You didn't ask for this. I'm sorry. Ukraine is so fucking far from over, but it's a related set of omelettes, b/c fascism.

To publicly de-fang two arguments I've very recently heard from two very different people:

1) "Military service is slavery!"

No, it's not. Military service, in this day and age in America, is a voluntary contract between an individual and the federal state. Slavery, by definition, is essentially entirely involuntary (fuck off w/ "indentured servitude" shit arguments). Military service is individually consensual.

2) "Mandatory public service would be slavery!"

No, it's not. Ideally, any mandatory public service (like, what, 1 year? 2 years?) would be the result of a majority of citizens agreeing to institute the policy upon themselves, their children, etc. etc. Although the agreement is made above the level of the individual, the collective has spoken in their belief of acting in the best interest of the collective. Public service would be collectively consensual.

If you can't understand how belittling either of those arguments comes across to the all-too-typically-economically-disenfranchised descendants of slaves, that's funny! That's hilarious, to me. Like "making jokes about children getting shot" levels of humor. Which I have totally done, even on this website recently! We have so much in common. Let's destroy society together.