A stock objections to banning the transgendered from the military is that we ought to be grateful for their service to our country. I disagree.
To begin with, the very fact that transgender members of the military are even using that appeal tells me their motivation for joining wasn't to defend our country, but to use their "service" as leverage to advance their social agenda. I refuse to reward their cynical moral extortion.
I don't owe transgender soldiers any more gratitude than I owe squeegee bandits. Don't do something I didn't ask you to do, want you to do, or approve of, then pretend you were doing it for me. Don't attempt to put me in your debt against my will. Your emotional coercion is illegitimate.
Very good point. Never thought of it like this.
ReplyDeleteDon't do something I didn't ask you to do, want you to do, or approve of, then pretend you were doing it for me. Don't attempt to put me in your debt against my will.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. My objection to military service in the place.
Hear, hear the Hays chap!
ReplyDeleteWe don't owe ANYONE gratitude for doing things we didn't ask them to do, want them to do, or approve of. This applies to the military, and to any god who claims to be able to save us (if we are willing to pay the price of belief).
ReplyDeleteThat's a deeply flawed analogy. For instance, children are utterly dependent on their parents. Good parents provide for them, not because they ask for it, but because they need it. Same thing with God's relation to his creatures.
DeleteIn addition, people often disapprove of things they shouldn't disapprove of. And some people are too proud to admit their needs, needs which only someone else can supply.
My statement was qualified by the context.
I wasn't making an analogy.
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