I repeat myself

From my comments when the list of all the rezzes was released.

R: Military conscription is unjust.

Interesting subject, although, well, it’s not. Unjust, I mean. Oh, it could be handled unjustly, I guess, but not inherently. Still, this rez would force people to evaluate what responsibilities we have as individuals to society, and it also might raise questions about just/unjust wars, so it could be interesting.

This remains problematic because, on face, conscription simply isn't unjust. Since no particular government is named, you can't say that it's handled unjustly (barring women or gays or something like that) because you have no specific polity against which to cite examples. You're stuck with, ahem, an inherent presumption for the aff because the aff happens to be true and few people would seriously suggest otherwise except for those whose religions/morality are anti-war (although even conscientious objectors must serve, by law). I was right in my original quick take that people will be forced to consider the responsibilities of individuals in society, but I wouldn't want to be on the side that shrugs these responsibilities off.

Sooooo, if you're going south this June, flip aff. Oh, wait. It's NFL. No flips. How about, send a few bucks into the tab room before each round, a little pourboire for the coaches. Na'ah, they probably have rules about that too.

Harumph. Well, if we adapt a Bietzian topic approach, maybe in 2010-11 all the resolutions will actually have two sides. Wouldn't that be great?

Meanwhile, I don't think I announced it here, but the Modest Novice topic is now official (and this time we really mean it). Mosey over to ModestNovice.org for the details.