What does that phrase mean to you and why do you have it on your car?
I think people just like to advertise (and by that I mean flaunt) their identity, but I’m a cynic.
For some people it’s just a political ideology statement (America, fuck yeah!), and for some it’s an actual call for giving troops support - care packages, veteran benefits, not demonizing troops for the decisions of military leadership, etc. And for some, they are close to a military member and want to make them feel good.
It’s the same as praying with your arms over your head, touchdown style.
It is because they support the people in the U.S. military probably because they know one or have a family member that is one. It seems obvious but it is not.
Hippies and leftist types in general conducted some horrible atrocities against returning Vietnam veterans in the 1970’s even though many of them were drafted and had to suffer for their service even after the fact. That did not go unnoticed so all current service veterans get hero status and acknowledgement of their contributions no matter how small partially due to retaliation against the new wave that may want to abuse them again.
The point is to show general support to those who served but also put up an impenetrable barrier so that no returning soldiers will have to undergo misguided abuse for doing their job once they get back home. Those slogans are a general message that such a thing will not be tolerated in American society without great justification.
It’s a reassurance that we appreciate their getting their limbs blown off or killed in some remote part of the world, even when it’s for no good reason. Otherwise, new generations of young men might hesitate to toss their limbs and lives onto the “use” pile, and then where would we be?
Some no doubt to express support for family members. For many I’m sure it’s just a cheap attempt to cash in on American militarism, to grab some reflected status.
Ah, the old “spitting on veterans” myth? Right wing propaganda. If it ever happened it was so rare that nobody can find any evidence of its occurrence besides hearsay.
And it’s the Right that has treated veterans poorly; they talk big about how much they admire “the troops”, but they treat veterans as the walking talking equivalent of so much expended ammunition. Something to be shoveled aside and ignored or disposed of.
Hey, ouryoung women have been limb and life-tossers, too.
Me, I want to get one of those yellow-ribbons that says, ‘I Support The Guy in China Who Made This’ and slap it on the truck the husband drives on base.
Atrocities? So, what, mass murder? Gang rape? Organ harvesting?
A huge part of American culture is of the pioneer-Protestant-mostly-Scottish variety, and that group is really into military symbolism & imagery, always has been.
It’s like asking why so many Mexicans display the Virgin of Guadalupe.
May have something to do w/ the ‘Guadalupe’ bit is my guess.
It isn’t functionally equivalent, because displaying an image is a gesture, while a phrase like support the troops is an imperative, which–as a bumper sticker–carries a range of presupposition, including the proposition that other drivers are somehow not supporting the troops in some way, and that there exists some way for them to support the troops that they presently do not.
As such, it’s purely a vanity statement.
For many of these people it means they probably limit their actual support to placing the sticker on their bumper.
The same goes for the “Proud To Be American” bumper stickers…yeah, like everybody else stuck in traffic is thinking, “Gee, I wish I were Ukranian…”
Then again, looking at the people who have such bumper stickers, I often wonder if they are from planet earth.
“…because then I’d be way the hell over there and not in this stupid traffic jam!”
I think there are many pro-military types who truly confuse hating the military with hating the war. I don’t think there are very many people out there who actually hate the troops (I’ve certainly never met one, and I have a lot of radical colleagues) or who blame the troops for the actions of our government, but there is this persistent notion facilitated by right-wing propaganda that these two things are equivalent. There are also those who confuse a lack of enthusiasm/reverence for the military with disrespect. Personally I am concerned about the impact of war on young soldiers, OTOH in most cases it’s an adult choice they made for their own fulfillment, therefore I don’t understand why their actions should be elevated above, say, teachers in Philadelphia where the casualty rate exceeds that of Iraq.
The thing that most bothers me about this mentality is the notion that soldiers (and cops and firemen) are the only ones who make sacrifices for their country. I get this a lot from army wives, who like to talk a lot about all the sacrifices their family has had to make. We all make sacrifices in our relationships, many of us do it so that we can make America a safer, more peaceful place. There are people who work far more dangerous jobs. I don’t understand why the military sacrifices are more important than the sacrifice of any other American. It’s a kind of elitism that really bothers me. (In all honesty, I don’t think I’ve ever met an actual soldier with that self-righteous attitude, it’s usually their friends and family.)
Now some people might read that and conclude that I don’t support the troops, and they would be wrong. I support comprehensive health care, including mental health care, I support strong benefits for them and their families, and I think it’s disgusting that so many of our homeless people are Veterans. The thing that many people don’t want to hear is that I care about every American that much.
Military persons who continue a military career past the first few years do so knowing what it will be like; military spouses do not have a full picture of what’s involved until they’re married into it. I know I didn’t. And probably wouldn’t have done so if I knew then what it would be like, how I’d have little to no control over many basic aspects of my normal life.
This may sound trite, but if you genuinely don’t understand why the all volunteer military sacrifices are more important than the sacrifice of any other American while we are a nation at war then you’re operating on a lack of information.
(My bold)
Who is aguing otherwise?
The post above mine.
It doesn’t sound like a lack of information, it sounds like a difference of opinion.
When someone says “The thing that many people don’t want to hear is that I care about every American that much” it’s up to you if you want to take offense, but it’s hardly evidence of ignorance.