"The Honorable Service of Ukraine Veterans"

[Debater Slayer]

I have seen some people praise people who fought for the US military in Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq. This ranges from praising veterans' "sacrifice," "courage," or "honorable service" to arguing that they fought to "protect [Americans'] freedoms."

Let's say that years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine has ended, Russia decides to erect a monument honoring "Ukraine veterans." Then Russian media and public figures publicly praise the actions and "honorable service" of Russian military personnel who fought in Ukraine, saying that they fought and made sacrifices for their country's "freedom."

How would you, as someone who recognizes the Ukraine war as an act of aggression rife with war crimes, view such acts of praise and honoring of "Ukraine veterans" or what they did in Ukraine? Would you sympathize, be neutral, or find said acts problematic and harmful?

On a related note, this is exactly how a lot of Arabs feel when we hear or read praise for the "service" of Iraq veterans. If you heard someone praise the actions of some who took part in killing half a million of your people, torturing many others, and committing various war crimes in the invaded country, consider what your response would be. That's why a lot of people don't view it as a negative thing to object to glorification of veterans' participation in certain wars.

It is one thing to honor lost lives and mourn the loss thereof; it is quite another to specifically praise the circumstances in which they were lost or imply that the wars in which they died were remotely honorable or justified.

 

[Aštra’el]

I respect and understand it.

 

[icehorse]

How would you, as someone who recognizes the Ukraine war as an act of aggression rife with war crimes, view such acts of praise and honoring of "Ukraine veterans" or what they did in Ukraine? Would you sympathize, be neutral, or find said acts problematic and harmful?

Great OP! For me, this is a really complex situation to work through.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I have seen some people praise people who fought for the US military in Vietnam, Afghanistan, or Iraq. This ranges from praising veterans' "sacrifice," "courage," or "honorable service" to arguing that they fought to "protect [Americans'] freedoms."

Let's say that years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine has ended, Russia decides to erect a monument honoring "Ukraine veterans." Then Russian media and public figures publicly praise the actions and "honorable service" of Russian military personnel who fought in Ukraine, saying that they fought and made sacrifices for their country's "freedom."

How would you, as someone who recognizes the Ukraine war as an act of aggression rife with war crimes, view such acts of praise and honoring of "Ukraine veterans" or what they did in Ukraine? Would you sympathize, be neutral, or find said acts problematic and harmful?

On a related note, this is exactly how a lot of Arabs feel when we hear or read praise for the "service" of Iraq veterans. If you heard someone praise the actions of some who took part in killing half a million of your people, torturing many others, and committing various war crimes in the invaded country, consider what your response would be. That's why a lot of people don't view it as a negative thing to object to glorification of veterans' participation in certain wars.

It is one thing to honor lost lives and mourn the loss thereof; it is quite another to specifically praise the circumstances in which they were lost or imply that the wars in which they died were remotely honorable or justified.

It would probably remind me of my uncle and the thousands of other men who were forced into servitude, forced to go kill and be killed in a land they had no business in, had their lives disrupted, ruined, and even many of those who survived would ultimately die from injuries and chemical exposures during their "service."
There's nothing glorious or glamorous about it, and that does nothing more than firmly demonstrate we need some major bull**** excuses to view this in a positive light rather than the waste of life that it was.

 

[Father Heathen]

Uncritical hero worship of military (and law enforcement) is ingrained into our culture. All their actions are justified as "defending freedom" and people don't question it.

The only thing that poses an actual threat to our freedom, however, are our own legislators and those who elect them.