Patriotic+or+Dumb

I beleive the people in the civil war were either patriotic or dumb. I say patriotic for a number of reasons. They were patriotic because the people in the civil war were fighting for people they did not know, and that is amazingly brave to me. They are putting their lives on the line for complete bravery and that earns my respect. The soldiers in the civil war either were smart and knew about slavery and were dedicated to ending it or just completemorons for fighting for a cause that they did not know or care about. They were pretty much killing themselves other wise known as commitiing suicide. Now i say dumb because they in fact are risking their life for a complete stranger. Yes it is brave but if not for the right reason it could be dumb. They may not have considered it bad but we consider the conditions dreadful. Like 1 bullet to the arm they might of had to amputate it back then. Now a days people would not eveen consider getting amputated if we got shot. I dont know what does everyone else think. 1204168337

I really don't think the northerners were fighting out of their strong devotion to end slavery. You either accept your service out of years of being conditioned to believe it is just, or you were drafted. For the most part soldiers were isolated and unaware of the war's underlying interests and outcomes. It is ridicules to say the civil war was fought to end slavery, that is like saying the Iraq war is to protect Iraqi's or the Spanish American war was out of defense. Wars are constructed by a selected elite that aren't just going to get involved in just any mess, it has to have underlying business interests. Not that the emancipation proclamation really did much good for the freedom of African Americans. I think many US soldiers today aren't necessarily out their out of patriotism, but because they were given promises of money for college, after recruiters tactically targeted poor students. A college degree isn't so cool when you have severe PTSD or missing limbs. And for the soldiers out their out of patriotism, many are too stupid to understand how things are really set up, that they are just tools and that the war is a lie, just like every other military occupation or political conflict. 1204174098

So i happen to agree with some of your statements Mlo but i think that you have taken them to an unnecessary extreme. Chances are that during the Civil war no one really knew what they were fighting for. News really wasnt able to get around like it does today. and i believe that there definently is some truth to saying that a portion of our military is only there because they were told that their would be college offers after their time was served. But i have to strongly disagree with this conflict being a lie. The way Bush entered this war may have been deceitful but a war with the middle east was inevitable. To bash our government for this is just unreasonable. The leaders in the middle east feel it is their calling to take over and convert the US to islam and they will do this in a violent way. They think that is possible for them to take our country over and a conflict with them was inevitable. In my view i am just glad that the war is bing fought over there and not in or own backyards. 1204256756

i think that patriotic is definitly the wrong word because that means devoted to your country, they were fighting to end slavery or because they were fighting because there country needed them. like mlo said they were fighting because they got drafted or they were already in the army and they were not cowards and burned there draft cards. they stood by there country and fought, and maybe they believed in slavery, just because you lived in the north doesn't mean you belived in ending slvery, it was not very often that it would happen but it did. dumb isn't right either, just because soe people were fighting for what they beklieved in even though wrong to many it may have seemed right to them. e.g.; the iraq's are fighting for jihad, progression of islam, they believe in that, but most of the world thinks that it is nuts to have guys run around with bombs attached to them. they believe it's right and are fighting for it. so, point is don't call them dumb call them misplaced.

1204177424

I think the soldiers in the Civil War were patriotic. All though fighting for a stupid cause, they basically said "man up" and they fought. Mostly all soldiers left behind either a wife and children or people the loved. For younger soldiers such as drummer boys, they left behind there familes and at a young age acted in a sense of bravery. Many of them knew that the war could not be stopped and the next best thing to do was to get it over as fast as possible. Also, the main cause of the war was to settle the dispute concerning slavery and prevent the nation from seperating into two, so I think we should look at these individuals as patriots and respect them. 1204225465

Overall, I think anyone associated with the Civil War was most likely dumb or ignorant in some sort of way. Anyone that feels as if killing for some sort of reason is ok, then they're dumb. I believe that so many people could've gone about handling what led up to the Civil War, in such a better way then it was. I understand many people wanted slavery to continue while so many others wanted it to end. Disagreements come about in life all the time and we can't just cause an up-roar if it doesn't go our way. We either have to make a compromising decision that will put not only ourselves but others at peace. And as you can see, this wasn't proved during this war. I think if anyone would've turned agaisn't the war and made some vital decision in terms to make themselves happy without hurting anyone - then they'd be smart. 1204254139

No offense, but I think that is ridiculas. I don't quite get how anyone could say that being a patriot is dumb. There is always a reason why we go into war. The north and south were obviously suppose to stick together and be united as a country. But, a conflict arose. It's not like we just decided to because we assumed the enemy wouln't cooperate. We tried to make peace, a number of times. But that didn't get us anywhere did it. Americans stand up for themselves, we take action in making this country a better place to live. I highly doubt anyone is going to solve anything by writting a letter to all the terrorists asking them to stop attacking the U.S. Well, maybe if you add a please and thank you .(sarcism) In summary, my point is that we should not even begin to question the bravery soldiers possess. It takes alot of nerve to wake up every morning and risk your life for others. Plus, lets be for real here guys, don't try and tell me that the Civil War was stupid..because it wasn't. Thanks to Lincoln, we are free. 1204255569

There are some conflicts that can never be solved without violence and war. This is my belief. There are people out there who believe that all problems can be solved through discussion or compromise, but when both sides are set on what they want and nobody's gonna budge on the subject you have to take the discussions to the battle field. It's not like the first thing that happened after the south left was for someone to attack. Both sides saw that neither would budge so they both excepted that war was in their near future. The north figured that the war was going to be very short and that they would win easily. The Civil War was never expected to be as bloody or violent as it was. 1204674191

