Is the use of child soldiers really that bad?

[Eddo36]

If the kids grow up and become conscript soldiers as adults anyways, how different would it be than if they just started soldiering as a kid?

[Aram]

Good point! The trenches also wouldn't have to be dug as deep.

[Tigranes]

Sounds like a fantastic idea.

[Walsingham]

Children are, by their very nature not osychologically the same as adults. This is one of the reasons that child soldiers are used. They are far lesss likely to disobey orders, and far more ruthless. However, they are also affected in by their own brutality and the brutality around them in ways that an adult is not. Probably because they are encoding those experiences differently at the time. They do not know how to construct defences against what they witness, nor that they should construct defences.

 

The effect of brutality on child soldiers is tantamount to any type of abuse on children. It destroys the mind, stunting its development, and twisting the emotional complex. You destroy the individual who is the soldier, and many absorb the template of abuse into themselves, later going on to perpetrate abuse on others.

 

I have no idea why on Earth anyone would consider these consequences worth the 'benefits'. The use of child soldiers in combat is utterly wrong on almost every level.

[Aram]

No reason we couldn't use midgets though.

[Walsingham]

No reason we couldn't use midgets though.

 

Absolutely. The British Empire narrowly avoided a total disaster in the first Boer war because one of the officers was practically a midget. He was the only leader in the force not killed by snipers. Lead his men out of an ambush.

 

Also, midgets rock.

[Sand]

Children are, by their very nature not osychologically the same as adults. This is one of the reasons that child soldiers are used. They are far lesss likely to disobey orders, and far more ruthless. However, they are also affected in by their own brutality and the brutality around them in ways that an adult is not. Probably because they are encoding those experiences differently at the time. They do not know how to construct defences against what they witness, nor that they should construct defences.

 

The effect of brutality on child soldiers is tantamount to any type of abuse on children. It destroys the mind, stunting its development, and twisting the emotional complex. You destroy the individual who is the soldier, and many absorb the template of abuse into themselves, later going on to perpetrate abuse on others.

 

I have no idea why on Earth anyone would consider these consequences worth the 'benefits'. The use of child soldiers in combat is utterly wrong on almost every level.

 

I completely and totally, without a single shred of doubt, agree. Child should have a childhood.

[Pidesco]

Eddo is totally a genius.

[Lord Mayyn]

either they die now or later. it doesnt matter

[Dark_Raven]

Sure why not.

[Guest Accept]

Good point! The trenches also wouldn't have to be dug as deep.

 

----

 

Hey, why not. Just equip them with half of all the things you have in your armory, Eddo, and we will have a squadron of living Terminators.

[Walsingham]

either they die now or later. it doesnt matter

 

Riiiight. Because the quality of the life in between is irrelevant.

[Musopticon?]

Man, I wish I was 14 still, I would have totally gone with Mayyn and been all cool.

[Checkpoint]

I'm glad Eddo isn't my dad.

[Walsingham]

I'm glad Eddo isn't my dad.

 

Sadly I don't have that luxury.

 

BTW, I caught this article, and wondered how it looked when you got more detailed about what it means to use kids as combatants.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6579487.stm

[kirottu]

If the kids grow up and become conscript soldiers as adults anyways, how different would it be than if they just started soldiering as a kid?

 

What a grreat idea! You know, adults have sex and if they would start to have sex already as kids I

[Lord Mayyn]

either they die now or later. it doesnt matter

 

Riiiight. Because the quality of the life in between is irrelevant.

 

 

Man, I wish I was 14 still, I would have totally gone with Mayyn and been all cool.

 

 

 

its more along the lines of that i dont care. i would use children for my army. send a 10 year old in enemy territory with a bomb strapped to his back. genius.

 

 

the universe is massive. our world is insignificant in comparison. every action you and i make is meaningless on the grand scale.

Edited April 21, 2007 by Lord Mayyn

[Tale]

Because the only scale that matters is size related, right?

 

The explosion is only about 20 meters across. That's really nothing compared to the size of the galaxy.

Edited April 21, 2007 by Tale

[Lord Mayyn]

exactly. insignificant

[Diamond]

Uganda children soldiers.

 

 

 

I'm glad Eddo isn't my dad.

I concur.

[Walsingham]

exactly. insignificant

 

Mayyn, I'm sorry to greet you with teh proverbial hail of fire. I hope we'll continue to see you here. BUt I really can't believe you've considered the consequence of your position. If you are honestly saying that you are unomved by the systematic destruction of an individual's mind, let alone taht of a small child, then I can only feel sorry for YOU!

[Sand]

A person's mind, personality, intelligence, and knowledge is what makes him or her human. Remove that and all you have is another bipedal animal.

[metadigital]

If the kids grow up and become conscript soldiers as adults anyways, how different would it be than if they just started soldiering as a kid?

At last! A clue! So Ed-D'Oh, what war did you grow up fighting?

 

its more along the lines of that i dont care. i would use children for my army. send a 10 year old in enemy territory with a bomb strapped to his back. genius.

Congratulations on displaying the empathy of a psychopath.

 

I suppose you would extend your philosophy to others butchering you for small change, raping and murdering your loved (a big assumption, I know, but I'm talking hypothetically and assuming you have a shred of humanity) because you matter not at all. Or are you a hypocrite as well?

 

And now I wonder why anyone would want to live in the same society as you.

[Walsingham]

If the kids grow up and become conscript soldiers as adults anyways, how different would it be than if they just started soldiering as a kid?

At last! A clue! So Ed-D'Oh, what war did you grow up fighting?

 

 

 

Weren't you listening? He grew up fighting Godzilla and the Vietcong* in the mean streets of Swansea.

 

its more along the lines of that i dont care. i would use children for my army. send a 10 year old in enemy territory with a bomb strapped to his back. genius.

Congratulations on displaying the empathy of a psychopath.

 

I suppose you would extend your philosophy to others butchering you for small change, raping and murdering your loved (a big assumption, I know, but I'm talking hypothetically and assuming you have a shred of humanity) because you matter not at all. Or are you a hypocrite as well?

 

And now I wonder why anyone would want to live in the same society as you.

 

Steady on there, Meta. It's quite normal for peopel to feel less emotional about things that don't affect their immediate family. For example: some kid being flung into a churchtower = mildly funny. My brother getting flung into a churchtower = hilarious.

 

* Some people still seem to be ignorant of the fact that the main reason the yanks lost in Vietnam is because LBJ refused to bomb Godzilla or Swansea.

[Sand]

As much as I am mostly indifferent to those outside the US I still think that it is morally reprehensible to use a child as a soldier or instrument of war or terrorism. And any adult who seek to actively kill or harm children in any form should have all the layers of the dermis peeled and thoroughly salted.

Edited April 21, 2007 by Sand