Post by Mya on Feb 14, 2022 8:26:21 GMT
On Veterans Day, it’s typical and appropriate to see countless homages, salutes, and earnest formal and informal appreciation ceremonies for military servicemen and servicewomen in every electronic and paper medium that we encounter. It’s part of who we are. It’s part of how we got where we are.
I get it. We all get it.
Sometimes, however, Veterans Day observances annoy me. And not because I’m unpatriotic. I simply feel conflicted.
I’ve been told — or, perhaps, better put, “corrected” — that America is not the land of the free, home of the brave, but, in fact, the land of the free because of the brave.
Is this really true?
I don’t think most folks would find my answer or my questions very patriotic.
Last Jan. 16 marked the 30th anniversary of the six-week Gulf War in Iraq. This past September marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11, which resulted in the invasion of Iraq (again, in 2003), which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack, so let’s be honest. Back then, were the national pep rallies and resultant increased military enlistments to wage these wars a product of bravery or military-industrial complex knavery? Or simple dupery?
Former vice president — and Halliburton magnate — Dick Cheney is smiling.
Should I defend my country, right or wrong? Seems like that’s a painful mistake we’ve made in the past.
Should I simply love it or leave it?
Philosophically speaking, the infamous, pro-war “Love It or Leave” charge is a classic false dilemma. It reduces an issue to a puerile, simplistic either/or proposition. Americans really seem to love simplistic either/or propositions, but they’re hardly ever useful or productive — or correct.
www.fwweekly.com/2022/01/19/shoulders-of-goliath/
I get it. We all get it.
Sometimes, however, Veterans Day observances annoy me. And not because I’m unpatriotic. I simply feel conflicted.
I’ve been told — or, perhaps, better put, “corrected” — that America is not the land of the free, home of the brave, but, in fact, the land of the free because of the brave.
Is this really true?
I don’t think most folks would find my answer or my questions very patriotic.
Last Jan. 16 marked the 30th anniversary of the six-week Gulf War in Iraq. This past September marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11, which resulted in the invasion of Iraq (again, in 2003), which had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack, so let’s be honest. Back then, were the national pep rallies and resultant increased military enlistments to wage these wars a product of bravery or military-industrial complex knavery? Or simple dupery?
Former vice president — and Halliburton magnate — Dick Cheney is smiling.
Should I defend my country, right or wrong? Seems like that’s a painful mistake we’ve made in the past.
Should I simply love it or leave it?
Philosophically speaking, the infamous, pro-war “Love It or Leave” charge is a classic false dilemma. It reduces an issue to a puerile, simplistic either/or proposition. Americans really seem to love simplistic either/or propositions, but they’re hardly ever useful or productive — or correct.
www.fwweekly.com/2022/01/19/shoulders-of-goliath/