# I pit the disingenuous Back the Blue and flag waving veteran supporters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 28, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-disingenuous-back-the-blue-and-flag-waving-veteran-supporters/945150 "2021-06-28T03:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-disingenuous-back-the-blue-and-flag-waving-veteran-supporters/945150/1 "2021-06-28T03:05:37Z")
> **[Winthrop shooting being investigated as hate crime, shooter 'executed' Black...](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2021/06/27/winthrop-shooting-state-police-trooper-air-force-veteran-killed/?p1=hp_primary)** > > A retired Massachusetts State Police trooper and an Air Force veteran were killed by a gunman in Winthrop on Saturday. The shooter, who officials say used white supremacist language, was shot and killed by police. Our town and region (South Shore suburbs of Boston) are full of Back the Blue and Kneeling for the National Anthem is a Slap in the Face of Veterans jingoists. But when a white supremacist shoots a black retired State Police colonel and an Air Force veteran these folks are nowhere on social media. Apparently police and veterans are only venerated when they are white and shooting brown/yellow/black people at home and abroad. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-disingenuous-back-the-blue-and-flag-waving-veteran-supporters/945150/2 "2021-06-28T04:21:04Z")
It’s like all the old people they claim to love but never wore masks for. Respect the elderly, I’d rather not. WW2 vets, No Korean vets, ??? Jesus…maybe… Blessed are the…Freedom!!! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-disingenuous-back-the-blue-and-flag-waving-veteran-supporters/945150/3 "2021-06-28T11:21:24Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Apparently police and veterans are only venerated when they are white and shooting brown/yellow/black people at home and abroad. Well yeah - they support police when black people are being killed. Because it’s the second half of that sentence they’re in favor of. When police are being beaten by those white right-wing flag-wavers (literally beaten with flagpoles), their response is to smear the police. Also in the past week we’ve seen the same “rah-rah military” crew and their pet media openly insulting the military and the Joint Chiefs, with nary a peep from their followers. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-disingenuous-back-the-blue-and-flag-waving-veteran-supporters/945150/4 "2021-06-28T12:42:35Z")
White, working-class America’s relationship with law enforcement has been a little more fraught than we can see at the moment. An indicator of this are the evolution of it in Burt Reynolds movies. Early on, in _White Lightning_, Burt is a irascible good old boy whose civil rights activist younger brother is murdered by a corrupt sheriff. Burt seeks justice as an individualist. The consensus was a dislike for bullies, and that racists were bullies. Later, in the _Smokey and the Bandit_ movies, the sheriff is still corrupt, but he’s a buffoon bully and the civil rights violation is limited to operating speed traps. But Burt still seeks his own justice as an individualist: mainly by setting his individual speed limits. You can also look back into the 1970’s and find movies about white working-class Vietnam vets, still patriotic but disillusioned by the government that fed them into a pointless meat grinder. Reagan really changed the culture: to get people on your side, draw clear lines of division. And as for bullies? It’s really kind of of fun! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-disingenuous-back-the-blue-and-flag-waving-veteran-supporters/945150/5 "2021-06-28T13:44:49Z")
I’m in Boston and there’s some social media commentary on this case. I think the fact that the two people killed were allegedly targeted because they were black, not because they were law enforcement may lead into it. I’ve seen enough buzz on Facebook to say that the incident isn’t being ignored, but it certainly isn’t a _cause celebre_. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-disingenuous-back-the-blue-and-flag-waving-veteran-supporters/945150/6 "2021-06-28T14:34:49Z")
The only mention I’ve seen of it on the three town Facebook groups I’m part of has been a post ridiculing Rachael Rollins for calling it a hate crime. [Hint: she didnt]