• SCB@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The point here is that civilians aren’t going to defeat the US military, full stop. Whether sane people have guns or fascists have guns, only the military matters

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Might wanna check the actual combat statistics there bud. Shit Vietnam was also a professional, well-supplied army with a decade of combat experience against the French and massive infrastructure advantages.

          This is home turf, not foreign soil that’s attempting to be occupied peacefully. Plus, you’d have 50% of a country, give or take, readily willing to turn you in or attack you themselves, and 0 logistics infrastructure.

          It’s amazing to me this take is still common with people when it’s so easily laughed at.

          If you wanna go hide in the woods with your buddies, you can do that without trying to overthrow the government.

          • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I was responding to your previous point that a standing military is all that matters against an occupied civilian force. I don’t think that really bears up to scrutiny in historical terms.

            Also, I don’t know where you got off thinking I’m trying to LARP as a militia member, but nice strawman with absolutely zero background to support that conclusion…

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I don’t think that really bears up to scrutiny in historical term

              Then, frankly, you’re wrong.

              Also, I don’t know where you got off thinking I’m trying to LARP as a militia member

              it was a generalized “you”

              • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Then, frankly, you’re wrong.

                Cool, but you could have just said that initially without being kind of an asshole.

                it was a generalized “you”

                Well since you said it to me, how else was I supposed to take that.

                Anyways, not mad at you. Was more just making a joke initially, but maybe in bad faith. Which, by the way, I was more than willing to admit.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Not mad at you either dude. Sorry for the poor phrasing leading to this confusion.

                  • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    It’s fine. I know there’s a lot of heightened emotions and frustrations in this thread already, so I probably should have just used my better judgement by saying nothing. I knew what you meant with your initial statement, which I also generally agree with.

                    In hindsight, I think I was expressing my own personal frustration with the US involvement in those two conflicts which ultimately just lead to more dead civilians and US service members rather than approximating anything close to resolution of a justifiable conflict. Add that to the current situation unfolding in the Middle East, and I was just hip firing some stupid quippy retort where it wasn’t needed. So, again, my bad.

        • wanderingmagus@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          We absolutely had the military capability to wipe Vietnam and Afghanistan off the goddamn map and delete their populations and wildlife from existence if ordered to do so. The politicians back home said no, and made us withdraw. We have thousands of nuclear reentry vehicles standing ready, and we are trained to set condition 1SQ when ordered, no questions asked, without knowing the target package. I challenge you to survive a hundred Hiroshimas per warhead, times several thousand.

          • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            See my other comments below. I’m not looking to have an argument about nuclear war with a nuclear submariner. When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail and whatnot.

        • cannache@slrpnk.net
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          8 months ago

          I think the more important point is that people form militias to protect themselves, and carrying a weapon means considering bad thoughts and being aware of them, the same way that an ex drug user or addict practicing abstinence consistently needs to exert a degree of self discipline.

          If you ask me, owning a gun just makes violent assholes have a shorter fuse. Think about it, have you ever carried a stick or a knife and thought that carrying it meant something? Now you can be more assertive, but the risk of accidentally shooting people or just flying off the handle and shooting someone suddenly becomes a real risk.

          A great test would be to give recent licensed gun owners three rubber bullets to use. When you get around to firing it after losing your shit you’ll know that you really lost your cool.

    • wanderingmagus@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Military has equally as many progressives, moderates and centrists who absolutely will not tolerate these people. Source: I’m a submariner who works with nuclear weapons. You try something nutty, we can and will put your face into the concrete, no matter your political affiliation. Basics of the Personnel Reliability Program, the Command Managed Equal Opportunity Program, and Nuclear Weapons Security.