I believe it is a good idea, not only will it foster a closer feeling of unity and understanding between citizens, it will also be something all citizens have in common, and something you can talk about with anyone.
I am a bit sad that I never got to do it, I did muster, but failed the hearing test, at the time I was relieved, but now, I miss it sort of.
Being forced to risk your life for something you don’t believe in won’t create a feeling of unity.
I really hope they introduce a year of social service. No matter if military, police or healthcare, everyone should experience what it feels to serve society at least once.
An interesting aspect I didn’t think of so far was recently brought by German news influencer LeFloid: It adds people to the mix of police and military that wouldn’t normally be there. The far-left tend to avoid them, while the far-right embraces them. This creates a dangerous imbalance between left and right views in these structures and opens up room for radicalisation.
I also think that a social year could bring great advantages but am not sure if i want it to be compulsory. Thinking of myself going to university can be hard enough aleready. Going to uni after taking a one year break and getting back into studying would definitly have made it harder for me. Especially in MINT I got the impression that a lot of people that began studying after a break struggled a lot more, but that is just my personal observation
It‘s not so long ago, that we had that and it seems the realities of it are already forgotten. So much of this civil service was just cheap labour for private companies. I worked in a private eye hospital for a year for example. Then you had a lot of people finding themselves working for the church. It was a pretty shady system and it doesn‘t feel that the generations who went through it are more supportive of a functioning society than the ones who haven‘t. The other argument is pretty far fetched, I‘d say. On the one hand, there won‘t be a civil service incorporated into the police. On the other hand, left leaning people won‘t go to the military, they‘ll choose another service. Like we used to. And then, do the military and the police really serve society?
I’m not sure if forcing it would alleviate that conflict. Like I never felt any sort of allegiance to the country i just kinda happen to be born in since idk cheering for the national team when i was 9 or so.
Sure as fuck wouldn’t wanna have to “serve” a full year of my life. You know what WOULD help?
Fixing their broken systems, rooting out the neo nazi and reichsbürger structures within police and military, properly budgeting social services and paying adequate wages, especially to social workers who actually help people. Hell, modernize the broken Bureaucracy while you’re at it.
A pipe dream i know.
