October 18, 2005
Stop Recruiting Young Men!
More idiocy:"Because of the potential for abuse and the threat to the personal privacy rights of a generation of American youth, we request that the JAMRS (Joint Advertising and Market Research Studies) project be immediately ended," the groups wrote in their letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
See, a database would have the name, Social Security number, age and ethnicity of over 30 million Americans between the ages of 16 and 65. Of course, it's not much more than many telemarketing agencies that sell everything from insurance to magazine subscriptions.
The organizations that signed the letter, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, also charged that the program's measures go beyond traditional recruitment methods.
The ACLU? No surprise there. And if traditional methods fail, why not update them? This is the 21st century, after all. Disbanding the armed forces altogether would be preferable, I guess, but keeping them in the Dark Ages when it comes to recruiting is the next best choice.
The program recommends that mothers' views on military service and polls of young adults also be taken into consideration.
How many young men do you know who live their lives according to their mothers' wishes? If they did, there would be a lot fewer rock star wannabes, drug dealers and porn stars in this world. Is the next step of these groups to target police and fire departments' recruiting methods too? After all, those are dangerous occupations that make moms worry.
I once had a chat with some lefty friends about how movie theaters show advertisements before the film starts. We all agreed that to pay nearly $10 and have ads thrown at us is outrageous. One woman was particularly vehement about the ads by the Air Force, Army and other branches of the military. "They shouldn't allow them," she declared.
I replied, "They have just as much right to advertise as anyone else." She had no answer, of course, because I was right.
The AARP can have access to my data in order to start harrassing me for money when I turn 55, but the military can't try to recruit using the same methods? These complainers are probably the same people who support nationalized health care, where all of your most private information would be accessible through a national database.
All a young man (or woman, sorry!) has to do is say, "No."
Maybe these groups would prefer that the military send their recruiters to nursing homes?
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