Cindy Sheehan and Sacrifice

self | August 16, 2005 | Sloth

[Sloth]

sacrifice -- n. Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim. -- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

To be credibly called a sacrifice, whatever is lost must meet two criteria in regards to the person losing it. First, it must have significant value to them. Second, it must be willingly given; the term 'sacrifice' necessarily implies that it is the result of a choice about competing values. Consequently, we can say that a loss is not a sacrifice if it does not meet these conditions. Discarding something of no value is not a sacrifice, nor is losing something that one never had the ability to preserve.

This is not merely a semantic issue -- the concept of sacrifice connotes certain positive attributes to the one making the sacrifice. For a person to surrender something that he or she values greatly indicates a strength of character, a certain kind of integrity, exhibited by their choices. Even some whose values we condemn, like suicide bombers, show by their actions that they believe so strongly in their ideals that they are willing to forfeit their own lives. Bill Maher was widely condemned after 9/11 for saying the hijackers were not cowards, but in fact it is one of the very few truthful things to ever leave Maher's mouth. Yes, the hijackers were ruthless, sadistic and downright evil, but they (the pilots who knew what was coming, at least) also showed a moral consistency, the 'courage of their convictions.' They earned the label 'sacrifice.' Atta et al sacrificed themselves on the altar of hatred.

Unfortunately, the use of the word 'sacrifice' is getting sloppy these days, being applied in inappropriate contexts. The Cindy Sheehan business is one obvious example. Google Sheehan's name with the word 'sacrifice' and you'll get plenty of hits with references to how much she has given up, asserting that she has a right to answers, or that we all ought to listen to her views. Maureen Dowd recently wrote, without irony, that "the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute." The truth, however, is that Sheehan has sacrificed nothing. Her son Casey may have had value to her, but she did everything in her power to keep him from going to Iraq. She opposed his enlistment. She never chose to risk Casey's life for any greater purpose; therefore she can be credited no sacrifice on his account. Casey Sheehan sacrificed himself. He voluntarily signed up with the Army, and voluntarily renewed his enlistment. I don't know if Casey ever articulated exactly why he made these choices (I would suspect he did so more than once in discussions with his mother), but obviously he thought there was some value or ideal associated with his military service that made it important enough for him to willingly go into harm's way. Casey made a sacrifice. Mohammed Atta made a sacrifice. Cindy did not.

Another fallacious use of the word is applied to many of the victims of 9/11. The reality is that most of those killed were not heroes, and that they did not make any sacrifice. They were normal people going about their everyday lives in their September 10th world -- not that that should be construed to reflect negatively on them. Most of the rest of us had a 9/10 mindset until that morning, too. But there's nothing sacrificial about sitting in your office cubicle and getting hit by a 767. The exceptions are the firefighters, police, and civilians who made a conscious choice to stay in those burning skyscrapers to help others. They sacrificed their own safety, and ultimately their lives in many cases, in order to help others. The folks on United flight 93 who stormed the cockpit were undoubtedly heroic, but even they didn't really willingly sacrifice their lives; they simply found themselves trapped on a plane where they knew they'd die if they didn't take action. The families of those people suffered a terrible loss, but the families didn't sacrifice their loved ones, because they never had the option of preventing it.

The reason this is significant is that people on the left like Cindy Sheehan, Kristin Breitweiser & the rest of the 'Jersey Girls,' Rachel Corrie's parents, etc., have leveraged their victimhood into a means for scoring political points against Republicans. Now, of course, what I've been saying about sacrifice applies equally well to the right side of the political aisle as well. U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, for example, lost his wife Barbara in the 9/11 attacks, too; it was not a sacrifice, for the reasons already stated above. But when is the last time you saw Ted Olson on television, demanding that we all listen to him screech about how his wife was murdered by Democrats? Hint: it's never happened. There are a number of reasons for this, such as the fact that Ted Olson has dignity and class, but the point is that Democrats are the ones using their alleged loved ones' graves as partisan soapboxes. Through no virtue of their own, they've hit a macabre political jackpot, putting them in a position where they can spout any absurd nonsense while being nearly immune to criticism due to their supposed 'sacrifice.' From Jesse Jackson waving around his conveniently blood-stained shirt to the Paul Wellstone fune-rally, leftists have a long and ignominious history of exploiting the deaths of those they claim to honor.

Sacrifice implies altruism. Cindy Sheehan and the rest do not exhibit altruism. They are crass, partisan manipulators who use their relatives' deaths for self-promotion and political gamesmanship. They do not qualify for the word 'sacrifice' because they never had the backbone to make the hard choices that people like Casey Sheehan did. They want all of the benefits of living in this nation, but are unwilling to bear any of the costs. They had no control over the valued things they lost -- and now they willingly abuse and discard something that they clearly do not value: the good names of their dead.

[BackInBlack]

Thoughtful post.

[Jeff Head]

Cindy Sheehan and the rest do not exhibit altruism. They are crass, partisan manipulators who use their relatives' deaths for self-promotion and political gamesmanship. They do not qualify for the word 'sacrifice' because they never had the backbone to make the hard choices that people like Casey Sheehan did. They want all of the benefits of living in this nation, but are unwilling to bear any of the costs. They had no control over the valued things they lost -- and now they willingly abuse and discard something that they clearly do not value: the good names of their dead.

Amen...spot on!

My Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan

[coconutt2000]

Hear, hear...

Sounds a lot like one of my own rants regarding Sheehan and the use of the word sacrifice. But yours is better than my impromptu rant.

