Posted on 04/27/2008 6:08:04 PM PDT by SeeRushToldU_So
So, 4000 rubes are dead. Cry me the Tigris. Another 30,000 have been seriously wounded. Boo #ucking hoo. They got what they asked forand cool robotic limbs, too.
Likely, just reading the above paragraph made you uncomfortable. But why?
The benevolence of Americas troops is sacrosanct. Questioning their rectitude simply isnt done. Its the forbidden zone. We may rail against this tragic war, but our soldiers are lauded by all as saints. Why? They volunteered to partake in this savage idiocy, and for this they deserve our utmost respect? I think not.
The nearly two-thirds of us who know this war is bullshit need to stop sucking off the troops. They get enough action raping female soldiers and sodomizing Iraqi detainees. The political left is intent on supporting the troops by bringing them home, which is a good thing. But after rightly denouncing the administrations lies and condemning this awful war, relatively sensible punditslike Keith Olbermannturn around and lovingly praise the soldiers brave service to the country. Why?
What service are they providing? I dont remember ordering 300,000 dead Iraqisalthough I was doing a lot of heavy narcotics back in 03. Our soldiers are not providing a service to the country, theyre providing a service to a criminal administration and their oil company cronies. When a mafia don orders a hit, is the assassin absolved of personal responsibility when its carried out? Of course not. What if the hit man was fooled into service? Wed all say, Tough shit, you dumb Guido, then lock him up and throw away the key.
As a society, we need to discard our blind deference to military service. Theres nothing admirable about volunteering to murder people. Theres nothing admirable about being rooked by obvious propaganda. Theres nothing admirable about doing what youre told if what youre told to do is terrible.
We all learned recently that the Bush administration instituted its policy of global torture during quaint White House meetings. And we already know this war was started with lies. Shame on them. But what about the people who physically carry out these atrocities? Weve seen bad apples punished and CEO despots walk free, but all verbal and written denouncement is focused on our leaders. Surely, they deserve that and moredecapitation, really. But why cant we be critical of the people who have actually tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens? We deride private contractors like Blackwater for similar conductwhy are the troops blameless?
Take John McCain, or McNasty, as they called him in high school. While the conventional wisdom says that Obama gets a pass from the media, McCain is clearly the least scrutinized presidential candidate. He diddles lobbyists, sings about bombing Iran and doesnt know Shiite from Shinola, yet he remains unscathed, cloaked in his Vietnam hero legend.
Again, what is heroic about involving ones self in a foolish war, being a shitty pilot or getting tortured? Yeah, it must have sucked, but getting your ass kicked every day for five years doesnt make you a heroit makes you a Bad News Bear.
Heres where Americas military lust becomes a true perversion. If we truly valued military prowess, John McCain would be viewed as a failure. But duty alone is enough to inspire our gratitude. Hence the lefts tendency to obligatorily praise the troops while decrying the sum of their actions. Good thing, too, because this war is unwinnable.
George Washington warned that the biggest threat to the young United States was in keeping and deploying standing armies. An overextended military is a drain on any nationeventually it will break. It also pisses off the people your army is standing on. Well never heed this warning and break the cycle of violence, so long as military service is so reflexively praised.
People want to be respected. And in a country with an abysmal education system and disappearing economic opportunities, they seek respect wherever they can find itas street corner toughs or as government-sanctioned thugs. It beats McDonalds. But this kind of victim-of-circumstance-sympathy for the troops turns them into automatons, neither deserving of praise or damnation. Disregarding the Stop Loss back door draft travesty, they had a choice.
Were a squeamish people; we eschew heated debates and, in principle, strive for political correctness when arguing with those who hold contrary views. The left does anyway; the right makes no such pretense. Thats one of the reasons liberals have taken such a beating in the last few decades.
As plainly stupid as religious belief or participating in immoral and illegal wars may be, the castrated left can only argue against these things by appealing to reason. In America, that fails every time. We respond best to partisan venom and ad hominem attacks.
The right has no problem painting their opponents as cowards or godless heathens, but liberalsinstead of sticking to the merits of their argumentsfight those accusations by leaning right, praising god and guns, and pandering to the people who cling to them. The left has taken to appeasing bullies as their only course to victory. And thats no victory at all.
Liberals need to start calling a moron a moronand openly mocking that moron if his positions or actions are indefensible. Just as Limbaugh or Hannity insults the left, tilting the battlefield so liberals are left scrounging for their patriotic bona fides, the left must begin attacking stupidity whether in the form of religious nonsense, free market capitalism or military worship.
Instead of blowing the troops every chance we get, to prove our patriotism and insulate ourselves against attacks from the right, liberals should grow a pair and start dishing the damnation.
How despicable must a military campaign be before Americans turn on their beloved troops? After chiding the War on Toddlers as fool-headed and pointlessly barbaric, would Keith Olbermann still thank the troops for their service? After the Great Grandmother Slaughter of 2010, will the press remove the fat military cock from its mouth? Following Operation Murder Fluffy Kittens, will the left finally nix the honored service crap? No. No, they wont.
Condemning the troopsa term coined during the Gulf Waris almost unthinkable. And it wont win you any awards. Troops are a monolithic entity, a cohesive group of pride-inspiring order-takers. Whereas an individual soldier is accountable for his or her actions, the troops are too abstract to blame. For Americans, there are only bad apples, never bad orchards.
But what kind of world would we rather live in: one where fools are admired for being fooled and murderers are extolled for murdering, or one where we have the capacity to step back and say, I dont care who told you to do what and why; youre still an asshole! Personally, Id rather live in a world where people who act like retards are treated like retards: executed in Texas.
Americans fear the truth. Its the slipperiest slope of all. Once we start extending responsibility beyond those who gave orders to those who took them, it wont be long before were blaming ourselves. And we cant have that.
Well, guess what, kids? The Iraq debacle is a pointless bloodbathand every time you applaud those who bravely fill that tub, youre soaking in it.
Hat tip to Ace Of Spades
I vote we remove this POS’s US citizenship and deport him to the Communist hell hole of his choice.
So what’s Ian Murphy’s handle over at DU?
This pretty much says it all.
I suspected this...
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
As for this author - he needs to spend 5 years living in a islamic society. When (if) he comes back to the west, he will without any prodding worship the freedoms these soldiers work so hard to defend...
Hippies were contained when it was kosher to kick their ass when they got out of hand.
The litigious society we’ve become has emboldened them.
Fudgepacker I'm guessing.
“Theres nothing admirable about doing what youre told if what youre told to do is terrible.”
Has this guy never worked before?
Could I have a minute alone with “Mr.” Murphy?
Of course not, he sits on his *ss and siphons off the taxpayers.
Just a guess, but I’m willing to bet we’ll see little commie Ian in Denver this summer crying like a baby after getting a large dose of pepper spray and smacked with a baton back into reality. No justice- no peace! Let the games begin.
Ian is damn lucky he’s far, far away from me.
My head was about to explode but that particular phrase helped me put this A$$holes opinion in perspective.
How do jerk offs such as this find themselves with an audience at all?
What’s his DUmp name?
Me too, but isn’t there a lot of military in upstate NY?
I saw a pic of his ugly mug. He looks like a white suburban wannabe tough guy who’d get his ass kicked in less than a round.
This is the opinion of the majority of the American Sheep.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.