Feb 18, 18 / Pis 21, 02 02:56 UTC
Re: No need for military. ¶
I disagree completely. To believe that just because we value peace and cooperation that others will too, is naive and ignores all of human history. When (not if), Asgardia develops its own space station, the need to protect it is vital. The United States, China and Russia (the main states with space capabilities) are all extremely aggressive. Do any of you really think that they're going to be okay with Asgardia's trips into space? Of course they won't. They have no interest in benefiting humanity. They're only interested in their own national interests.
If we truly wish to see a united and peaceful humanity, simple gestures of good will are going to get us nowhere. To be entirely idealistic is naive. To be entirely pragmatic is dangerous. There must be a balance. It's better to have a Defence Force and not need to use it, than to need it and not have it. It seems to me that many of you are incredibly idealistic, a sentiment I admire. However, as I learnt as an idealistic teenager, you need to balance idealism with pragmatism. Otherwise you are just inviting disaster.
People don't necessarily want you to succeed. And the bigger your dream, the more people that are going to come out of the woodwork to try to stop you. At that's the point that some people miss. They want to come out of a struggle unscathed. They hope that with this grand change, this revolutionary idea they have, that people will just fall in love and get in line. That's not the way that people work.
"You have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something at some point in your life." Victor Hugo.