Thanks.

[wmileo]

If my Mother behaved the way Cindy Sheehan did, I would strongly consider committing her to an Institution. She is making a spectacle of herself and the memory of her son, To say that our role in IRAQ was then and is now not in the best interest of the United States or IRAQ is one thing. On the other hand, to rant that this country is not worth fighting for and that the USA is not a good country is quite another thing entirely. One thing is for sure. The MoveOn.org and the extreme Left in this country can no longer portray themselves a merely protesters of US foreign policy. Their role in this affair, as well as that of Ms. Sheehans has gone well beyond that. They also have not helped the cause of peace, assuming that was their intent from the beginning ( which I now sincerely doubt).

[deadeyedawg]

Agreed. Also, if one of my children's names was used, as the leftists are now putting up white crosses with KIA'd troops names on them, I'd be driving down there to kick somebody's ass.

[ConservativeDude]

I have often thought the same about our use of the word "courage". Used to be, courage was when you did something self-denying and heroic for the common good. Now, it is used to describe when you overcome something which was just your own issue, ie, nothing for the common good at stake, such as "one person's courageous fight against cancer". That is not using the word in the time honored way. This would be correct, "one person's courageous fight against City Hall" would be accurate.

As you say, this is more than semantics. It is about morality itself. The fact that we now use "sacrifice" and "courage" in utterly self-centered and self-serving ways says something about us.

[Sloth]

Exactly. I am reminded of how Magic Johnson was touted as heroic and courageous after his HIV+ status was made public.

[deadeyedawg]

Pics of the moonbat's first meeting with Bush.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45800

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Sacrifice begets Sacrifice:

MEL's -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts

Sacrifice begets Sacrifice:

http://www.RickRescorla.com

http://www.strategyzoneonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361


....just for the LOVE of it..!!!

.

[ConservativeDude]

Oh, yeah, perfect example.

[NRA1995]

(sung to "Witch Queen Of New Orleans")

Cindy Sheehan la voodoo veau
She'll put a spell on you.
Cindy Sheehan la voodoo veau
She'll put a spell on you.
Cindy Sheehan la voodoo veau
She's the Ditch Witch, oh
of Vacaville

I'm gonna tell you a story
strange as it now seems
of zombie moonbat DUmmies
and the Ditch Witch of Vacaville.
She lived in a world of cameras
Possessed by the liberals' skew
From a ditch near the Bush ranch
Called the Carey Camp,
Cindy stirred her left-wing spew.

Cindy Sheehan la voodoo veau
She'll put a spell on you.
Cindy Sheehan la voodoo veau
She'll put a spell on you.
Cindy Sheehan la voodoo veau
She's the Ditch Witch, oh
of Vacaville

[LibSnubber]

Excellent post, Sloth!

"The truth, however, is that Sheehan has sacrificed nothing. Her son Casey may have had value to her, but she did everything in her power to keep him from going to Iraq. She opposed his enlistment. She never chose to risk Casey's life for any greater purpose; therefore she can be credited no sacrifice on his account. Casey Sheehan sacrificed himself. He voluntarily signed up with the Army, and voluntarily renewed his enlistment."

So true. Values and sacrifice go hand in hand. It's hard to have one without the other. Cindy Sheehan seems to be almost completely void of values and lives purely in the world of emotions. I cringe everytime I hear a lib say "it's my RIGHT!" because I know full-well that most of them have never (nor would they ever) lift a finger to work for or work to keep that right. They just want it, demand it, and scream that they deserve it. People like Cindy Sheehan are takers, not givers. Casey Sheehan was a giver.

[BackInBlack]

I am reminded of a recent Onion headline that was something like "Man Fights Cowardly Battle with Cancer"

[BackInBlack]

Well, there is one thing where I think the crazies have a point, which is that reverence of government behavior is not the same as patriotism. One can be a patriot without approving of US foreign policy. The difference, I think, is that many liberals who seem not to like their country in ANY way -- they think we're all dumb, arrogant, fat boors and hate that we're mostly Christian -- like to hide behind this fact. Sure, there are many forms of patriotism, but for many liberals, none apply to them.

[bigbillheywood]

re: sacrifice. Yes lives, American, so-called coalition, and Iraqi lives have been sacrificed in Iraq for the noble purpose of providing no-bid contracts for the likes of Bechtel and Halliburton. Lives have been sacrificed to ram a neo-con type of social and economic order down the throats of Iraqis, privatization of industry,including oil, health care, education, attacks on unions, and the elimination of a social safety net (unemployment insurance, housing and food subsidies, old age penisons), whether the Iraqis want it or not. Such an economic order can only be imposed by foreign troops. Ever wonder why the US waited so long to call for elections in Iraq? As former US proconsul to Iraq, Paul Bremer put it, "privatization, then elections." This is the real reason why lives are needlessly being sacrfificed in Iraq. Democracy and freedom have nothing to do with the US invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq. Hurrah for Cindy Sheehan AND Michael Moore! Down with freedom fries, up with French fries!

[lifelongsoldier]

Cindy Sheehan is what you get when the inmates take over the asylum.

[Sloth]

Troll notice.

[Sloth]

I am reminded of a recent Onion headline that was something like "Man Fights Cowardly Battle with Cancer"

LOL

[N. Theknow]

Your one brain cell must be terribly lonely.

Of course, you seem to keep it busy with random thoughts of stupidity highlighted by inance scribblings.