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Thought I'd try in a different thread, feel free to delete the old one.
Right, recently came across a questionnaire on Facebook about who should get paid more, soldiers or footballers (as in soccer players for all you young American chaps.)
The amount of people saying 'soldiers because they risk their lives.' was astounding.

Let me quote a few of what people said.
u people are sick who chose footballers - 105 likes
who the fuck said footballers. really. gtfo. - 3 likes
Seriously, if you answered footballers, you're a fucking moron - 2 likes
people who get shot at and risk their lives, or people who kick a ball then fall and cry for 90 minutes. I know who gets my vote. - 2 likes

Now, I'm aware this is the general consensus, so I shouldn't be so shocked, but I am. Anyway, time to deconstruct some points!

people who get shot at and risk their lives, or people who kick a ball then fall and cry for 90 minutes. I know who gets my vote.
Well, for me, the footballers. Getting shot at is not a legitimate reason to get paid at all, let alone in the thousands of pounds a week. Also, do these people not accept the fact that they will get shot and and they also SEE THE WAGE THEY WILL BE EARNING and see WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO IN ORDER TO EARN THAT WAGE, they accept that and join, why should they be paid more if they join the army accepting the wage and it's still oversubscribed? If anything because of that they should be paid less.

u people are sick who chose footballers - 105 likes
who the fuck said footballers. really. gtfo. - 3 likes
Seriously, if you answered footballers, you're a fucking moron - 2 likes

All ad hominem, which people often resort to when they have no legitimate point to argue.
I see no reason why these people are 'sick' and 'morons' because they have a differing point of view, and without justification it just makes you look weak.

.

Oh come on Teen Forumz, let me post the rest of my shit this is ridiculous. E-rage.

I really hate the comparison between footballers and soldiers. It's ridiculous. Any job someone goes into, they know what the pay will be and what the job entails. Yeah there's a risk that they'll get shot if they're in the army, but why does that mean they should get more money? If it's a problem, don't join the army simple as.

Indeed, I'm going to attempt to post the rest of my thread, if it fails I will cry.

Now, for the logical arguments.
Reasons for choosing footballers:
There are few footballers that get paid the best money, the 20-100k pounds a week, who are the best in the world at their trade, now, anybody can become a soldier, I could go and apply to become a soldier now and I would most likely get in (though I've heard it's awfully oversubscribed at the moment) whereas if I applied to be a footballer in the lower tiers, which are usually part time jobs and pay very little, much less than a soldier would get paid, I doubt I would get in, because even these people are good at what they do. Football is a popular sport with lots of people playing it, only the best can do it professionally.
Also, the only reason footballers get paid so much is because of what they have on their shirts, advertisements, along with ticket sales, shirt sales, sponsorship deals, TV rights and much more. This is where all the revenue come from. Now, say footballers wages get cut this means the advertising revenue would also get cut. If the advertising revenue gets cut to a point where any small business can afford it then there will be competition for the advertisement meaning that the price of it will rise again to a point in which it will be back to the original with only the larger businesses able to afford it due to the global popularity of the sport. It's the same for the rest of them really, tickets cost less, more people can afford them, more competition to buy them due to the popularity of the sport, etc etc.
There would be no realistic way of gaining such a revenue from war, though most wars do have a financial aspect to them (oil) though the government likes to keep this covered up die to the fact that if they openly advertised the fact that they were killing with a financial aspect in mind then I don't think that would go down very well with even the most die-hard pro-army people.
Unless you want all wars televised with pre and post match interviews, the soldiers wearing branded clothing and multiple advertisement breaks throughout the war, I don't think soldiers will be getting a pay rise anytime soon.
In your fairy-tale land then go for it and pay soldiers more.
Also, you have to think about the ethics of murder due to a not necessarily true belief that you're doing it for 'freedom', in which you merely instate your regime onto a different country because you do not like their actions, so, if anything, soldiers are oppressing the citizens of the countries they've invaded.
I also do not believe in government sponsored murder, that is, going to war in blind obedience of what your government has told you. This however is a necessity if you are in the army but I guess that is why I'm against army subscriptions. If you feel like it is a cause worth fighting for, great, go and apply for that certain war, but don't apply for the army so you can be sent anywhere else.
Also, the monetary aspect. This is that soldiers are being paid do murder. What do assassins do? Paid to murder. I see soldiers as legal assassins that are glorified in order to cover up that fact and with the enemy of any war made to seem inhuman through the news and propaganda.
Finally, there is going to war to satisfy the paranoid and scared civilians of your own country in order to gain support from them to stay in power, e.g. George W Bush with 9/11. The country was in a panic about terrorism and therefore George W Bush, being the genius that he is, decided to invade as many middle-eastern countries as realistically possible, to claim he was searching for weapons of mass destruction, in which how many were found? 0. So surely there was another reason for this mass invasion? Perhaps a scarce resource in which there is in these countries? Oil perhaps? Which leads back to a monetary aspect.
Anyway I'm done for now. And seeing as this is in the debates forum then post an opposing view, or a similar view if you so wish, however please do not state something without explaining why and please do not use ad hominem.

