Critical Response
SUMMARY
In their articles, R. J. Blythe (2010), "Bring back conscription" and Dennis De Souza (2010), "Conscription? Noway!", although they both are in favor of young people making a contribution to society, they have very different perspectives on conscription, compulsory military service. Blythe stresses it should be reintroduced to solve the recent problematic shortfall in the number of military recruits. He also highlights its benefits for young people due to the disciplined environment, which can encourage the recruits to develop themselves both physically and mentally, free offer of job-related skills and its fairness. In contrast, De Souza opposes conscription, pointing out that young people can serve their country in alternative ways. In addition, he negates its brutal and violent aspects in the training, which are also not focused on the advertisement and its possible negative effects of excessive military.
DISCUSSION
Blythe believes that because of the drop in the number of military recruits, the national security is at risk currently. However, this seems to be illogical as he fails to provide reliable evidence that shows which countries are launching an offensive attack to other countries. It is widely believed that when a country in a region focuses more on building up its military, it may lead to other countries becoming more anxious on arms race in the same region as De Souza mentions. For instance, China has been investing their national resources on strengthening their military and many developing countries in the same region such as Cambodia, Vietnam, and India are threatened by their military power. If these countries have no choice to build up their military and spend a large amount of money on it to compete with China and protect themselves, it can cause hardships for poor masses. Instead of using money on their military, they can use it for develop their society. Therefore, reinforcement of military possibly creates problems and
In their articles, R. J. Blythe (2010), "Bring back conscription" and Dennis De Souza (2010), "Conscription? Noway!", although they both are in favor of young people making a contribution to society, they have very different perspectives on conscription, compulsory military service. Blythe stresses it should be reintroduced to solve the recent problematic shortfall in the number of military recruits. He also highlights its benefits for young people due to the disciplined environment, which can encourage the recruits to develop themselves both physically and mentally, free offer of job-related skills and its fairness. In contrast, De Souza opposes conscription, pointing out that young people can serve their country in alternative ways. In addition, he negates its brutal and violent aspects in the training, which are also not focused on the advertisement and its possible negative effects of excessive military.
DISCUSSION
Blythe believes that because of the drop in the number of military recruits, the national security is at risk currently. However, this seems to be illogical as he fails to provide reliable evidence that shows which countries are launching an offensive attack to other countries. It is widely believed that when a country in a region focuses more on building up its military, it may lead to other countries becoming more anxious on arms race in the same region as De Souza mentions. For instance, China has been investing their national resources on strengthening their military and many developing countries in the same region such as Cambodia, Vietnam, and India are threatened by their military power. If these countries have no choice to build up their military and spend a large amount of money on it to compete with China and protect themselves, it can cause hardships for poor masses. Instead of using money on their military, they can use it for develop their society. Therefore, reinforcement of military possibly creates problems and