This is possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever read, and literally not worth the minute it takes to read it. So here’s the shorter version: Americans so strongly support the troops because it’s the one issue, in our hopelessly fractured political culture, upon which we can all agree and thus satisfy our collective yearning for a sense of national unity. And here I thought it was because we’ve been fed a relentless barrage of propaganda our entire lives about how the soldiers fight and die to protect our freedoms and only an ingrate or a heretic would fail to profess his support.
Tag Archives: Memorial Day
Happy War Glorification Day
Remember to take a little time out today from stuffing your faces with hot dogs and drinking beer to pay tribute to the brave men and women who are busy protecting your freedom by killing people who have no intention of doing you harm, in places you’ve never heard of.
Happy (Belated) War Glorification Day
It was just about impossible to turn on the TV yesterday without stumbling upon a maudlin tribute to our fallen heroes in some form or other, whether a straight news piece or a war movie of the Band of Brothers variety. Even during the seventh inning stretch of the Phillies game there was a sappy musical tribute to those who, as the announcer put it, “made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.” And you couldn’t so much as drive down the street without being assaulted by American flags.
Of course, a day devoted to remembering people killed in wars could just as easily be an anti-war holiday. But, alas, this isn’t the case here in America, where militarism is the national religion, in spite of the official myth about how the U.S. isn’t an aggressor and only goes to war when it has no other choice.
Pissing in the wind 