Worshipful coverage of the U.S. military

Good to see Mark and Starman bond.

 

It was all part of the Reaganaut reverse-propaganda campaign in the early 1980s to sell the idea we didn't really lose Vietnam, we were forced to surrender by the spitting pinko hippies and had we not been dragged down by those pantywaists we would have bulldozed into Hanoi and everything would have been groovy. (Because underneath it all the Vietnam War was a really awesome idea.)

The corporatist MSM has eaten it up and regurgitated it for 30 years until it has become conventional wisdom.

 

I could have named the author in a blind taste test.

 

Wow, I agree with both Starman and Mark! This is quite historic!

I think lack of familiarity with the military is a big part of it. The people who are most worshipful of Our Heroes® are those who don't have the first clue about the military. I have a big military family background. Yes, a lot of cool guys and gals in there. But also a lot of guys (including my relatives) who enlisted because THEY WERE COMPLETE AND UTTER FUCK-UPS IN LIFE AND HAD ABSOLUTELY NO BETTER OPTIONS. The idea of genuflecting every time they walk by is so absurd and laughable.

This of course makes me incredibly politically incorrect when everyone is uniform is supposed to be worshipped. But I want to barf every time I'm at game and the p.a. announcer insists that I stand and recognize police officers and soldiers such. No thanks. Wearing a uniform and carrying a gun might make me fear you, but it doesn't make me respect you anymore than any other shlub.

To the extent, I "Support Our Troops", I try to do so by not electing leaders who will send them to the whatever the war of the moment happens to be...although in the current climate, that usually means selecting the lesser of two evils.

 

This is utterly preposterous.

 

Yes, you really blew my post out of the water.

You're a writer, right?

So, show me, don't tell me.

 

What about firemen? Why do they get such great press coverage?

Fuck-a-bunch of adrenaline junkies, getting their fix by running into burning buildings.

 

The idea that a massive overseas military buildup somehow makes ME safer at home, and that I owe someone a debt of gratitude is just silly.

I know this won't sit well with our Republican friends, but the size of the military needs to be cut extensively. We do not need troops on every freakin continent. Let these people form their own armies and defend their own countries for a change.

EDIT: Please understand, I am not blaming the rank and file soldier, sailor or marine. They follow orders, regardless of how whacked those orders can be. I do blame the politicians and some high-ranking military leaders. I respect the rank and file.... I just don't make heroes of them.

 

You have no friends, Republican or otherwise.

 

The Guardian piece is funny considering Europeans are usually so quick to tell us we pay too much attention to our public officials' sexual indiscretions.

The one time we don't we get lectured for being too worshipful of our military.

 

I'd think a lot of it today is because the media doesn't want to be seen as unpatriotic. It's easier to go along with the crowd and cheerlead than actually do some hard reporting that may ruffle some feathers.

 

That's it. Adultery stories are so common that there's no shock value and very little outrage.