Go ahead, don't support 'em

The BBQ Pit
1

I’m starting this one in the Pit because I figure it’ll degrade to that level soon enough, but I’m not going to be roasting anyone in this OP…

I don’t consider myself a troop-supporter. All the same, I’m not as extreme as some others out there. I don’t consider our troops “inhuman” for what they are charged with doing, for example, because I understand that war is a part of being human too. But I can see where for some people, humanity ends the moment you pull the trigger on another human. And you know what? If they want to feel that way, that’s their fucking right, and I don’t see what everybody’s big problem is with it.

As for me, I barely even understand what “support” means in this case. I don’t want to see a lot of Americans die; I still don’t consider myself a troop-supporter. Unless you’re actually writing letters or sending care packages to random servicemen—which is of course a fine thing to do, if you are so inclined—you’re not really doing much “supporting” of anything. You’re voicing an opinion based on either a) I agree that we should be in Iraq or b) I wish to see minimal American casualties. And I really don’t see how simply not wishing death on our troops warrants this self-serving presentation as “I proudly support our troops.” Backup units support our troops.

Yet as much as I don’t want Americans to die (I don’t want Iraqis to die, either), I can see why some people hope we lose this war. It’s not that hard to see the logic: the bigger they come, the harder they fall, and better for us to fall now and gain some humility on a global scale than to just continue pissing off the world until something really terrible happens to us. But it doesn’t matter anyway; we’re going to win the war. Iraq doesn’t stand a chance in the long run, and probably even in the not-so-long run.

Finally, I think this common notion that our troops somehow draw their battle energy from the collective “support” of the American people is rather vacuous and Borg-like. If we got into a situation where the majority, or even a significant minority, were actively “unsupporting” our troops (wishing death on them?), I can see where morale would begin to drop. But if it ever got to that point, I think we’d seriously have to stop and think about what could cause such a shift in public opinion; it would be silly to just say, “Oh, those liberals.”

Regardless, that hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know what kind of coverage you all are seeing of this war, but I would say the allegedly “anti-troop” imagery makes up only a tiny fraction of what I’ve seen. All you “supporters” out there, give our troops a bit more credit—do you really think they’re going to put down their guns and go AWOL because of five minutes of protests on CNN? Learning about friendly-fire incidents and POWs being taken, now that is the sort of thing that’s going to lower morale.

Thoughts? Flames?

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I was thinking about that just the other day. What exactly does “support” mean? It’s such a vague term for such a loaded subject. Much like “Family Values”, it doesn’t really mean much, and yet everyone knows you are a moral sinkhole if a politician says you don’t have it.

Do I “support” the troops in a Platex Bra sort of way? No.

Financially? Uncle Sam makes sure of that.

Politically? Pretty much not.

Will I spit on returning veterans and call them baby killers? Nope.

Do I appreciate their sacrifices? Absolutely.

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Now, here’s something I do not approve of (there is no way I know to link to What’s New on Netscape, so I’ll just reprint an excerpt):

“…a prank telephone caller in Flagstaff, Arizona devastated the family of an Army soldier when he falsely told them their son was dead. Hours after a photograph of Danny Hogg, the father of 22-year-old soldier Wayne Hogg, was published in the Arizona Daily Sun at a Support the Troops rally, a man called the Hogg home and told them their son had died in Iraq… It took them a full day to get confirmation from the Army that Wayne was alive and well in Iraq.”

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Damn. I thought this was going to be a thread about women going bra-less.

Carry on.

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And people that think that way usually forget to consider that the same idiots that are bungling this situation will be bungling ones down the road. Losing the war, hoping we’ll collectively have some glorious epiphany, and will backtrack in hope of a better tomorrow should stop smoking crack. We are already in a situation because of our current administrations lack of back pedaling ability or desire to do so.

Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, etc, it would never happen.

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People who want us to lose the war…etc, of course should stop smoking crack.

I should stop because it’s seriously affecting my grammar.

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The situation presupposes, of course, that such an epiphany would be accompanied by a change in administration.

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Sure, I just don’t see it happening under any administration.

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Fair enough…

Well, fuck, where is all the blustery invective? I could have just gone on hijacking the other thread for all the flames this one has gotten me…

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I think the whole “you don’t support our troops” attitude is just a way for people on the right to have something to throw back at the people on the left. You all are aware that the Earth would stop spinning and we’d all be flung into space if the Right and Left ever actually agreed on anything. Ever.

Do I support the war? What does it matter? It’s happening. Other than that, tdn’s post just about covers my opinions as well.

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If somehow we did lose the War, I think their would be huge changes in administration and thinking, but not in the direction the anti-war people would like. Losing to the Saddam who kick off an huge increase in Military spending and build-up. There would be a huge amount of support for some right-wing candidate who builds his whole platform on ‘Make America powerful again, screw everything else’ . I just don’t thik the majority of Americans would ever put up with the idea that we are not a military superpower, and if we got egg on our faces we would become a hell of a lot more agressive until we proved that we were badass again.

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You might have gotten a lot of flames, but the topic’s been covered and covered and covered and covered and people are probably just out of the mood to flame over it any more. Better luck next time.

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Sadly, that seems prety accurate.

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Meanwhile, the rest of the world tries to point out that not only is it pretty accurate, it has, in fact, already happened.

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Get the fuck off your high horse.

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Yeah, it’s not really strong enough to support. It wasn’t the platform Bush was actually elected on.

But it struck me as eerily similar to the neocon agenda. :wink:

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Is there something out there that defines exactly what “support the troops” means? It’s becoming the new “Og bless America” in its meaninglessness. There are “support the troops” rallies all over the place. People are donating money for $20 phone cards, making care packages, writing letters to Random R. Service(wo)man. Is that “supporting the troops”? I guess in the way that it makes them feel a little better, that someone back home is thinking of them, it might be. Hell, if I wanted to “support the troops”, I’d write a letter to my friend in Kuwait. Which I did yesterday. But apparently that’s not enough for some people because I’m not waving flags everywhere and throwing money at kids coming into my classroom with manila envelopes with “Support The Troops” scrawled on them. (Beg money on your own time, bums, just don’t disrupt my class!) That ain’t supporting shit. There’s a word for that and it’s “jingoism.”

I think (and this is just me) that “supporting the troops” is really going to mean something only when they come home. Is this going to be a WWII homecoming or a Vietnam homecoming? If it’s the latter, you can take that “support the troops” and shove it right up your rectal cavity.

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No, but we all know that if you don’t do it, you’re pedophilic commie with bad acne.

I suspect what it really means is support the current administration’s decisions and don’t ask uncomfortable questions.

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And a terrorist, to boot…

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Ultress: I prefer to think that they’ve just finally realized how stupid their arguments are. :smiley: