The comments that make me crazy...

[bliss_eternal]

posted earlier in the lounge...

Someone on a site was talking about how many minorities actully fight the wars--and how they are more than likely not conservative.

They said, --snip--"...statistics show armed forces have a disproportionate number of minorities and people from the lower income classes. These people are not typically conservatives."

Then the patented reply...

---snip----
A) as you said, it is a voluntary decision.
B) in many cases, these people have a higher chance of being killed in the neighborhood where they live than in battle conditions.
C) These people can obtain a job and income that wasn't available in their neighborhood environment.
D) The armed services provide discipline, self-respect and purpose, something many people in low-income, minority groups have few other ways to obtain.

Sure, those in greatest need of income will apply. But they choose this over a lifetime of dependence on social programs, low-paying jobs or illegal sources of income, which are the fate of many low-income/minority youth.

snip---
...again service to one's country is currently
voluntary.



This 'these people' sh** makes my blood boil!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Look at it like this..... are they (ya know, them over there) proud of

these two facts in the shrub economy???


B) in many cases, these people have a higher chance of being killed in the neighborhood where they live than in battle conditions.
C) These people can obtain a job and income that wasn't available in their neighborhood environment.

The first one really says alot about Amurka being a beacon to the world... a guiding light.... an example of how things oughta be... pure bs.

[bliss_eternal]

4. I know that you are right, it is total bs--but it hurts to read stuff like

that. I'm probably far too sensitive for my own good, but I hate seeing people make such broad strokes and such sweeping generalizations about entire cultures.

I know that the anonymity of the internet allows for a great deal of ignorance spewing, but it is no less shocking to see that in this day and age, there are still 'thought' dinosaurs such as this.

[TwentyFive]

2. Thank you for posting this!

By their screwed up logic, we should make conditions here worse....that way, everybody would be better off joining the army to fight wars for the multinational corporations.

Wait a minuite....isn't that what Bush is doing now?

[bliss_eternal]

5. You are most welcome!

I must confess that in doing so I was being rather selfish--no one wanted to discuss it the first time I posted. If at first you don't succeed... ;)

[Ironcandle]

3. Well, here is chart that shows

the casualties in Iraq so far.

Blacks = 143 deaths, or 11%
Asians = 32 deaths, or 2%
Latin = 181 deaths, or 11%
Whites = 1151 deaths, or 72%

Data from Casualties.org. Does this help clear up anything?

[bliss_eternal]

6. Welcome to DU, Ironcandle! Thank you for these stats, too...

that is interesting.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. www.casualties.org won't come up.... ideas??

[bliss_eternal]

8. Oh no...not again...

what's going on w/this lately..?

[Tempest]

12. You're forgetting something

You're not showing the comparative numbers for the number of ethnic groups in the military.


I'm willing to bet Blacks make up a disproportionate number of deaths when compared to their total numbers in the military.

[bliss_eternal]

9. Whenever there is a news report (locally) of a war casuality

it has been a young latin/mexican american male. I've only seen one one on an African American male--which isn't to suggest that less numbers of AA's are dying in the war. My point is that when they are sending bodies home to southern California, more often than not, it is a young man of color.

Am I supposed to mourn less because he 'chose it' or that the right feels it is admirable that he died in a war? Yet his own children won't even be encouraged to enlist.

Yeah, right...

:eyes:

[angee_is_mad]

10. Proportion to general population

you need to take into account the demographics in the general population, which I don't know off hand.

But a small percentage of casualties can be misleading when the population percentage is small also. If the two are found to be the same, I would think that it would reflect that the smaller demographic is being affected by the war than the higher percentage of casualties demographic.

For instance, you might not be in the military, but you brother, cousin or next door neighbor is.

[bliss_eternal]

11. Good point--I do need to take that into consideration.

Thank you for pointing this out.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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