Web addiction excuses conscripts

by Elsewhere 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  Elsewhere

  I can see it now, JWs saying: I can't join the military, I'm addicted to Field Service.

  http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/08/03/finland.internet.reut/index.html

  Web addiction excuses conscripts

  HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters) -- A number of Finnish conscripts have been excused their full term of military service because they are addicted to the Internet, the Finnish Defence Forces said on Tuesday.

  Doctors have found the young men miss their computers too much to cope with their compulsory six months in the forces.

  "For people who play (Internet) games all night and don't have any friends, don't have any hobbies, to come into the army is a very big shock," said Commander-Captain Jyrki Kivela at the military conscription unit.

  "Some of (the conscripts) go to the doctor and say they can't stay. Sometimes, the doctors have said they have an Internet addiction," Kivela said.

  There are no official figures for the Internet addict dropout rate.

  "They get sent home for three years and after that they have to come back and we ask if they are OK ... they will have had time to grow up," Kivela said.

  Finland called up 26,500 men in 2003, nine percent of whom were relieved of duty for medical reasons.

  However, the Internet drop-outs have not dented national pride in "sisu," a Finnish quality of being tough and resilient.

  "We are very proud of our Finnish men. Eight-two percent of all Finnish men manage their whole military service," Kivela said.
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  kls

  Well they could be addicted to other harmful things but addicted to web games . What am i missing.
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  Pumple

  Well JWs here in Finland don´t have to serve in the Defence Forces. I guess when every JW in the 80´s and before went to jail instead of the military the government decided it´s cheaper to let them betray their country than to put couple of hundred people to jail for upkeeping every year.
  
  But that was when JWs considered civilian service to be out of the question as an option to armed service. After -96 the JWs didn´t feel obligated to inform the government that JW men actually now CAN accept civilian service. There was some changes made to the conscript laws a few years back and the local apostates informed the government that JWs should be denied of their unfair advantage over other people since these days civil service is okay for them. For some reason nothing happened and JWs still get a service class C (meaning one doesn´t have to go to the army nor do civil service). They get it for two years at a time and then they have to provide the authorities with new documents, usually signed papers from the local elders, that they are still baptised JWs in good standing with the congregation. They have to provide the military with these documents in two years intervals until they turn 29 yrs old and get a permanent class C.
  
  For normal people, there is no way to get a C-class without illness or injury. You refuse armed and civil service and you do jailtime. Some human rights associations have Finland on their scope for this, for JWs getting unfair privileges. And for putting people in jail for their refusal of serving in the Defence Forces.
  
  Finnish men are called to arms on the year they turn 18. No big surprise, many many young JW men get quickly baptised when they are 17...
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  fleaman uk

  The Finnish Army strikes me as a seriously ass kicking force! They saw off old Uncle Joe once upon a time.........