Finally.

It's a stupid comparison to be honest.. It's a sport vs, getting shot at, seeing people die, get blown up, seeing dead children, homeless/starving people, body parts, their best friends and teams getting their legs blown off but you can't help them as they scream and bleed to death, faces blown off men laying on the ground, and not only having to get shot at... but having to kill people for the greater good.. that's something that fucks up a lot of soldier's lives. Actually killing someone is hard to do, even if they're "bad people" many never go back to the same person, loose their families due to the change, their whole lives etc. So it's not just getting shot at. Now whether you believe that it's right or wrong, the majority of people who join the army are legit doing it for our country. they aren't in it for the money, and many don't get paid enough for their families at home to survive off of as if he had a normal job. people who do it for the money don't just drop everything for five years or whatever and go through all this, they don't leave their unborn babies and pregnant wives, young children, and have to look them in the eyes and say 'Ill be back' but in the back of their mind know there's a decent chance they wont.. Sure, there's people who will do that for the money, but the majority, thousands of people in America... no.. that's not how the average person is. And the army is made up of average people. If you disagree with the army, fine, but don't hate the people for it, hate the world because the world can't exist without war.

Little white flowers will never awaken you, not when the cold depths have all but overtaken you.

Dearest, The days are all so long,
and in the shadows I spend them all.
My heart and I long for slumber.
Slumber I'm caressing you, I bless your touch, I lust for you.
Slumber you are not a dream, Not as much as you seem.
- Joao <3

What is to say it is for the greater good though? I don't understand the logic of murdering people that are in the same situations, who are civilians forced to be in the opposing army, and then complaining when your people get killed when you're killing their people? If you can quickly and efficiently take out the leader then sure, go for it, such as if you had killed Sadam Hussein without occupying their lands and fighting their people for a decade.
Killing people to save lives... Hm.
I never said I hate the people in the army, I hate what they're doing. What is to say that current wars, let alone any wars, are justified? Whether they think they're doing it for a good cause or not is irrelevant. It is whether it actually is, and I don't believe that effectively victimising, de-humanising and killing any opposition that gets in your way just because your government says that it's good is justification to be honest.
As for the whole oh they're saying goodbye to their children, yes they are, but that's emotional, it holds no relevance in a logical debate. If this world was run on emotions then most likely there would be a lot more conflict than there already is.

So we just let people like Kadafi or Hitler rule the world and do whatever they want..?
No, we have to fight back for the innocent lives. If we have to go through the bad people who support and worship and do anything for people like Kadafi or Hitler.. well then yes, it's for the greater good.

Little white flowers will never awaken you, not when the cold depths have all but overtaken you.

Dearest, The days are all so long,
and in the shadows I spend them all.
My heart and I long for slumber.
Slumber I'm caressing you, I bless your touch, I lust for you.
Slumber you are not a dream, Not as much as you seem.
- Joao <3

Gaddafi*
Also, what's to say the people you're fighting aren't ordinary civilians forced into conflict?
Also, what's to say that to them, you're not the evil ones? After all it is you invading their territory? It's you attacking.

And if you can't...? you just let him keep ruling the world, killing millions? torturing them? for his own pleasure? because of their religion or color? cause of their disabilities?

Oh and even if you can get rid of him you have all the ones under him who adored and worshiped him to take his place.

Little white flowers will never awaken you, not when the cold depths have all but overtaken you.

Dearest, The days are all so long,
and in the shadows I spend them all.
My heart and I long for slumber.
Slumber I'm caressing you, I bless your touch, I lust for you.
Slumber you are not a dream, Not as much as you seem.
- Joao <3