Posted on 11/10/2014 5:18:33 AM PST by Citizen Zed
Put a man in uniform, preferably a white man, give him a gun, and Americans will worship him. It is a particularly childish trait, of a childlike culture, that insists on anointing all active military members and police officers as “heroes.” The rhetorical sloppiness and intellectual shallowness of affixing such a reverent label to everyone in the military or law enforcement betrays a frightening cultural streak of nationalism, chauvinism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism, but it also makes honest and serious conversations necessary for the maintenance and enhancement of a fragile democracy nearly impossible.
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
Dope and an addict.
(rewritten for clarity)
Get a lazy and mean screwball with a degree in journalism, exclusively a socialist liberal, give him an off-the-shelf computer, and he will troll the Internet for pennies. It is a particularly irritating trait of the leftist media, that insists on annoying the public with their rhetorical sloppiness and amoral shallowness that they give such utter failures a forum to pester everyone in the country with their utterly failed, corrupt and anti-democratic streak of internationalism, racism, authoritarianism and socialist totalitarianism, but it also makes the honest and serious conversations necessary for the maintenance and enhancement of our excessively tolerant democracy nearly impossible.
I think it is a matter of perspective. To those of us who haven’t served you are all heroes. And I have yet to hear anyone who was or is by your definition a hero ever describe themselves as such. In fact what’s noticeable is their almost embarrassed humility. Your point that overuse of the word degrades its meaning is well taken. But please forgive us if we cannot help but feel and express our gratitude for a sacrifice most of us have been unable or unwilling to make.
IMHO there is something that hasn’t be brought up. Even those who only “spent” a few years in the military, active duty, reserve, or guard, did something on a daily basis that no civilian, except police and fire, have done.
We wrote a daily check to the Republic that had, in the amount section, “Everything up to an including my life”. Everyone one of us were subject to mobility. The infamous “3 AM call” wasn’t a piece of political showmanship - it was a reality for many of us and a strong possibility for the rest.
Are there true heroes in our, the military, midst? Yes, perhaps more than most other sub-tribes. But also there are a lot of heroes in our sub-tribe that say - “I am not a hero. I represent the real heroes who did more than what little I did. I also represent those heroes that didn’t come home; for they are the true heroes.”
The LMSM and academic elitists have a major problem these days; military heroes are easy to see and identify these days. The combat casualties from the Global War on Terrorism are easy to identify with their wheelchairs, crutches, service animals, and too may visual reminders of their service to fully list. IMHO it is this factor more than any other that lead to this article.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the LMSM and academic elistists who are desperately searching for something to answer “What did you do in the war against terrorism?” would remove the term “hero’ from their lexicon when attempt to degrade the Republic’s heroes who fought the good fight?
Call it what you want.
- You gave up a few years of your life for your country. It doesn’t matter if you were a cook or a desk jockey.
- You could have persued personal interests. You did an unselfish act for relatively litttle pay.
- If there is only one soldier in a hot zone, he is a target...if there are 20,000 soldiers in a hot zone, they are a presence. The solitary soldier gets the accolades, but the 20,000 are doing the same job.
- You undoubtedly experienced more crap in a year than I’ll see in a lifetime.
I have admiration for those who serve(d). If someone wants to call you a hero, I don’t have a problem with that. The author does, but I don’t.
“Comments? I never even made it past the first sentence of this krap.”
Ha! Neither did I! I skipped straight to the Comments section to see if anyone reamed the author a new one.
I think that’s a girl! Check it out...wearing earrings, and no Adam’s apple.
Wonder what Col. Allen West would have to say to this ignorant POS ...
a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.
The "hero" label for service members is connected to this society's desire that service to the nation be regarded as noble, and a model of behavior to be emulated. Clearly, the label has been over simplified, as tends to happen when the people are deliberately dumbed-down to near illiteracy, but I believe the sentiment remains.
The act of delaying self-aggrandizement in private society by spending years in the service of one's country is a noble act. Because "noble" is a word now used to refer to how one's dog looks while sleeping in the yard, we have devolved into using "heroic" inappropriately.
I am no hero, in my mind, although I am damned proud of having served my country as a young man.
The sum of this article is: American soldiers don’t deserve respect because 1) “there’s a sexual assault epidemic in the military” and 2) because they are mean to Chelsea Manning, transvestite and confidential information leaker.
Wow!
While you may not consider yourselves heroes, you were supporting those who were in the position of becoming one. You were in the position yourselves of having that possibility thrust upon you and you agreed to that upon enlistment.
It's not necessarily the actions that define a hero, but the willingness to perform those actions if called upon to do so. Your enlistment showed that you were willing--even in the face of the civilian public's disapproval of the military.
To me, a hero is not necessarily someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty, but someone who answers that call and fulfills it faithfully. A hero is a positive role model.
I could not physically qualify for the military, but I do admire those who answer that call, and I appreciate the willingness to make the sacrifice that may be required.
I don’t argue with them, calling them heroes. I was married to a Navy man for 23 years and believe me, he was no hero to us!
But he served. I’m proud of him for it anyway.
But for him it wasn’t dedication, just something that he did to make enough money to drink. Job security.
If called upon, he would have gone over and fought. I don’t know how that would have turned out, but he would have gone.
Ok, I will say that serving his country in the Navy was the most heroic thing he ever did.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, HA! That’s what I did instantly up seeing the pic. Thanks for the larf! Whoo....what a fruitbat!
Thank you for your service and your humility.
I believe that all who serve honorably in our military are heroes, some of greater or lesser degrees than others.
But there are also many, many “heroes” we never hear about, due to the airwaves being packed with “celebrities”, and giving them status, as if they and their beliefs are of some significance.
I would much rather see media efforts and airtime filled with stories told by those in the military and those who live humble lives helping others, who may or may not qualify as “heroes” by your definition, than the constant tripe we hear from Hollywood and similar.
JMHO
Here is the proof that he is simply a kool aid drinker, writing just to gain chops from fellow travelers.
I agree. And I served as well in in Vietnam.
What really numbs me is referring to police as heroes. LEO heroes are few and far between in my book. Since when does a cop, unlike a fireman, rush into a burning building to save someone?
Cops generally put their own safety first.
He IS a hero! A Liberal, effeminate weenie who is Speaking Truth to Power!
/s
David Masciotra is another example of the collateral damage done to American society by the illegal drug industry. They used to involuntarily commit people like him.
A total piece of human filth who sits around thouhgtlessly enjoying his freedoms that were won before him by men and women of greater courage.
It is true that to refer to everyone as a “Hero” is a watering down of the term.
My Freep Page has referenced that for years. We have plenty of real heroes in our country, many have served in the armed forces, and many have not.
Giving someone default gratitude and respect because they served in the armed forces is not worshiping them, as this pinhead who wrote the piece seems to think. It is what we owe them, those who can be called on at any time to forfeit their lives and liberty.
We OWE them that respect, until they do something to invalidate it. And it is a special case. We don’t OWE that same attitude towards politicians in general, and specifically we don’t owe it to those who suck at the government teat for decades.
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