The powerful regard speaking the truth as an existential threat, otherwise they wouldn’t seek to silence him.

M’profits!

Already proven. You are what is wrong with society.

Hey New Zealand. Unless you’re looking to pour cement down their bunkers once they’re all safely inside, it ain’t worth the trouble to allow the rich into your country. All they want is everything you have in exchange for fucking nothing.

Most people who join the military aren’t doing it with the idea of protecting oil by committing genocide. The murderous types are frequently kicked out of basic training, for that reason. Most people who join believe that they are protecting their country from people who would do it harm. Before this current administration, there was still a sense that our leaders could be at least somewhat trusted to sometimes do the right thing.

Yes, that is exactly how Nazis are made. Pretending otherwise isn’t going to fix the problem.

But there is a big difference between the average American soldier and fucking Nazis. If you can’t tell the difference, you’ll never be part of the solution to that problem.

Bobby absolutely has agency. But he has never had the privilege of an unbiased perspective free of weaponized propaganda.

It doesn’t excuse it, but it definitely does explain why Bobby thought he was the good guy and the other people were bad guys. If you’re only gonna pin the blame on Bobby, you’re never gonna understand and fix the real problem. Bobby isn’t just another guilty party. He’s a victim of the psychopaths in power too.

It wasn’t even a lie. I never would have gotten my life in order without signing up. My life was falling apart. Fortunately, my ship during deployment only saved lives. Nobody died on our account. But that wasn’t guaranteed.

Yes, Bobby is an idiot, by definition. He is 16, indoctrinated, poorly educated, and pumped to the gills with testosterone. He is easily manipulated by a propaganda mill that has been systematically brainwashing almost everyone since long before he got his first toy soldier, before he saw the flyover at the big ball game, since the first war movie where his countrymen were the heroes. And this same system that fucks with his head is the same system that fucks him into a life of poverty, then promises him prosperity if he signs up. Bobby has almost no defenses against this war machine.

Stop pretending that ordinary people have the skill to reject decades of government and social propaganda from childhood. Stop pretending that regular citizens are able make decisions independently of the influence from professional psychological manipulators.