This'll stir shit up--"Fuck the Troops!"

EllisDTripp · Apr 1, 2006

http://ruthlessreviews.com/rants/fuckthetroops.html

You hear it all the time - "Even if you don't support the war, you must support the troops." Taking it further, it is often thought impossible for you to show support for our fighting men and women without backing every word and deed of the Bush administration. With troops in the field, it is suggested, criticism or dissent erodes morale and leaves our forces vulnerable to attack. "Let's present a unified front," they say, as if marching in lock-step is the best possible course to ensure survival of the American Way. Well I'm here to express dissent, and not in any predictable fashion. It's too easy to blast our foreign policy while getting teary-eyed at the thought of our armed forces facing the wrath of the evildoers. That's the chickenshit way to debate the Bush crowd and all those who think he walks with Jesus. I'm here to shout from the rooftops that I not only oppose our profit-driven assault on a sovereign nation, but also those who carry out that misguided policy. In other words, fuck the troops. I shed no tears, wave no flags, and remain Buster Keaton-like upon hearing casualty reports or flashes of another tragedy. I oppose them as a good contrarian would, but I also object to who they are as individuals. These are not the best we have to offer, although they may indeed be the most typical. I am speaking of the distinct, undeniably creeping stench of trash - po' white trash above all, but all those who, under the guise of sacrifice and duty, sign away their lives because not even the local community college will accept someone so deficient in the intellectual arts. I simply refuse to salute anyone who has chosen a career path out of sheer desperation and the self-serving drive to fund that which is impossible to achieve by merit or scholarship. It isn't Uncle Sam and the ghosts of our war dead that push our Jethros, our Jim Bobs, and our Crystals onto distant shores, it is the acquisition of job skills and a piece of parchment that will allow them to leave the double-wide behind forevermore.

Because America relies on an all-volunteer army, it must accept literally anyone who has the drive to come into a local recruiting office. And who could resist those "Army of One" commercials, where hillbillies and rural slobs are sold on the idea that even in a regimented, soul-stripping hellhole, one can assert one's identity. It's not true of course, but given the increasingly conservative nature of our white trash, it is not enough to sacrifice life and limb for an abstraction, especially when that abstraction is seen as evil incarnate for taking away grandpappy's hog farm. Do we really believe that only the poor and the directionless possess a patriotic love of country? If the enlisted element of the military were a true cross-section of America rather than what's left over after scraping the trash bin, then my opposition would cease and I would begin to embrace the idea that we were being protected by a living, breathing force of arms rather than the mechanized, technological giant we have become. Other, more talented folks with degrees, ambitions, and functioning brains designed each and every tool used by today's army, and they are the true heroes in all this, if we need to select of a group of people for sanctification. To use such tools, which amounts to nothing more than exploiting the labor of another, is to merely follow orders and learn rudimentary tasks rather than exhibiting gallantry. Or better yet, thank the taxpayers who year after year watch their dollars sail into the bottomless pit of the Pentagon, which in turn grease the wheels of military contractors, the true masters of us all.

For all the talk of bravery and fearlessness, I can present an equal amount of selfishness and blatant stupidity. How many stories have I heard regarding a feathered-hair princess in Mom Jeans and her five children waiting with bated breath for daddy to come home from combat? Or what about the tale of the military couple who had to contend with possible court-martial because the mother insisted that no one would be home to take care of their seven brats? Does Lee Greenwood really drip from your lips when you hear that faux hero Jessica Lynch met her beau at Taco Bell and is planning to have a wedding similar to the bimbo from Reno 911? If these military wives aren't perpetually pregnant (and we pay for that, dear readers), then they are parading around the base with their buzzed-cut brood and faded NFL jerseys. With such mediocrities as our last line of defense, it should come as no surprise that we get bogged down whenever the enemy sees fit to put up a fight. It isn't possible nuclear annihilation that keeps us from invading North Korea, it is the prospect of facing a crack unit of over a million men who are likely to leave tens of thousands of Americans bleeding to death in the snow.

So while you attend your parades and place hand over heart, I will be immersed in my shame. Tho' the uniforms be crisp and the boots be shiny, the skin beneath them houses the opportunist, the breeder, or the dropout. And if all you have to say to me is that I speak out of ignorance or the arrogance of a man too afraid to fight, I say that is no argument indeed. Of course I do not wish to be shot, and yes, I would be pissing my pants on the flight over, but I am honest enough to admit that I have no desire to defend the interests of those who do not represent the principles I hold dear. And neither do they, the soldiers, only they cannot speak openly about their naked self-interest. They cling to love of country, but it is nothing of the sort. The only alternative to selfish goals is a genuine ignorance; a willingness to accept the party line from the top brass. If that is the case, my point regarding their simple natures is proven. For no one with even a shred of decency or intellectual honesty would believe that our current engagements are in defense of liberty and justice for all. If it turns into Red Dawn, I'll polish my rifle and meet you at the front. But until then, I won't die for the soccer mom and her perceived right to drive a Hummer.
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skip · Apr 1, 2006

I'm not surprised some people feel this way. There were a lot who did during the Vietnam war as well, and supposedly a few spit on the troops to express their distain for war and those who blindly obey orders to kill.

As the writer hinted, many people are driven to enlist due to economic pressures that the system has purposely created so that there will always be a sufficient number of marginalized people to work for low wages and kill for money.

Of course when they recruit these people they NEVER mention that the real deal is kill=money. And those who sign up are no more than mercenaries. In fact the US military has become such a mercenary machine, that thousands of private "contractors" now perform military duties around the world. Private armies are now for hire in the US & UK.

Those who die or kill because they wanted to get GI benefits, either were too stupid to read the fine print in their contract or were too patriotic, or just made a stupid choice.

I think most fall in the latter group. I feel badly for them, because they're the ones sitting in Iraq or Afghanistan, never wanting to be there in the first place. They never knew they would end up in the middle of war halfway round the world, when they signed up for Nat'l Guard ten years ago. They were sold a LIE.

TrippinBTM · Apr 2, 2006

Not really a lie... you sign up for the armed forces, and the possibility of going to war is right there, that's what the armed forces DO.

Also, just because Jim-Bob never had a good opprotunity for education doesn't mean he's actually an idiot. He's just not had the same chances that the city-folk do. One can't blame him for trying to get out of the perpetuated poverty in the rural areas by joining the force. Plus, those people do tend to be conservative, as well as patriotic. So it seems to me these guys aren't lying to themselves, they really do support the war and the country, as well as also trying to help themselves into a better life.

Funny that I'm defending them when I really did in large part agree with the essay. Not the "dumb redneck" comments but the fact that they volunteered at all is sort of a detraction for them.

I guess I agree with both sides, in a way.

polymer · Apr 2, 2006

lol
I love it.

Charise · Apr 3, 2006

A guy told me yesterday that while he was against the war, that we needed to 'support the troops'. Support them how? He didn't intend his statement this way, but the root meaning of this kind of rhetoric is 'support the war'. I hear people say that kind of thing all the time, but nobody ever specifies exactly how we're supposed to 'support the troops'. What are we supposed to do, send them packages with candy in them? The only way we should support the troops is to send them home so that they don't kill anymore innocent people and don't get killed themselves.

TrippinBTM · Apr 3, 2006

^very true. "Support the troops" is empty bullshit. It doesn't mean anything. Putting a sticker on your car doesn't support anyone but the sticker manufacturers. I doubt any of those people ever send any money, equipment, or even letters. It really has just become a backdoor way of telling everyone to support the war. Sad part is when you see the stickers on the cars of people who you know are against the war (my sister and my mom, for example).

polymer · Apr 3, 2006

TrippinBTM said:

Sad part is when you see the stickers on the cars of people who you know are against the war (my sister and my mom, for example).
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tell them to get these instead: http://www.questionwar.com

EllisDTripp · Apr 3, 2006

I hear people say that kind of thing all the time, but nobody ever specifies exactly how we're supposed to 'support the troops'. What are we supposed to do, send them packages with candy in them?
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Ya wanna REALLY support the troops? Send 'em here:

http://girights.objector.org
http://www.nisbco.org
http://www.couragetoresist.org

Anything other than this kind of help is acting as an "enabler", to use a trendy 12-step term...

skip · Apr 3, 2006

The reverse LIE, that if you don't support the troops (the war), you're helping Bin Laden, is even worse. That is the knife that divides our country. Bush has been doing that since 9/11. "You're either for us or against us."

That is the faulty logic and guilt trip laid on America and our allies. Like you can't be neutral or oppose all wars without somehow helping the enemy.

The big fallacy in all this is the emphasis on US and THEM. The world is full of human beings who are neither for or against other human beings. It's only governments that are against other governments and human beings who don't believe what they do.

Unfortunately the US attitude has just alienated most human beings on the planet, who now regard the US as a loose cannon superpower, being led by madmen.

How long before American troops are on Iranian soil? A week, maybe two...

Libertine · Apr 3, 2006

I agree with some of it.

Some of it I roll my eyes at.

I agree with such lines as "I am honest enough to admit that I have no desire to defend the interests of those who do not represent the principles I hold dear. "

or "With troops in the field, it is suggested, criticism or dissent erodes morale and leaves our forces vulnerable to attack. "Let's present a unified front," they say, as if marching in lock-step is the best possible course to ensure survival of the American Way."

or even "It isn't Uncle Sam and the ghosts of our war dead that push our Jethros, our Jim Bobs, and our Crystals onto distant shores, it is the acquisition of job skills and a piece of parchment that will allow them to leave the double-wide behind forevermore."

Many soldiers are indeed poor. They can't afford to go to college. They can't afford to go through many loopholes and the red tape of grants or loans. They aren't elite enough to get a scholarship or they aren't the CEO's daughter or Senator's son who gets a little boost-- a "little"...heh...yeah.

Sure, many people do join the armed forces because of rhetoric, but some join in order to achieve an education they couldn't pay for or to obtain skills they could learn no where else. And yes they do usually find themselves on the battlefield for it.

One thing that I find particularly distasteful is the degradation of people just because they are poor. I take it the person who wrote this isn't starving. Don't get me wrong...a lot of people are ignorant and create messes for themselves--most of 'em. But, there is NOT equal opportunity in this country, I don't give a damn what you may think!

I think that the writer is right-on on several aspects as I have mentioned earlier, but puts too much emphasis on "degrees" and economic status. As if these fucking "rich" trash are better--and yes, "rich trash" exists. Paris Hilton, anyone?

Just because someone inherited Daddy's billions doesn't make 'em any better than the trailer park queen, inherently. It is what they both do to contribute (if anything).

Without the working class, these ivory tower motherfuckers wouldn't live in their towers. So, I think it proves that placing emphasis on money as the determining factor of human value is as warped as sacrificing your freedom for "duty" in a "regimented, uniformed mechanical machine." Because it is essentially selling out to the same philosophy.

EllisDTripp · Apr 3, 2006

I agree with your criticisms of the writer's obvious class bias.

Unfortunately, the working class (especially in the south) has repeatedly thrown its lot in with the GOP, largely because of their OWN bigotry. As long as the repugs keep spouting all the Xtian right line of crap about women, minorities, gays, etc., the "Nascar Dads" will dutifully line up and vote against their OWN class interests time after time.

Just like the battered woman who keeps going back to her abuser, thewhite southern working class keep going back to the party which time and time again SCREWS THEM. After 50 or so years of this, you would think that people would LEARN SOMETHING, college degree or HS dropout.

After a while, maybe it is time to write off people who are obviously too brainwashed by their own racism/sexism/homophobia to realize who the REAL enemies of the wroking class are. Hint: they aren't black lesbian feminists....

rangerdanger · Apr 3, 2006

Support the troops?

Maybe some of 'em.
But support lt wm. calley and his troops, who masscred 500 civilians at Mei Lie, the members of tiger force, who wore necklaces made of human ears, NO.
Support the troops who inflicted the worse kind of torture at Abu Ghraib? NO.
Support the troops who rape and rob Iraqi's, and kill innocents, NO.

This hapens because our military teaches troops that the enemy, whether they be Germans, Japs, Vietnamese or Iraqi's, are sub-human, so it's not that bad when you torture and kill them.

People who enlist for economic reasons should show a little backbone, stand up to bushco and refuse to ship out.
Or apply for CO status at least.
Even if they aren't in combat, shipping out is the same as acting as the getaway driver or lookout for murderers.

Justwow · Apr 4, 2006

Uh, how about "Fuck the terrorists"?

But I guess those are the people some would rather root for. People had better start opening their eyes, and see that the United States is NOT the enemy, or they're going to leave behind a world ruled by Islamofascism. I'm almost tempted to say "it would serve them right", but unfortunately thats the world my family would inherit also. Thanks alot.

People who support the troops say so to show RESPECT for what they have to go through! Our soldiers are not out to kill civilians, but when that happens, it is a horrific mistake that the COMMANDERS made.

I realize there are idiots in the army like all those in the Abu Ghraib disgrace. Those are IDIOTS, and do NOT reflect the average soldier! I know plenty of soldiers who do not regret serving in Iraq and have NOT killed any civilians, let me assure you!

And the people who spat at the Vietnam vets can all go to hell. Karma will get them big time, if it hasn't already, be assured!

Charise · Apr 4, 2006

The US invasion has vastly increased terrorism in that part of the world. My Iraqi Christian friends didn't have to worry about their safety before the invasion. You know how much terrorism was directed at Christians in Iraq before the invasion? None. You know how much there is now? Enough that Christians don't feel safe in their churches, homes, and on the streets. Thanks America for 'liberating' Iraq. The only people that believe that Iraq has been 'liberated' are ignorant kindergarteners that deserve to live in a dictatorship.

SunLion · Apr 4, 2006

I can see all sides in this one. There are as many reasons for enlisting as there are enlistees. I've heard people say they're joining because they want to kill. I've heard people say they're joining because they hate war, hate Bush, and want to get inside to do some real good. And a lot in between.

To a dad whose 8 year old has been killed by a trigger-happy GI, we ARE the terrorists. Peaceful nations don't go all the way to the other side of the planet to kill people in their homes- especially to export nothing more than economic policies that SUCK ASS anyway.

For the first time since my older brother was in Vietnam, about a week ago me and my family packaged up some misc stuff and sent it to my niece's husband, who is serving over there. We sent magic tricks from a magic shop, earplugs (with a note "use these when you get tired of us antiwar people"), a meteorite fragment, an Ordovician trilobite fossil, a rock (labeled "this is a rock"), a 10x hand magnifier... I forget what else. Just silly stuff, mostly.

And some friends I met here on this site sent me a yellow ribbon- in the form of a question mark, with the message "question war." It's on my car now (don't worry, if someone assaults me over it, I'm armed, and they will die quickly with not too much pain).

I just can't feel any animosity against those that are serving, I really can't. My father served in WW2, saw extreme longterm heavy combat, and he was pretty much pro-peace, it's said that he offered to get my brother out of the country during Vietnam. And my brother is very active in working against Bush and the war in Iraq.

I just don't feel the slightest resentment towards those who enlisted... I just plain don't feel it at all.

But I also don't feel it necessary to shout to the world "I SUPPORT THE FUCKIN TROOPS MORE THAN YOU!!!" etc.

Flight From Ashiya · Apr 6, 2006

I cringe when I see John Wayne in U.S. Marines Khaki ;nobody should ask what infantry division John Wayne served in during W.W.II.
I was wondering when William.S.Calley & St.Sgt Barry Saddler of The Green Berets would be mentioned.It's all 'Gung-Ho' all the way to My Lai.Then news of that massacre brought back all the horrors of the U.S. Cavalry's massacre of the Red Indians - a century before.
Yet It was the U.S.A. that ended the worst world war in human history.Both the European & Japanese wars of 1945.It was the U.S.A. through the Truman Doctrine/Marshall Plan in 1947 that they bailed out all the non-communist bankrupted countries that had fought wars that they couldn't afford to fight,in the first place.
It was in 1945 .That the entire free-world clamoured for the U.S.A. to become the World's Policemen & that is why America will never return to the Isolationism of the 1930s.

Justwow · Apr 6, 2006

Flight From Ashiya said:

I cringe when I see John Wayne in U.S. Marines Khaki ;nobody should ask what infantry division John Wayne served in during W.W.II.
I was wondering when William.S.Calley & St.Sgt Barry Saddler of The Green Berets would be mentioned.It's all 'Gung-Ho' all the way to My Lai.Then news of that massacre brought back all the horrors of the U.S. Cavalry's massacre of the Red Indians - a century before.
Yet It was the U.S.A. that ended the worst world war in human history.Both the European & Japanese wars of 1945.It was the U.S.A. through the Truman Doctrine/Marshall Plan in 1947 that they bailed out all the non-communist bankrupted countries that had fought wars that they couldn't afford to fight,in the first place.
It was in 1945 .That the entire free-world clamoured for the U.S.A. to become the World's Policemen & that is why America will never return to the Isolationism of the 1930s.
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I agree with what you said about the USA ending WW2 and helping post-war Europe recover.

polymer · Apr 6, 2006

SunLion said:

And some friends I met here on this site sent me a yellow ribbon- in the form of a question mark, with the message "question war." It's on my car now (don't worry, if someone assaults me over it, I'm armed, and they will die quickly with not too much pain).
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LOL

that's awesome

I still need to get one of those, and one of these

SunLion · Apr 7, 2006

http://questionwar.com/

or maybe...

Support Our Troops: Shoot a NeoCon.

polymer · Apr 7, 2006

i know about qw, does the latter have a sticker?

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This'll stir shit up--"Fuck the Troops!"

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