Soldiers in the past have showed that they are the most patriotic and brave in the battle field but if you do some research some were not even aware of the consequences of war or what they were always fighting for. Because there are people that may have lived in the deepest corner of the country but by mere chance they got selected to go and fight for a group of hillbillies that sing your favorite songs but neither they nor you know what may happen tomorrow. I also think that it would be stupid for an African American to be fighting in the lines of the confederate but there maybe were some that were forced to do it and they would never know that they were fighting for their own slavery. If you are going to talk about the heroism that a person has the only way that it may be showed is if the person is dedicated and demonstrates that he think and act at the same time because yea I could probably take a bullet for a loved one but my logic would not let me stand in front of a person that I don't know and not even gorge bush. Being patriotic is being loyal to a country but I think the word that ssi was looking for is probably heroism or bravery. Because if I had a French friend that was fighting for my side I would take the bullet for him but I wouldn’t think I was being patriotic. 1205010198hre

I don't understand how you could say that anyone in the Civil War was dumb. They fought for the end of slavery and defended us and you say they're dumb. I think that they would for sure be patriotic. We always go into war because of a conflict, in the Civil Warthe conflict was slavery. Slavery came to an end because of this war. This War was the fight of wrong against right. It was wrong to treat other human beings like animals and make them do all of the work while others just sit around all day and can enjoy their life. All of the people in the war left family and friends to go fight for our country. They had to make sacrifices so our country could become a better nation. I'm not saying that war is right because i don't like it at all, but the Civil War was something that i thought needed to be changed. All of the soldiers put their lives on the line and people have the ability to call them dumb! I think that can just be rude or disrespectful to them. In some cases, people signed up in the war to fight, but others had no choice and were forced to. I think that people who says that they were dumb is just rude to other people that fought for our rights.1205098971ape2

I think every one who fights for there country is brave. I know that i dont have the balls to fight for our country. But in the the civil war you had to fight against your same country. what if a man from the north had relatives in the south now if it were me i would not want to go up against my family becasue your fighting to kill your relatives. Now you have to have bravery and courage to do that for the people you dont no. Now in some situations you could be dumb for example killing your self. it might be just me but its kind of a stupid thing to do. Now for the people that choose suicide man up and fight for your country there are a ton of other people out there fighting and not killing themselves.1205200402

I don’t really get the thought process on how the Civil War is dumb, I think actually it is the exact opposite. They fought for the end of slavery and to defend us. Even though we were fighting to end slavery there were a lot of innocent American lives that were lost in the Civil War. I would call the soldiers who fought I the war patriotic not dumb in any sense. Slavery came to an end because of this war, where would we be in this world with out it. There were wrong and right parts to this war. The wrong parts were we lost so many Americans in this war that left family and friends behind. The right part was for the pride of the country and to finally end slavery for good. 1205209763

I agree with you on that one Jimmy! The civil war was not dumb. It was patrioctic the stood up for what the believed in they just had to happen two different ideas and it could not be solved in a debate with words rather than with guns. There were just two differnt views that made and broke the United States. But I do agree with MAP2 it is stupid when you are fighting against a American who once belonged to the same country as you did and stood for the same reasons as you once did. They werent differnet they just had differnt way of life. If the North had flat land like the south did the North would have ended up the same way. Just think about the whole landscape idea. Another dumb thing was becuase of this war so many faimlies firends and etc were seperated for a stupid reason. For example two brothers and a mother was split because one believed in what lincon believed in. Everyone did everything else the same but just the whole war situaion about slavery was stupid and unnesscary I wish along with many others that this could have been sovled a different way. 1205383217Ale2 I don’t agree. I believe that the people were definitely not dumb no matter that circumstance but I do agree that they were patriotic. No matter when your fighting your always fighting for something, in a war you can look a number of different ways that your contribution helps. It can help the cause, it can help the country, it can help mankind, there is a endless amount of things. They were not dumb, they fought for a reason no matter what, whether they were drafted or not, whether they believe in it or not, they are most definitely patriots. They might of not known, the people they were fighting for, but they knew it was for a good cause, they knew slavery was bad and if they didn’t they honored their country and at least fought to help it. And for the south they weren’t dumb either, slavery was a way life and it didn’t seem a very wrong for them. It was the way they were raised, it was a part of life and if anyone of us were to live down there in that period we wouldn’t have thought very different. 1205369698

This is a really good argument with a ton of good points and suggestions. I agree that during the Civil War most of the soldiers probably knew what they were fighting for but didn't fight because of that fact. Back then being a soldier, you didn't get praised for what you do with nice care packages, and concerts at your base from big rockstars. It was just a way of life they did what they did because that was all they knew most of those soldiers were probably in the army because all the other men in their family were too. Or because they had nothing better to do no future in a carreer for them. So I feel bad saying that they weren't patriotic but considering their times and situation it was almost like they didn't know they were patriotic. As for them being dumb I disagree. I mean yes of course they were risking their lives but so are the troops in Iraq. They have a much better chance of survival now with our advances in medicine but I don't think soldiers in the Civil War considered things like this. Most of them were proud to do what they do regardless of what could happen to them. It's like you don't have to be a soldier to get killed anything could happen to you right now. But you don't stay in your room your whole life thinking something could happen to you. 1205465330

I think that the war was patriotic in a way, but also dumb at the same time. It was patriotic because the soldiers were fighting for what they believed in, but i don't think that they knew what was to come with the way they were fighting. Soldiers risked everything they had to leave and fight to protect the ones they loved and their country. I don't think that people gave enough credit to those who actually did fight. There was many people that lost their lives, that it seems that the soldiers didn't see the impact that the war would make on their lives. I think its great that they chose to do something that they believed in, but while doing so they risked so much and weren't aware of what was going to be the outcome of their choices. 1205470379