A common refrain.
Moorewatch reader “Holdek” sends the following request:
A common refrain on Moorewatch is that Michael Moore was wrong in F-911 to approach congressmen and ask them to help get their kids to fight in the war that they (the congressmen) voted for. Well, now it looks like none other than the United States Army is about to do the same thing.
It’s time for you and the other keyboard warrior chicken hawks to apologize to Moore on your site. Or do the next best thing...put your money where your mouth is and join up. They need you!
Yes, Holdek, the Army is having a tougher time recruiting these days. I wonder why?
*UPDATE*
Holdek e-mailed me accusing me of making up the whole student protesting the recruiters story.
Here’s a video link from Moore’s website.
It’s pretty funny when it is revealed that they are actually protesting the Army Corps of Engineers at frist , before someone points out to them that they are civilians, also note the college asshat screaming “Get these terrorists out of our school"and then “Get these Commies out of our school”. Funny
Read on....
Over the past weekend thousands of people took to the streets across the country; some to memorialize the troops who had made the ultimate sacrifice in the Iraq War, others to protest why we went to war in the first place. These protests and memorials are one of the reasons I love this country so much. No, the USA doesn’t have a monopoly on free speech, or protesting or dissent; as other countries have their share of those rights as well. It’s just that dissent is what turned a former group of British Colonies into our great Nation in the first place. It’s in our blood to question, protest, resist, and challenge the powers that be. We protest because it is our right, we protest because it is a national tradition. Good on us. These days, protests are a mostly symbolic version of the “policy shaping” protests of yore, still what they symbolize is very important.
However, (and you knew there would be a “however”, right?)
I am seeing a new form of protest that doesn’t illicit images of patriotic dissent like the Civil Rights Marches, or the Boston Tea Party or even John Brown’s Raid. Michael Moore is applauding it, high-school students everywhere are perpetrating it, and frankly, I find it simultaneously ignorant and repugnant. The form of protest I’m referring to is the attack of our Military’s Recruiters while they are doing their jobs.
Recruiters are being stopped from entering schools; recruiting offices are being blocked with human barricades and some of the recruiters have even been converged upon by angry mobs, requiring a police escort to leave the area.
What bothers me about this is two fold: first, the members of our Military forces are not the policy makers; they are simply folks who carry out their duties as promised when they took their oath to protect our homeland. It is simply unpatriotic to attack the members of our Military with the misplaced anger really meant for our elected officials. Recruiters recruit, during war and peace, regardless of who is in the White House.
Secondly, to try to stop people from entering the Military is a slap in the face to all of those who have served in the past or are currently serving. If joining the Military is to be stopped, the implication is that being in the Military is wrong. I just don’t have the patience to put up with large numbers of teenagers who carry on as if my service and the service of my Brothers and Sisters in Arms is anything other than an honorable.
That’s right Holdek, this “chickenhawk” is an Army Veteran, disabled in the line of Duty. Lee is also a Veteran of the US Navy. Moore, on the other hand has never served. Heck, he hasn’t even ever held a real job, except for a single day at the GM plant, let alone a tough job like serving at sea or jumping from planes.
I’m not saying that these protestors are completely to blame for the lower recruitment numbers, however, I don’t think anyone will argue that they are helping. Perhaps if you and your punk friends could “express your anger” elsewhere, the recruiters could get back to doing their jobs, which is tough enough, considering the apparent “lack-of-patriotism” epidemic that inflicts our younger generation.
RSS (Subscribe)