Supporting our Troops, Boston Globe Style!

Boston Globe ^ | September 18,2008 | Steve Almond

[Sentinel507]

Supporting our troops By Steve Almond September 18, 2008 PERHAPS the most insidious byproduct of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been a reflexive sanctification of the military. To put this in bumper stickerese: Support the Troops. Well, I have an ugly confession to make: I don't support the troops - at least not unconditionally. When somebody tells me they serve in the military, my first impulse isn't to say, "Thank you for your service!" like those insufferable chickenhawks on talk radio. My first impulse is to say, "I'm sorry to hear that." Because I am. I'm sorry to know that the person I'm talking to might someday be maimed or killed on the job, or might someday kill someone else. Or refuel a plane that drops bombs on buildings. I can't see how anyone who calls himself or herself Christian - or human, for that matter - wouldn't be sorry. The fact that we have an army, that we need an army, is inherently tragic. It's an admission that our species is still ruled by fear and aggression.

[Sentinel507]

Read this and try not to let blood shoot out of your eyes.

[GT Vander]

A BARF ALERT tag is “required” when posting trash of this ilk.

[word_warrior_bob]

Treason=Liberal Patriotism

[sinanju]

I hope at least some who respond to this poor fool simply gently explain to him that the world is still a rough place and that as long as it has men like Mahmoud, Bashar, L’il Kim, Putin, Hugo, Fidel & Raul, etc., etc., we are still going to need “rough men ready to do violence on our behalf.”

[Timeout]

Hey, sentinel.

This has already been posted.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085177/posts

[jessduntno]

Don’t read it or anything else by this nitwit and maybe he’ll get a real job someday.

[musicman]

[A.A. Cunningham]

[weegee]

My first impulse is to say, "I'm sorry to hear that." Because I am. I'm sorry to know that the person I'm talking to might someday be maimed or killed on the job, or might someday kill someone else.

Has she ever expressed this same sentiment to an ecoterrorist?

[nclaurel]

This is disgusting even for the Boston Globe. Some of the comments are insane. The “as a veteran” comments seem to forget ours is a volunteer military. Sad to lie about being a veteran while slamming them.

[toomuchcoffee]

Golly, since this has already been posted, I must have already read it. I apologize for not posting that I have already read this.

[andy58-in-nh]

Not everyone deserves freedom, and that does not apply solely to criminals. This nation and its military are far too valuable to protect and defend people who despise them.

[JenB987]

This is the kind of guy whose car I wish would break down on Nov. 4.

It’s making me ill reading such drivel. I don’t even want to click on his article to give the paper the idea that I’m half way interested in reading the rest.

[KingSnorky]

In other words, Steve Almond would gladly spit on an American soldier if doing so didn’t entail a subsequent ass-kicking.

Man, bring back the tar and feathers.

[sofaman]

Steve Almond? This guy's a nut!

I thank you.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

From Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary;

Main Entry: chicken hawk
Function: noun
Date: 1827
1: a hawk that preys or is believed to prey on chickens
2slang : a man who pursues boys or young men for sexual purposes

I know what libs are trying to say but I was told to always use the first definition .

[TexanToTheCore]

Steve is a pansy.....pass it around!

[nothingnew]

Golly, since this has already been posted, I must have already read it. I apologize for not posting that I have already read this.FMCDH(BITS)

[nothingnew]

Just forget you read it now and jump into your time machine and travel back about 2-3 hours and read it for the first time.

FMCDH(BITS)

[CSM]

Except for slavery, fascism, tyranny, ethnic clensing, nazism and opression, war has never solved anything.