[lit-ideas] Web addiction and conscripts dropping out
- From: Teemu Pyyluoma <teme17@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 04:42:30 -0700 (PDT)
> There's clearly a great deal about Finland that I
> don't begin to
> understand...
>
>
_http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=9&u=/nm/odd_finland_int
> ernet_dc_
>
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=9&u=/nm/odd_finland_internet_dc)
>
I'll explain.
My copatriots tend to be moderate practical people,
but when it comes to defence the feelings are almost
religious. We have a wartime readiness of about 1
million troops. Should you ask what exactly we need
such a force for, and you get abstract nonsense about
military vacuum or something like that. Ask the same
question from a high ranking officer, and you'll get
the same answer in different words ("necessity of a
credible independent defence", etc.)
After a few beers, he'll tell you in a quiet voice
that having to train tens of thousands of kids is a
total waste of resources, resource that could better
used to properly arm and train a much smaller
semi-professional force. Which is what we would be
reasonable given the current threats and missions,
such as Peace Keeping or even participation in
offencive operations, for which we are not going to
use concripts for anyway. Saying that out loud would
cause a public outcry, heck, we even freaked out when
a Swedish general said something to that effect about
their armed forces, including incredibly stupid
remarks from normally pacifist President Halonen about
Swedes outsourcing their defence to us.
So, Finnish military command is quietly doing what
they can to cut down the number of men they call for
duty. Including inventing fancy new pathologies such
as Web Addiction.
Cheers,
Teemu
Helsinki, Finland
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