Well it's yet another sign of the steady descent of our country into proto-fascism where the military and military trappings and nationalistic displays and spread-eagle patriotism is what substitutes for thinking seriously about what we're doing.
So it's in this vein that I read with pleasure yesterday this piece by a former Marine that began thusly:
I do not want to appear disrespectful or ungrateful, but should we meet on the street one day, do say "Hello," or "Fine day" or other such nicety, but please do not thank me for "my service" as a United States Marine. I make this request because my service, as you refer to it, was basically, either to train to become a killer or to actually kill people and blow shit up.He goes on to say why he feels this way. You can read the piece, but any thinking person knows what he says. It boils down to being ashamed. Ashamed of stuff he did, ashamed of what he once thought, and ashamed of what his country is doing.
I'd like to meet this guy and shake his hand.
4 comments:
you're right, tom. we do feel the same. the 'hero' business has always disturbed me. join the army and you turn into mother teresa? training to kill or be killed is hardly geared to instilling nobility. but there's always that implied dichotomy--if we don't call then heroes and express gratitude to them, that means we'll trash them when they get home, and we hate them, and we don't 'support' them. we got the same crap with the vietnam war, and we kept saying, 'no, you're the ones who aren't supporting them; you're sending them into a nightmare. we want them home safe. funny, i was a bit nervous writing that post--thought i'd get some flack for my lack of patriotism--especially after i posted it to facebook. i remember very vividly my father coming home one day [before my brother keith was drafted, and pop made it very clear he'd help him get to canada if he wanted]...anyway pop came back from the barber shop nearly in tears, b/c they'd gotten into the vietnam subject and the other guys were saying, let my kid go to vietnam; i fought in ww2. and pop looking at me saying in disbelief, 'they'd kill their own kids...'' ugh.....
Karen, people are just so unhinged. It is the easiest task in town to get people all frothed up about an enemy. And anyone, any nation, any religion, anything =different= can be declared an enemy. And people take leave of their senses.
I'm at a loss to understand where this military-worship is coming from. Is this 9/11 still? What are we, eleven years after? And still we're sanctifying the people we've sent into what has been a gross obscenity for all that while?
As you probably know, I'm a big baseball fan. I always thought the national anthem before a game was absurd. Now, at every park that I know of, the crowd stands, removes hats, puts hands on hearts and sings "God Bless America." I refuse to do this . . . what is this if not some sort of scary hyper-nationalism that can not possibly lead to anything good.
I'm glad to know there's somebody out there who agrees with me.
the only sport i ever follow is figure skating, but you get that even there. the star spangled banner, that is. it's hard not stand up, and i certainly don't want to call attention to myself in some disruptive way
. but the sport is about the sport, not about our superior country. so i stay sitting.
You are more patriotic than I . . . I stand for the anthem.
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