Scott Randolph discusses the differences between the Left and the Right and brings up one of the things that bothers me the most about the anti-war protests.
Soldiers know, when they enlist, that it is entirely possible they will be shipped out and never come home. It’s part of the job. The fact that people still walk in to recruiters’ offices and sign that piece of paper make them heroes. To imply that they are simple kids who didn’t know what they were getting into, or even worse, that they died for no reason, or an immoral reason, does a horrible thing. It strips their sacrifice of the honor that it deserves. Even though those folks sitting out there in the Texas fields claim to honor and support the soldiers, they obviously have been blinded by their own selfishness as to the real way to support them.
Portraying everyone who joins the military as though they are stupid, naive, or have no other choice is beyond insulting. Stereotyping the military may have worked in the 70s but today it might just be doing more to alienate others who don't like the war but dislike the "blame America first" attitude even more.
Posted by marybeth at August 19, 2005 03:33 PM Iraq