As a wannabe author, I could only be so lucky to get my work “pirated”. Free publicity.

Nice nick name.

That is a fair criticism. I respect it.

I’m not subtracting my own empathy towards those people by choosing to denounce their aggressors through harsh words. I’m throwing vitriole towards their aggressors.

It may be considered as such today but it panned as not worthy of the time for many years.

The 13th Warrior was another of those movies that got thrown into the grinder by critics and cinephiles for being not worth the effort just to develop a cult following in response.

Which remebers me of another panned movie: Pathfinder

And while we’re at it, let’s add both Dredd movies (the second is the best) and the Demolition Man.

It got a reaction out of you because if the way it is phrased, didn’t it? That was the objective.

Sadly enough, those who triggered this disaster think in these same terms. And look where it has led.

No mandatory service of any kind, full stop.

If there is something that needs to be widely known by the population, you make it part of the daily life, introduce it at school curriculum, run low profile campaigns that steadily grow awareness and make access to developing such knowledge/skills easy to all.

I can think of the example of learning how to use a defibrilator, which has become a standard for any person graduating highschool in my country. Stupidly enough, if I want to learn that exact same skill, today, I have to pay a hefty sum, in a country where lack of preparation to give immediate aid to someone in need has been identified as a serious problem.

It wasn’t that many years ago that a think tank proposed the reinstatement of conscription as a means to reestablish and ingrain notions of patriotism, sense of duty and honor into its population. This was the general sense of the “findings” of such work group.

This is extremely dangerous reasoning to have to argue in favor of military service enforced on a population. To call it badly veilled fascism is being polite.

Basic trainning takes little time. Handling a gun is easy; it’s a very complex machine made simple enough to be handled by a dunce. It also takes very little time to drum in basic notions of rank and role.

Specialization can only take place after that basic training, which serves the purpose to caracterize the individual inside the group, their capabilities and motivation.

If an individual volunteers, usually the motivation is already high. A conscript, not very much.

A country belongs to its people. The notion is too often reversed, which leads to very bad outcomes.

My country had mandatory military service - let’s call what it was - conscription, up to 2004/06 and it only served to fill the heads of young boys with dung.

Volunteer, professional, well trained, well equiped, armed and prepared effectives are the backbone of what modern armed forces are, not quickly churned out cannon fodder.

I smell a very convenient scape goat to have another war declared in a very near future.

No, no and hell no.

It is sickening the notion of forcing someone, anyone, into bearing arms. It serves no purpose besides indoctrinating young minds into a set of ideas that serves no other purpose besides an opaque agenda of whatever government is in power.

If/when push comes to shove and europeans find themselves in true risk of being invaded by any foreign figure, there will be willing people to move to take on the task of defending their soil.

It’s a good number of decades europeans haven’t picked up weapons to kill each other. It’s not like Europe forgot how it is done.

By eliminating the next generation(s) and the females in fertile age, it is more effective at wiping out a population than engaging directly with it.

This is valid for getting rid of vermin, capable of explosive breeding.

No need to guess what the results will be when applied to human beings.

Somehow, I really don’t think this will be the time China will bankrupt.

Open up your heart and let the Patrick Swayze Christmas in

My tastes may be questionable but that is too much even for me.

I remember seeing the first one in the theater when I was a kid and I later saw a letter my Mom was writing where she said it was a dumb movie, but the kids liked it. I was offended!

The movies can be considered bad, for today’s standards but for what I care, it was a great way to spend some time. Where else could we se cannibal Care Bears?

I still enjoy the movie today.

And I once found it in book format but the text was too riddled with errors and typos to be enjoyable and worth the asking price.

One thing I had to learn quickly was that my preference towards anything cultural was not in line with what my peers found good/cool, so I strode down the road of enjoying what I enjoy and let others enjoy whatever they enjoy.

Here’s a short list:

Roadhouse

The 13th Warrior

Both Ewoks movies

Leave the brains alone.

Sand and lack of oil.

Smart ass replies aside, if I’m low on sleep, anything - and I do mean anything - has the potencial to grind my gears.

They accomplish that and the already diminutive presence they have in the world will shrink even more.

Once.

Today, I was the 1% getting to know something new.