Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Day: what we should be mourning
DumpDC is harsh, but on point. Mr. Longcore respects the honor of those who thought they died for their country and in defense of freedom; but the truth is, the wars they fought did not merit their sacrifice.
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5 comments:
You assume that your standards are theirs. If a person dies for causes they believe in, they die for a just reason.
Barga:
On the contrary, I agree with you that if a person dies for a cause they believe in, they die for a just reason.
My objection has nothing to do with respect for individuals going to war, and everything to do with a culture that idolizes the military. The latter is a serious barrier to the restoration of freedom in this country.
How do you figure that we idolize the military? While we honor and support it, I don't see too many people who are not poor desiring to go into it.
Perhaps I should have said, a culture that idolozes war.
We have 2½ holidays dedicated to the military and veterans. (Memorial Day, Veterans'Day, and increasingly, Independence Day).
We proclaim that we are spreading freedom to the world; when in fact, we are trying to Westernize traditional cultures, so they will buy more of our products.
Between Iraq and Afghanistan, and our saber-rattling in Iran, North Korea, and even domestically; we are setting ourselves up to be embroiled in constant war, just like Oceania in 1984. As von Clausewitz famously said, "War is diplomacy by other means." If our diplomatic objectives were fair and legitimate, diplomacy should be good enough, right?
Stepping into Iraq in 2003 was no less an act of aggression than Germany's invasion of Poland. Only the rhetoric is different. Afghanistan was legitimate when we stepped in; but having utterly failed in our objective to capture bin Laden there, I am finding it difficult to justify now.
I do not underestimate the terrorist threat, but I will still argue that we would not have had this threat if we had kept our military out of the Middle East, and maintained a more neutral policy toward Israel.
If you haven't already, please read Smedley D. Butler's War is a Racket for some perspective on my position.
I don't see us as idolizing the military, but i do agree that we are an overly-agressive people.
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