Adopt a sniper?

[Pekka]

but making it clear, I have no problems with snipers. I think they are very needed and men of steel. My problem is that some kids are using their slogan that is controversial outside military compounds... we all know soldiers have names that would shock people I think.. but it's just a ... it's nothing to be upset about. But they could have chosen any slogan they wanted, and they chose exactly that one. If I was sniper, I would be offneded some more-important-than-stiff-crap students raped my slogan. But that's just me .

[Dr Strangelove]

If you adopt a sniper are you supposed to clean him up and see to it that he stays clean? In exchange does the sponsor get to post his name tag on the sniper? What happens if a chapter of the KKK or the American Nazis Party adopt a sniper?

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Max Webster


Funny you never hear about Scandinavian terrorists. Wonder why that is? Do they even exist?

Now Scandinavia you should get out there in the world and start pissing people off. All the while making your rich richer and then you can have your own little crusade.

Some Swedish neo-nazis were arrested and accused of terrorism recently. They were planning to damage the power grid and government buildings, stuff like that.



On the topic, I say if the richest country in the world can't afford to equip their soldiers, they have to low taxes

[Chemical Ollie]

Anyway, why ADOPT a sniper, when you could RENT a sniper

[Dinner]

The soldiers are just fine. These fund raisers are a way for civilians to send extras.

[JimmyCracksCorn]

LOTM: The slogan is disasteful. You know why? Because its about killing people. Killing people is distasteful.

[GePap]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


I decide doesnt mean answers to know one, it means I need to make the decision on my own (thus I am in a more profoundly more serious moral position than 90% of the military who are cogs in a larger operation) and I MUST make the decision on my own - hell the snipers post as the ultimate existential situation - he takes RESPONSIBILITY.

What are you talking about? A sniper is nothing more then a specialist soldier-he has no greater moral authority than any other soldier- he simply has a different mission. And snipers take no more responsiblity than any other soldiers either- they are carrying out a mission, like any other soldier, and have a duty to perfrom their appointed task. A sniper does not decide whether he kills people or not, simply when he does, and what's the best way to do so-the people must die was a decision made by others. After all, are you saying the DC area sniper is conversely a more heinious killer because he had this supposed greater moral choice?

The slogan says nothing of support for the troops or anything else- it purely equates more efficient killing to personal freedom. Not a message I care for, and certainly not one that Jesuits would ever countenance.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Oerdin
The soldiers are just fine. These fund raisers are a way for civilians to send extras.

Extra what? Bullets? Do sponsors get to have a slogan of their choice embossed on the bullets?

Hey! Let's hear some suggestions for slogans to be engraved on the sponsored bulllets:

[Dinner]

As said earlier I think they purchase various comfort items available in the states which are hard to come by in Iraq like English language reading material, candy, extra personal hygene stuff, etc...

[Dr Strangelove]

GYYYAAAAHHHHH!!!

Oh wait, I thought you said they bought them extra feminine hygene products. My bad.

But why adopt snipers in particular? Why not adopt a grunt and just take what you get? It seems discriminatory.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by SpencerH


I would have thought even the most limp-wristed liberal could understand it. One supports our troops and one supports our enemy.

Liberal? I'm a socialist. And I'm hardly a pacifist.

Again, this is simply proving that you have no idea of how most Jesuits think.

Jesuits are teachers and missionaries.

They grudgingly accept the idea of a justified war. They are against capital punishment. They are against abortion. They are against euthanasia. They believe wholeheartedly in the concept of human life as a seamless garment, sacred from conception to death, the breaking of which is a sin before God. They certainly do not encourage the glorification of the killing of other human beings.

You getting your panties in a bunch because they stopped a bunch of upper-class twits from selling bracelets doing just that on a campus that they own and operate is ridiculous.

Do I think that the little twerps (most of whom would likely wilt under fire and yet who revel in the abstract glory of warfare) should have the right to go ahead with their plan? Sure. You certainly won't see me getting too pissed off at the Jesuits for stopping them though. Jesuits are some of the most morally consistent men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and being taught by. They have a tradition of raising "men for others", and are themselves strongly devoted to charity, social justice and the defense of the weak.

The Jesuits at that school might believe that the two major wars the US is involved in right now are justified (I'd be very surprised if they thought Iraq was, but let's stipulate it anyway). They might believe that the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo bay without access to counsel is justified both morally and legally (another non-trivial assumption). Even given this they would never approve of allowing any activity on their campus they saw as demeaning the sanctity of human life.

[Sikander]

Adopt a Jesuit! One God, One Church, One Fuhr...er Pope.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by GePap


What are you talking about? A sniper is nothing more then a specialist soldier-he has no greater moral authority than any other soldier- he simply has a different mission. And snipers take no more responsiblity than any other soldiers either- they are carrying out a mission, like any other soldier, and have a duty to perfrom their appointed task. A sniper does not decide whether he kills people or not, simply when he does, and what's the best way to do so-the people must die was a decision made by others. After all, are you saying the DC area sniper is conversely a more heinious killer because he had this supposed greater moral choice?

The slogan says nothing of support for the troops or anything else- it purely equates more efficient killing to personal freedom. Not a message I care for, and certainly not one that Jesuits would ever countenance.

There is a difference between what snipers and what regular soldiers do.

Many soldiers never know for sure if they've killed someone. They may fire at enemy soldiers but in the confusion of battle a great many dont know for sure whether they've actually killed someone. Rather like killing with a knife, snipers almost always know they've killed someone.

In addition, regular soldiers dont decide whom to kill. They may decide whether or not to fire at all while attacking a defended position (for example) but make no decision as to whether they will participate in the attack. Aside from assasinations, snipers have no requirement to fire at anything. They decide whether its safe to engage a target and thus choose who will die (given the high probability of a kill).

Of course, regular and special force soldiers (including snipers) are under the army umbrella of legitamacy but from a psychological perspective they are quite different.

[Elok]

Well, couple of things:

*From a PR perspective at least, that's a really stupid slogan. People get those wristbands for the sake of advertising their own generosity, which is revolting but that's how it works. A message of "killing efficiently and not feeling sorry for it," violates one of the basic rules of a slogan, that it sound self-evidently correct and beautiful the very first time you hear it. Slogans typically aren't supposed to involve complex or ambiguous morals.

*Logistical support troops like supply clerks and translators aren't as equipment-intensive as snipers, are they? They're also relatively removed from danger.

*While the students may very well be motivated by puerile bloodlust fed by excessive Halo 2 PVP matches, the organization itself does not sound like it glorifies any kind of assassin mentality, any more than "Support a Marine" would necessarily involve advocating shooting everything that moves until it stops moving, or "Support an Army Ranger" would glorify paradropping and blowing up bridges. They're just specialists with hard jobs. That might need to be made more clear though.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Oerdin
If your shooting a jehadist then your making the whole world better. It's much like shooting a Nazi.

I've never much liked AFA's attacks on neo-Nazis. If they they started actually killing people, well, hopefully the police would deal harshly with them.