Military service is not good for Estonia

Posted: July 12th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Estonia, thoughts | 2 Comments »

The debate regarding compulsory military connects to everything that is wrong in Estonia: outdated gender stereotypes, ultra-nationalism, discrimination based on ethnicity, paternalism, distrust of youth, homophobia, etc. These are the things that I consider fighting against in this otherwise rather nice country.

The debate regarding military service brings all this out in the open, because there are not so many rational arguments for keeping it as it does not help to strengthen national security in any way, but rather weakens it by misplacing resources into meaningless and futile activities. The direct economic cost for the young men missing from study or work for a period may be calculated, but it is much more difficult to calculate the indirect social costs that military service creates (for example by entrenchment of gender stereotypes). Culturally, it is difficult to combine the peaceloving peasant individualist Estonian nature with the idea of collective national defence. Huge pompuous armies are not very Estonian.

Outdated gender stereotypes are a real problem in Estonia. The state is working hard to change them on one hand, but on the other hand it also reinforces them by limiting military service requirement to young men only. Many people still think that man should be the one who takes care of the family and protects it, and that those who have not participated in the military service are somehow less worth in that regard.

Military service is also a threat to democracy. Not only does it teach conformism and discipline, it is also patriotic brainwashing (although admittedly not very effective). Nationalism is good only when it is moderated and respectful of others, not when it is used in political debate.

Read more (in Estonian):

Endine kaitseminister ei poolda ajateenistuse kummardamist: http://www.postimees.ee/?id=286584,

Kas ajateenistust ootab hääbumine? http://www.postimees.ee/?id=286404,

Aaviksoo: sõjaväekohustus püsib veel vähemalt sajandi http://uudised.err.ee/index.php?06209174

Read my article from 2008 (in Estonian): http://www.postimees.ee/250608/esileht/arvamus/338259.php

2 Comments on “Military service is not good for Estonia”

  1. 1 Name said at 13:36 on September 11th, 2010:

    what a load of crap!
    On ilmne, et oma seksuaalse orientatsiooni pärast jäid ajateenistusest kõrvale, seega on väga kahtlane võtta sõna teemal, mida ise ei tea. Kui ainsad argumendid ja info ajateenistusest pärinevad rubriigist “üks tädi turul rääkis”, siis tasub mokk maas hoida.
    Käi ajateenistuses ära või ole Kaitseliidus aastakene, tee kaasa metsalaagrid, ellujäämiskursused, tee sutsu sporti, õpi saama hakkama ka siis, kui boyfriend ei tee hommikuks pannkooke ning Selver pole käeulatuses, ning siis ja alles siis võta sõna.

  2. 2 VV said at 18:57 on September 25th, 2010:

    I don’t know if you write anymore, but I really like to read your texts :)

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