Here’s my stance. You may not like the war (or any war). You may not like the administration that sends them to war. But you DO have to respect people who willingly risk their lives to protect what they believe in.
I have to say to myself: what kind of antisocial misfit loser must this person be to not have any connections to someone in our military? This person does not know a single soldier, sailor or airman? They never had a relative serve in the military or a college buddy who was in ROTC or some friends brother who is in the Marines? How does this person go through life believing that they are somehow removed from the events of the world? That the people who defend us are some fringe element of society gleefully going off to war so they can go punch an Iraq in the head? Obviously if they knew anyone in the military who they even half-way cared about they would never say something so ridiculous.
Then of course I look at SOME* of the losers out joining the peace marches just because they think they can get away with being a jerk and then hiding in the crowd.
People who join the military do so for a number of reasons but all of them realize that they may be called upon to kill or die defending our country. What was the last thing you were willing to risk your life doing?
So unless you are willing to do more than simply wave a stupid banner around while marching in the safety of the USA don’t deride the very people who provide the very blanket of protection that allows you to be a jerk.
When I play chess I hate every second of it because I can’t tell who to hate more… after all, they are all ‘chess pieces’ aren’t they? And thus I should hate my own as much as I hate theirs.
Or is it that I should support theirs as much as I support my own?
I get so confused! If only I could think about the issue with less depth…
Let’s say I say “I support the US troops in Iraq.”
What the hell difference does it make?
Does some poor guy getting shot at in godforsakendesertland suddenly look up to the heavens and smile, and think “Well, at least I have MrVisible’s intangible support. That makes this all worthwhile.”
I think the “I support the troops” mentality is an amazingly self-centered, egotistical and ridiculous position.
The best part about “supporting the troops” is that apparently the only way you can do it is to lie on the couch. If you try to have a say in the policy-making that decides whether or not the troops get sent across the world to shoot people and get shot at, you’re not supporting them. If you are publicly unhappy with the president for putting them at risk unnecessarily, you’re not supporting them.
Ah, couch potatoes – the last true American patriots.
Here’s my stance. I don’t have to respect anyone. I can choose who I respect and who I don’t. Your opinions have zero influence on who I respect, I alone decide that.
And you telling me that I have to respect a certain group of people results in a huge sarcastic laugh from me.
Seriously, since we have to respect this group of people, how are you going to ensure that everyone does ?
Tell you what, you don’t tell me who I have to respect and I won’t tell you who you have to respect. Deal ?
I support the troops whole-heartedly. I’m looking into a pen-pal program so that at least one of those guys will know that their name will be called during mail call.
I worry that many will die in this bullheaded show of political testosterone. I fear that many more will spend countless years trying to patch up the forgein policy mess this administration will leave behind in the Middle East. I’m upset that many of those young men and women will have to make morally repugnant choices because of the dirty tricks of a madman who has nothing to fight with except dirty tricks.
This war will leave a boiling cauldron of hatred which our troops will be standing in for many years to come. I support my troops by opposing this war.
I have done a few things that have risked my life. I chose to do those things, just as people who join the military chose to do what they do. I was aware of the risks, as you acknowledge (thanks for that) those who join the military do.
I did not expect anyone to support me in taking those risks except to the extent I was taking those risks for the benefit of those people. To the extent that people did not support my goals or indeed thought my efforts were counter productive or positively endangering their safety, I certainly did not expect them to respect what I was doing.
**
You need to appreciate that there are very many who have what they believe to be good reasons for thinking that the current war is significantly endangering the safety of the west. You think that (despite this) such people should support the war and those who fight it.
If you want to debate whether or not the war is a good idea, fine. But stop pretending that regardless of whether it is a good idea, it is logical for those who think it is not to support it and those that fight it regardless.
All of it, Tripler? Or did some of it go towards supporting oppression? The US has never used it’s soldiers in an unjust way? Do you really want to place yourself in a position where you have to argue for that?
Tripler, what you are talking about is the freedom to say something. What I was talking about was my ability to choose who I respect.
No one granted me the right to my own thoughts and no one can tell me what those thoughts should be… It sounded to me that the entire point of the OP was to try and force people to think his way, which is what made me laugh, because you just can not make people think a certain way, or enforce thoughts. I said nothing about the freedoms to voice said thoughts, my post was only concerning the ‘enforced thought’ aspect of the OP.
Damn near every male relative I have has been in the military at some point or another, and that’s exactly why I think stuff like the OP is unspeakably stupid. War is serious business, far too serious to be entered into in a show of political penis waving. For some reason, though, it seems to take heavy casualties to get people to give the matter the serious consideration it deserves. That means that somebody’s dad, somebody’s husband, somebody’s big brother has to die before we stop sending other fathers, husbands, and brothers into unnecessary danger.
I support our troops, and I support the families waiting with their hearts in their throats for a loved one to get called up. That’s why I only want them deployed when there are no other options. That’s why I support the peace movement.
I don’t want to get into whether or not we should be in Iraq. That debate is sufficiently covered by many other threads. I think it’s entirely possible to support the troops while being against the war. (To be fair and honest, I still haven’t decided if this is a war we should fight, I just would like it over quickly and painlessly as possible)
I am expressing anger over comments made in other threads. I don’t believe soldiers hould be referred to as “state mandated killers” or that people should wish for high casualties in order to prove a political point or people should throw rocks at Guardsmen because they are angry about the war. If you still disagree with that, please let me know.
I suppose it would be better to say that I care about Americans and Iraqis.
I can also understand deciding against supporting our troops. It is very important that we don’t just always assume that they are fighting for our freedom or that they are in the right. Otherwise we would be like all the Iraqis who support Saddam because it is wartime and they are being invaded.
I don’t want American soldiers to to get killed and I don’t want them to kill anybody else. I hope they come back soon to their families. I hope they treat the Iraqi people with respect and dignity, and I hope the Iraqi military just surrenders without any more resistance. I felt truly awful about those images on al Jazeera, but I felt like the blood was on Bush’s hands as much as Huseein’s. I wish the best for our troops as people, but I don’t support their mission. I feel grateful that they are willing to fight to protect the US, but I don’t believe for a second that this particular war has anything to do with protecting the US.
I sense a problem of definition lying at the heart of this argument, so I will ask the OP…
msmith537, would you please define what you mean by “support the troops”? What would differentiate someone who supports the troops from someone who does not? In terms of tangible actions, if you would.