Okay, before we end up talking past each other, I’ll try to rephrase my comment more clearly:
Article: More Conscientious Objection
My comment: The current system/government is becoming less and less supportive of young people, yet expects them to be willing to defend it voluntarily.
So this is about the philosophical, macro-level question of why it’s “worth it” to die for a society.
In my view, the subjective arguments “for friends, family, and village” and “the enemy is evil” are secondary in this discussion because they have been and continue to be put forward by every side in every war. Even the young soldiers of the Revolutionary Guards believe they are defending their social environment against the “evil West,” and I’m sure this sentiment was also present among the fanatical young Russians who fell in Ukraine during the first years of the war.
Specific examples where I currently observe a “lack of solidarity with young people”:
1. Lack of climate action—The current government is actively sabotaging the energy transition in favor of special interests.
2. Dismantling the welfare state—Germany is ramping up military spending, while cutting back on higher education, parental allowance, and advance child support payments, among other things—all areas that disproportionately affect young adults.
3. Growing inequality and dwindling opportunities for upward mobility—by European standards, social mobility through one’s own efforts has never been easy in Germany, and the situation is currently getting even worse.
Okay, before we end up talking past each other, I’ll try to rephrase my comment more clearly:
Article: More Conscientious Objection
My comment: The current system/government is becoming less and less supportive of young people, yet expects them to be willing to defend it voluntarily.
So this is about the philosophical, macro-level question of why it’s “worth it” to die for a society.
In my view, the subjective arguments “for friends, family, and village” and “the enemy is evil” are secondary in this discussion because they have been and continue to be put forward by every side in every war. Even the young soldiers of the Revolutionary Guards believe they are defending their social environment against the “evil West,” and I’m sure this sentiment was also present among the fanatical young Russians who fell in Ukraine during the first years of the war.
Specific examples where I currently observe a “lack of solidarity with young people”:
1. Lack of climate action—The current government is actively sabotaging the energy transition in favor of special interests.
2. Dismantling the welfare state—Germany is ramping up military spending, while cutting back on higher education, parental allowance, and advance child support payments, among other things—all areas that disproportionately affect young adults.
3. Growing inequality and dwindling opportunities for upward mobility—by European standards, social mobility through one’s own efforts has never been easy in Germany, and the situation is currently getting even worse.