Why is it not OK to have a negative opinion about the military? (middle east, parade)
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Those folks you despise in our US Armed Forces gave their lives, lost their limbs, eyes, hearing, sanity, etc so that you can have the freedom to hate them if you choose to do so. So, while despising the military, you should also be thankful for their sacrifices.
Those folks you despise in our US Armed Forces gave their lives, lost their limbs, eyes, hearing, sanity, etc so that you can have the freedom to hate them if you choose to do so. So, while despising the military, you should also be thankful for their sacrifices.
I know what you said has been said all the time but is it really true? Especially after WWII. Think about it. If we never intervened in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq (twice), even Afghanistan, will our "freedoms" be taken away? I hardly think so. Just face it, today America fights abroad for political and economic purposes. Sure you can say our standard of living is the way it is because of the wars we wage overseas, but to say they "protect our freedom to hate them". Not true at all. Another thing is that most military personnel aren't on the front lines risking their lives. To me it's just another occupation and it doesn't earn my respect just by itself. I will judge each one of them individually, just like I do everyone else.
Yes, let's melt down all our swords into plowshares.
Who needs a military, we can just sing around the campfire with the Russians and Chineese, and let's just forget about the extremists.
Without the military providing the foundation, there is no Hirearchy of Needs.
All this for crap pay, in crap living conditions, with crap budgets. All those benefits that just barely helped hold on to quality troops are being taken away every single year.
Where else can we pay a guy to operate a nuclear reactor 112 hours a week for $30k/yr plus all the canned food you can eat, a living/storage space smaller than a coffin, with a glorified MA as a doctor and a toilet that doubles as a shower. And that's a guy who is keeping your sealanes open, and your shores safe.
It was a political tool and a massive propaganda campaign that started in, I think, the 1950s. It's certainly existed to an extent, but they just relied on the usual patriotism. It was WWII where they really needed to lay on the 'military good' complex heavy.
They did it so the pubic would have a hard time being against a war. If you speak out, you hate soldiers. I even saw posts on here that had to start out by saying that. And it's not that I disagree, but it shouldn't have to be said. But we've been so bombarded with the pro-imperialism for so long that it becomes necessary to say you still respect soldiers even if you think the US military policy is borderline evil.
I wonder what the psychological profile of the typical volunteer would look like? I'm sure the Armed Forces know. Do they appeal to folks who are basically losers in civilian life but want to be seen as "heroes"? Or what? It does seem like the military veterans (who may have served only 3 or 4 years) are certainly a self-congratulatory group.
I wonder what the psychological profile of the typical volunteer would look like? I'm sure the Armed Forces know. Do they appeal to folks who are basically losers in civilian life but want to be seen as "heroes"? Or what? It does seem like the military veterans (who may have served only 3 or 4 years) are certainly a self-congratulatory group.
From what I hear there are a whole variety of reasons people serve. Reasons include it being the best option financially, patriotism, educational assistance, needing discipline in their life, lost souls, etc. There are even some (ex. gang members) who want to learn combat skills they can use in the streets and there are a few that join because they want to be able to kill people legally. It would be interesting to compare their psychological profile to civilians of the same socioeconomic group. I'd like to see how things like selfishness, narcissism, ambition, education level, economic background, etc. stack up. While the military has a whole range of personalities just like civilians, I'm thinking there's got to be some common traits for the majority of enlistees.
Something like 92 percent of Americans have a positive view of the armed forces, yet it's OK to hate the government, the police, doctors, lawyers, even though we need them just as much as we need soldiers.
I realize some people in the military commit acts of heroism and we need a military (albeit not nearly as large and expensive as the one we have now) but why is it that having a negative opinion of the institution is considered blasphemy nowadays?
Before Desert Storm in 1990, there wasn't this same universal adoration for the armed forces. The respect people have for the armed forces goes beyond a healthy appreciation for people doing a vital job and borders on worship. People get a fuzzy feeling and are irrationally reverent of anyone in a uniform. Even liberals and peaceniks stop short of criticizing the wars and the armed forces themselves, even if they are against the purpose of the war, they will still support the war because of their adoration for the soldiers.
As you have noted, it has oscillated from the extreme of circa 1970, when the military was the most derided profession in the country. Some of the oscillation was guilt, as my Vietnam veteran father-in-law commented to me as we invaded Iraq for the second (needless, ruinous) time. Then it became a sort of social game, to see who could exceed the Joneses in Passionate Troop Love. It got to the point where it became obligatory and expected. How many ribbons can you fit on your car?
You and I may live long enough to see it oscillate back the other direction. Where we'll never stop or stay, being Americans, is in the sensible middle: while not all wars are just or sane, and not everyone is a hero just for making it through basic training, the military would and will put itself in harm's way for the national safety--and whether it's an idiotic war conceived by greedy leaders and their corporate owners, or a necessary one well handled and fought for a good reason, it deserves respect simply for what it would do at need.
You can tell that we'll never see the military with clear vision, because one social faction spends a lot of political capital trying to cut medical care for veterans, while out the other side of its mouth gushing about 'our heroes,' and no one hangs them for the sheer offensiveness of the contradiction. If a population is dumb enough to swallow that, even embrace it, there is no predicting how preposterous its public opinion can become.
The military is a voluntary force of everyday people from the back bone of our society. They willingly sign up to serve their country not knowing if they will be going to war or not. Not knowing if it will be the death of if they will come home missing pieces.
It is very noble to sign up. How could anyone hate that?
Same goes for the police, and yet many people hate them.
It's mythology vs familiarity. Live next to a base and get cut off in traffic by adrenaline-fuelled 18 year olds and the myth dies pretty damn quick.
From WWII through Vietnam with conscription everybody in theory, such as Elvis Presley, had to serve. However as the draft continued long past Hitler's suicide there became more opportunities to avoid it. Especially with deferments, college, family, job slots held open in National Guard units..... in place for the elite class. Now with President W. Bush being perhaps the last of the draft era generation politician to face judgement over a youthful elite status and not being drafted into or volunteering for the infantry. We still have the testimonies of the older baby boomers telling of the regular Joe, many of who were drafted, being spat upon when they returned home from forced service by protesters since Presidents Johnson and Nixon could not be reached behind their Secret Service protection.
With the all volunteer force there remains the prejudice that "the losers" of society are those who enlisted because they had "no where else to go" to paraphrase a smart but socially dysfunctional movie character with no real family ties going into the Navy aviator training. And with hindsight nobody wants to be seen blaming "the losers" of society instead of Presidents Bush and Obama as was done in the early 70s even if everyone of them volunteered. Because they will lose political support, especially from the more likely to vote senior bloc who are ashamed of some of their actions at the end of the Vietnam era or were the victims of the majority whose lottery number for the draft didn't come up or they got some kind of deferment excusing military service.
For the record I am a late Cold War (82-93) US Army veteran
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Before Desert Storm there was the draft. Mandatory service. Young men didn't have a choice. Volunteers are always admired.
