Sticking up for what you believe in

[Walsingham]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle3754204.ece

 

I'm normally quite rude about the RAF regiment, but I thought this was an interesting story. Gary Thompson went to Afghanistan as a reservist volunteer because (so he said) he wanted Afghan women to have the same opportunities he'd worked to secure for his five daughters. He was killed last week by a roadside bomb.

 

I thought this could spark a discussion of what it means to believe in something and how far you'd go to support it. Would you risk your life for your beliefs?

[Gorgon]

I don't believe I can actualize my personal philosophies in the world, or that trying to would make the slightest bit of difference. In order for me to risk my life I would have to have a personal referent rather than something as intangible as women's rights, or democracy.

[astr0creep]

I wouldn't risk my life for my beliefs or anyone else's.

 

Beliefs are a personal matter and I respect other's beliefs even if they don't match with mine.

 

 

I would risk my life only if my way of life is threatened, if my family is in danger.

In other words, I would take a weapon and fight if my country was being invaded or if my government was too corrupted to provide my family with the basic necessities of North American life.

[Gorgon]

Incidentally, military service is a job, you get paid. In return you accept risk and follow orders. Thats fundamentally incompatible with acting according to your own beliefs. As long as the aim of British involvement coincides with his philosophies, all is well, but he shouldn't make any assumptions. Neither can he just go home if reality no longer conforms to his belief.

[Gfted1]

Would you risk your life for your beliefs?

 

Very interesting question. Would I join a cause and risk life and limb over a general belief? No. Would I risk my life for my family or because my country told me to go hurl lead at bad guys? Yes. I guess, like others have said, I would need a personal attachment to the belief to risk my life vs risking my life for a concept.

[Humodour]

I thought this could spark a discussion of what it means to believe in something and how far you'd go to support it. Would you risk your life for your beliefs?

 

I do plan to travel overseas to do aid work in East Timor, India or Africa.

 

As for risking my life, well if Australia were under attack as it was when the Japanese were bombing us in WW2, I would join the defensive, yes.

[Enoch]

Incidentally, military service is a job, you get paid. In return you accept risk and follow orders. Thats fundamentally incompatible with acting according to your own beliefs. As long as the aim of British involvement coincides with his philosophies, all is well, but he shouldn't make any assumptions. Neither can he just go home if reality no longer conforms to his belief.

Does the paycheck muddy the waters? Sure. But that doesn't mean that it makes the endeavor "fundamentally incompatable" with acting based on moral beliefs. Lots of people take low-paying jobs that do "good work" (social work, non-profit entities, clergy, some government work, etc.) because of their beliefs when they could be more highly paid with less morally-centered employment. Their sacrafice is of a lesser degree than that of pure volunteers, but that doesn't make it non-existant.

 

 

I am far too plagued with self-doubt to take any particularly significant action on behalf of my beliefs.

[Gorgon]

Yes, but everyday heroes like social workers aren't ordered to kill people. You can't have a sudden attack of morals in the middle of a firefight.

 

You give up on politics and do what you're told, and national interests rarely ever fuse with morals. If you believe your country's military to be some kind of generally benevolent organization for the suppression of evil and the upholding of good, you are surely deluding yourself, no matter where you are from.

Edited April 22, 2008 by Gorgon