are more useful than women at tasks related to those industries, and therefore at war.

But don't just argue for the male draft; argue that women should be kicked out of the military entirely. This will make it seem like your actual position is more neutral and reasonable. Think of it like haggling.

Pinuspalustris · 2017-04-27T02:19:04+00:00

Am I understanding correctly that you're looking for pros for a male only draft? If so, here's the big one:

Fuckloads of men from your country can die without significantly damaging your country's ability to create the next generation of people. Compare that to lots of women dying. If that happens, each death represents 2 to 3 fewer kids in your next generation, where as, if it's men, the remaining men will just have sex with more women and pick up the slack.

Title	Selective service debate
Author	AshIeeeez
Upvotes	2
Comments	12
Date	April 26, 2017 9:47 PM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/67rbm6/selective_service_debate/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/selective-service-debate.924059 https://theredarchive.com/post/924059

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