This is indeed a scandal, and an affront to all American soldiers who fight for freedom by crouching awkwardly in place while doing nothing in particular. Years from now, this noble memorial to “Ol’ Squatty” will illustrate to future generations how underfunded U.S. military forces bravely faced supply shortages by constructing their own body armor out of empty shoe boxes.
Oh, don’t be such a killjoy. Think how much public entertainment it will provide for the young people of Littleton, Colorado. If I lived there, I know I’d never get tired of sculpting mud pies into enormous turd sculptures to place under it.
While I don’t believe for one second that a soldier holding a gun would influence a kid to shoot up his school, I do believe that a commemorative statue of a soldier holding a gun in an aggressive pose like that does contribute to our glorification of violence and blind loyalty to the army.
A statue of a soldier staring me down, in heavy armor, holding an assault rifle, does not evoke in me feelings of patriotism or freedom, but serves as a reminder of the threat of government intervention when people just can’t play nice. Guns should be accepted as an embarrassing necessity for peace.
Something like this is more to my tastes, as the stance the soldier is taking is more defensive than aggressive.
Heck, to be really realistic, the statue should be posed while pillaging an enemy village and violating a captured woman.
But then, I understand there are laws against statutory rape.
That guy went over there to protect our freedom, including our freedom of speech so these peaceniks should just shut the fuck up and kiss this statue’s ass.