At first, this question seems easy to answer.
No.
However, people who join the military face this question and decide to do it anyway. (for the purposes of this moral conundrum, we’ll ignore conscription, as the decision is made for you.) Joining up is often for a variety of reasons – nationalism, poverty, opportunities, respect from others, propaganda, a realization that most military jobs are just logistics, and occasionally sheer blood lust.
Some people go all the way, abandoning nationalism, and often their citizenship and become a mercenary. It’s a hard life, but the money’s better and it is very adventurous. And bloodsoaked. Not many people last long, but it’s a heck of a life, destabilising countries, etc.
But these days, barely anyone joins the military – in most countries without mandatory service, the armed forces struggle to fill all the roles. This signals that most people have looked at the moral trade off, and decided that they would not kill for money.
Here’s another way of thinking of it. The defence industry is major part of the economy of many countries. In the USA, military factories prop up the economy of many areas that would otherwise be destitute – West Virginia, so on – while in the UK, British Aerospace Systems, a defence company is the largest manufacturer, employing over one hundred thousand people. This isn’t even counting the rest of the economy that depends on it, the steel, electronics, engines, explosives and everything poured into each gun, tank, ship, bomb and bomber. It is thought the defence industry adds over £100 billion to the British GDP.
As a result of the death, destruction, trauma, violence and murder around the world today, from the Sahel to Myanmar, I am, on average, over a thousand pounds richer.
Do I feel my hands dripping with blood?
It is easy not to. Too easy. Most British people don’t even realise that there are wars going on around the world beyond Ukraine and Gaza, let alone the UK’s role in it, let alone Britain’s economic dependence on arms exports.
It is well known that military spending is one of the fastest ways to increase growth, even if it is always ultimately a wasteful institution. The general widespread prosperity of most developed nations after the 1980s is most likely due to increased military spending. The world economy has grown hugely since that time, with most people being, on average thousands of dollars richer.
So, once again, would you kill someone for money?
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By the way – the answer’s still no. Put that money into infrastructure and we’d all be better off.
Just wanted to make you think