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Comment by bronzeage | Hacker News Reader

Why US citizens hate their army so much? All i know is that if google announced it's working with our army on some AI projects, the response would be overwhelmingly positive, and people would praise Google for that.

(I'm from Israel if you're wondering)

And I think US are a minority in that the citizens despise their own government and army this much. Which really makes you wonder what's the whole point of democracy if you trust your own elected officials less than Russians trust their corrupted monarch.

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As a fellow Israeli, I believe Americans don't feel their military is the only barrier between them and an impending doom as Israelis do. For some Americans, their military is just an oppression tool fighting colored people halfway around the world.

Other than that, there's a distrust towards authorities which US was founded upon, which I consider healthy and beneficial. As much as it lends itself to conspiracy theories and a drive to destroy the system, it also provides checks and balances against the world's strongest superpower becoming a tyranny.

Do US citizens hate their army so much? The typical international stereotype for Americans is the opposite, especially with high respect for soldiers and veterans. Although I guess that's slightly different: respect for the individuals, but less respect for the overall organization that has them fighting "useless" wars. Little of it's fighting is fighting direct threats to the US mainland.

The US still has a culture around respecting the military that's quite foreign to many other countries.

I think your perception of US as being anti-military is mostly wrong. The vast majority of Americans love their military. The US wouldn't have doubled its military budget in the past decade if most people didn't support it enthusiastically. They wouldn't stand and cheer members of the military at most sporting events, or invite them to board civilian airplanes before anyone else, including the rich or disabled.

Americans often offer multiple dissenting opinions because our Constitution invites us to think independently and speak critically. This is a product of our being a breakaway republic separated by revolution which then defined itself and its government just as monarchies became obsolete.

Dissent and debate is in our blood.

well, why do Israelis love their army so much? I think to know the answer, but be aware Israel is a very special case for so many reasons.

Edit: and the contrary is true, Americans loves their army, and they are all about that "thank you for your service" rhetoric, so perhaps just Israel top that.

Most of Israelis serve in army that gives them an inside perspective of what is Army, how it functions and its goals. Americans see it from the mass media perspective only, which creates the same feelings in people like when non-Israelis see the news on Gaza fighting - very superficial and inducing very strong emotions. IMHO.

Indeed, that's could be an explanation.

Also Switzerland has conscription / compulsory draft, and among a lot of Swiss, the army is seen with sympathy.

That said, I met a couple of Israelis that left the country for good because their experience with the army was so bad. I guess that there is some "voting with legs" going on.

>very superficial and inducing very strong emotions. IMHO.

I think spending part of your young adult life participating in the actions and socialisation of an institution, and then living in a society where everyone around you shares that experience, creates far stronger emotional influence on people's judgements than seeing some people you don't know being shot in a far away country.

Because most people here are rather left-wing, and I feel that the majority of lefties hold the US military establishment (rightfully, IMHO) in very low regard, due to recent activities and engagements — e.g. the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombing of Libya and Syria, and so on.

Not to imply this is only a position of the political left; it's my experience, however, that left-wing folk, including myself, are not exactly overflowing with praise for the US military...

Some US citizens absolutely hate the US military.

Other citizens respect and value it.

Unfortunately, many of the former group are also dedicated liberals, and many of the latter group are also dedicated conservatives. Given the state of the culture war in the US today, its difficult to determine how much of any individual's opinion on Project Maven is driven by their opinions as an individual, and how much is driven by their allegiance to one their side in the culture war.

It doesn't help that the political right has made veneration of military service one of their core principles. The left's claim is that veneration of military service is used as a psychological wedge to lever support for military action as well, and they are probably right (for some fraction of the population).

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