Politics_Observer wrote:Because when it comes to our soldiers I throw down and fight for them because it's very personal to me.
This is exactly where the issue is.
We are usually firmest, or even emotional, about a matter when it affects ourselves or those close to us. You can see how much hate I can have against China apologists or even intellectual members who just happen to be rational on China's rise, to the point that I sometimes intercede in their comments on topics totally unrelated to China. I think you are having a similar view towards American military service and the surveillance program as a whole -- it is next to impossible for you to accept that "some people simply do not and will not understand what and why you think soldiers' lives are NOT expendable AND Snowden's act was treacherous", because of what you and your fellows have suffered during your service.
I won't have any comment on it. Military service is about human lives themselves, and it will be highly insensitive for me to say anything about it.
However, I think the real problem is that we simply have different priorities in our lives. I hate China apologists -- so much that I don't hesitate to say some may need to be killed like Osama bin Laden or Qasem Soleimani if necessary -- because what they advocate will seriously harm the lives of me, my family, and my contemporaries. However, I also know that some of them have seen the dark side of the Western democratic capitalist system so much that they will
never believe the Chinese and / or the Socialist one are actually far worse than whatever they suffer from, and I have to live with that.
As such, I think we all should understand that such difference in personal experience and worldview, means that sometimes even the most casual comment can cause belligerence.
To the very least, I do NOT believe Member Godstud and MistyTiger mean to offend you here, even if they might be speaking more strongly or emotionally than they usually do.