# "Defending Their Country" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 14, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626 "2011-03-14T05:22:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/21 "2011-03-14T19:42:54Z")
You make a very good point, **mhendo**. Come to think of it, often it’s not the soldiers saying such things it’s politicians, and their ilk, playing to the cameras. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/22 "2011-03-14T20:23:03Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Obviously the people who made that observation never read Thucydides. Or Trevelyan’s _The American Revolution_ ---
**Author:** ![GreenHell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@GreenHell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenHell)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/23 "2011-03-14T21:23:45Z")
Among those who beat the wardrums loudest, are few who have touched a sword. ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/24 "2011-03-14T21:28:46Z")
I hope the op is a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/25 "2011-03-14T21:35:56Z")
> [@may\_be\_ignorant](#): > > I hope the op is a joke. Why would it be a joke? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/26 "2011-03-14T23:07:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Does anyone really think the Mooslims are going to take over America? Ummm, yes – there’s a metric fuckton of people out there who think that. They’re morons, of course, but they’re definitely out there. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/27 "2011-03-14T23:23:59Z")
I’m not too worried about Muslims taking over the United States but I was fully behind the war in Afghanistan. You don’t have to be defending against an existential threat in order to be defending the country. I can fully understand being against the war in Iraq but I don’t get why they’re against the war in Afghanistan. If someone carrying out an attack against your country isn’t a good enough reason to go to war I don’t know what is. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/28 "2011-03-14T23:27:41Z")
Afghanistan didn’t attack us. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/29 "2011-03-15T00:02:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Afghanistan didn’t attack us. Correct, Saudi Arabia did. But they hung out in Afghanistan. The whole continent is a mess as far as I’m concerned, sorry to say. For the OP I can only recomend playing a few rounds of a board game called Diplomacy. It’s an Avalon Hill game that will give you some insight into the matter of borders. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/30 "2011-03-15T03:04:06Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Afghanistan didn’t attack us. They were harboring the organization that did. Our attack was justified. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/31 "2011-03-15T03:41:25Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Armed forces guys are largely macho-ish, alpha types. They _need_ to feel heroic, it’s part of what makes them tick. So they frame their service in ways that reflect this. You’re full of shit. ::snip:: > [@](#): > > Are they doing a difficult task?, yes indeed. Do I honour them for pursuing their countries objectives, possibly sacrificing their lives?, I definitely do. No, you don’t. See assholish comments above. > [@](#): > > They are protecting our country and freedoms like Sarah Palin is keeping an eye on the Russians for us. Swing and a complete and utter miss. > [@](#): > > These memes are a tad offensive to me as it appears that they are trying to paint themselves with the same brush as the generation that was, in fact, doing both of those things. Wrong again, shitbird. They aren’t painting themselves as anything. It’s politicians and pundits who are swinging a big brush. > [@](#): > > It makes them feel righteous, moral and proud, which is like crack to alpha types. But it also makes them look like lame posers, in reality. You’re a fucking idiot, and you’re completely and utterly wrong in your characterizations. > [@](#): > > I think most people recognize the difference between what their really doing, policing conflict arenas, and the high rhetoric they are so fond of, but choose not to speak up out of a sense of feeling if that’s what it takes to help you get through, I won’t challenge you on it. > > But they’re not fooling anyone. The only fool here is you. You haven’t the slightest clue as to what you’re babbling on about, nor any notion about what goes on in a military person’s mind. There are certainly some of the stereotypes you’ve outlined here, but most military people are simply doing the job they were hired for and would not even come close to representing the picture you have painted of them. You’re a fucking troll who has decided to come in here and villify people that you’re not fit to haul trash for. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/32 "2011-03-15T04:17:16Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > They were harboring the organization that did. Our attack was justified. By that logic, we should attack the entire state of Oklahoma after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/33 "2011-03-15T04:31:09Z")
Sorry to have so offended Mr. Alpha, didn’t mean to touch a nerve, I assure you, just offering up an opinion. Isn’t my freedom to express my opinion one of the things they’re heroically defending? Maybe I have it all wrong, who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Ograbme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Ograbme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ograbme)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/34 "2011-03-15T04:53:28Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > They were harboring the organization that did. Our attack was justified. Are other countries justified in attacking the US, killing thousands of civilians, because the US harbors terrorists? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/35 "2011-03-15T05:39:36Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > By that logic, we should attack the entire state of Oklahoma after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building. Yes, the two situations are completely analogous. Your spot on interpretation of events has won me over. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/36 "2011-03-15T13:55:49Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Yes, the two situations are completely analogous. Your spot on interpretation of events has won me over. You are right. The analogy is way too detailed and knowledgeable of the internal situation of the target. The entire U.S.A. should have been nuked, not just Ukla… Okli.. can’t even pronounce that… kill them all!! uhm… Rah ! ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/37 "2011-03-15T14:01:13Z")
Did I say the U.S.A should be nuked? I meant, of course, all of America, the whole fucking continent is a mess!! Just look at Venezuela for f’s sake. Let’s start with San fransisco. Rah, Rah! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/38 "2011-03-15T14:18:56Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Sorry to have so offended Mr. Alpha, didn’t mean to touch a nerve, I assure you, just offering up an opinion. Isn’t my freedom to express my opinion one of the things they’re heroically defending? > > Maybe I have it all wrong, who knows? Hey, you’re free to be wrong. I’m not very “alpha.” My Navy service was of a comparatively humble nature. The awards I’m proudest of are the unit awards my commands were granted - these recognized some strong teamwork and unit cohesion. I’m happy to have been a part of that. I don’t characterize my service as heroic because I have met too many people who are genuine heroes. I’m not a combat veteran, so I don’t make that claim. I am proud that what I did helped in a small way to end the war in Bosnia. And I think that’s fair. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/39 "2011-03-15T14:57:56Z")
It’s pretty clear to me that the US military creates a deterrent to those who would otherwise feel free to invade our shores or interfere with our national interests. So the US being proactive in removing potential threats to our way of life from abroad is “defending,” IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626/40 "2011-03-15T15:57:58Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Sorry to have so offended Mr. Alpha, didn’t mean to touch a nerve, I assure you, just offering up an opinion. Isn’t my freedom to express my opinion one of the things they’re heroically defending? > > Maybe I have it all wrong, who knows? Uninformed opinion is generally called “bullshit”. Saying that it’s just your opinion is a copout. Have you ever served in the military? Have you ever worked with active or retired military? Are there no alpha type males in your line of work? Please enlighten us as to where your opinions come from. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/defending-their-country/574626.md?page=3)