this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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Because simply saying something is never good enough. People just say shit all the time, where a court has a responsibility to actually try to find the truth.
Think about a murder case. Should you release everyone that simply says they didn't do it, or should the court look for more evidence of their innocence?
It's a messy process because it has to be. Historically, we used to use even sillier methods, like trial by combat and such. Just your words alone has never really been good enough though, because people can just say stuff.
Even when the things they're saying "sound" reasonable, that's still not good enough.
Murder and being against human suffering are 2 wildly different things. I have absolutely no problem taking people at their word on matters of base humanity. Not so for murder. You can tell they're different because one is a felony. If somebody happens to lie about being a decent person to get out of the military, great, more power to em. Whatever they do instead will be far more useful than fighting some pointless war.
The reason their word is good enough is that they're not denying a crime, they're claiming a positive. If everyone started claiming they're a pacifist, things would get better, not worse.
I'm not trying to debate the values, just explain the law. But no, if everyone claimed to be a pacifist, I do not think that would improve things. Everyone would have to actually want to be one too. Conscription evasion is a crime there though, very clearly, wouldn't you say?
The law and the values are indistinguishable. Something being the law does not in any way make it right. So the question is not what the law is, but what it should be. Otherwise you end up arguing in favor of the fugitive slave act. My point is that S Korea is doing a bad thing, not that they aren't literally enforcing their own laws correctly.