Who Would You Have Supported In the American Civil War

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Conscription - peacetime conscription at least - is an injustice but it is beyond absurd to compare it to slavery. Seriously compare it, at any rate. And especially to American Slavery; one of the most howlingly heinous forms of slavery in history.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

They are of the same ilk.

But they aren't. Only the most extreme forms of conscription are comparable, and even then it's pretty dubious.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The word 'comparable' is sometimes used as a shorthand for 'reasonably comparable', 'fairly comparable', 'legitimately comparable, 'honestly comparable', and so on.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

@Franzl: So far as I'm concerned conscription implies the state assumes ownership of the individual.

But it doesn't. It forces service, yes. It does not claim ownership or the rights of ownership. Even the Australian convicts were not truly slaves.