• themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Hang on, because I’m morally opposed to war and violence, but I’m not out attending rallies or protests. While my arthritic old body isn’t what anyone wants in battle, if I were healthy, and we had a draft, I’d be a conscientious objector with no history of activism.

    Would South Korea put me in jail?

    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Would you have never mentioned this to anyone, knowing your country has mandatory service? Never protested about mandatory military service? Are you not even a member of an anti-military group? In many countries you have the option of joining. When you don’t have an option not being involved doesn’t make sense.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        No, it doesn’t come up very often, and discussing politics and morality is considered impolite. I don’t join “groups” but I don’t see how that makes a difference.

        • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          The point being that if you are a conscientious objector in a country with mandatory service and few exceptions, perhaps you should do some stuff as evidence for that. Otherwise you experience the consequences of inaction. In an ideal world armies don’t exist and if so joining would be entirely voluntary but we don’t live in an ideal world.

        • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
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          5 months ago

          I mean starting objecting too close to service is likely to be seen as faking it to get out. How close is too close is not something for me to determine. The length of time a belief is held has little to do with the strength of a particular belief. But that’s even harder to judge.

          • snooggums@kbin.social
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            5 months ago

            It really doesn’t matter because short of being in a publicallt visible leadership position it will never be enough.

            Join rallies, but anonymously? Doesn’t count.

            Attended a rally openly but no one took a picture? Doesn’t count.

            Told one person? Not enough witnesses.

            Told multiple friends? Just covering for you.

            Decided this week based on an experience, but no rallies or groups doing scheduled stuff? Doesn’t count.

            Publicly attended 3 rallies over the last few months? Just doing it to avoid getting drafted, doesn’t count because it wasn’t long enough prior.

      • Traegert@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        The draft is still mandatory in the US for men 18 and above, by the by