• SGforce@lemmy.ca
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    23 hours ago

    Let’s not pretend there are no itchy trigger fingers in the national guard.

    • Bluewing@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      The few photos I’ve seen showed unarmed Guardsmen. The national guard isn’t automatically issued weapons and live ammo when called out.

      Pretty hard to have an itchy trigger finger when you don’t have a rifle or ammo.

    • NJSpradlin@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      The Guard does have a good number of your ‘renta-cop’, ‘mall cop’, ‘southern hunting bro’ types… that get their rocks off by playing war on the weekends, or deploying every few years, absolutely.

      But, there’s also a larger population of underprivileged, overburdened, and poverty stricken civilians trying to make ends meet by selling their very bodies to the elite so they can play their little war games.

      Should we lump them in with the police and ICE? ‘They made their choices!’, sure… but, it’s class warfare here and the elite have an outsized hand on the lever. They make us poor, so that the crumbs they feed us are enough to turn us against each other.

      • wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        22 hours ago

        The guardsmen also signed multi-year contracts. ICE and the police can and will give anyone a badge with no questions or obligations. That makes a big difference in how they behave and who is selected. Right now ICE is selecting for the worst of the worst of us. Anyone signing up at this time knows of their awful reputation and apparently wants to be associated with it.

      • 3abas@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        But, there’s also a larger population of underprivileged, overburdened, and poverty stricken civilians trying to make ends meet by selling their very bodies to the elite so they can play their little war games.

        The overalap isn’t as small as you imply. If they aren’t bendable into order following drones, they don’t make it in. That’s literally the entire point of Basic Combat Training.

        • BigPotato@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          BCT is just about making you react and listen to orders in high stress situations, like when a machine gun is clacking right over your head. That does mean overriding fear responses and making you quick to react but they don’t have you stand up and drop down a hundred times because it makes you more likely to spit on the Constitution if an orange turd tells you to. Hell, I remember Obama’s inauguration a dude was running around with his official photo cheering.

          • 3abas@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            Hell, I remember Obama’s inauguration a dude was running around with his official photo cheering.

            What exactly do you think that means?