Thursday, March 29, 2012
3/29/12
It's hard for me to not support the war but support the troops. What was said in class got me really thinking and logically it is correct to say that if you support the troops than you support what they are doing overseas and there forth you are supporting the war. But I want to support the men and woman that are dieing to keep me safe, I feel like it is the least I can do. I know a lot of people that have family and friends that are overseas and they support them because someone they love is in the army/navy/marines/coastguard. To me it makes sense why they are sending post cards and food and love to the soldiers; because every day there is a chance that they could die. How would you feel if someone you love went overseas and passed away in the name of freedom and you didn't support them? You would feel awful! Well I would at least. War makes everything complicated and very little has benefited from the "conflict" that we are currently in.
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The problem is that the troops are not actually dying to keep American civilians safe, or dying in the name of freedom. They are dying because the American military leaders sent them to do so in order to further an agenda that has far less to do with freedom than it does with fossil fuels. This is not to say that individual soldiers are aware of this; in fact, I suspect that most soldiers are either in the military because it was the best career path available to them, or because they honestly believe that by joining the military they can defend America. In the latter case, their intentions (although not the actuality of what they are doing) is highly admirable; in the former, their intentions may not be admirable, but nor are they reprehensible.
ReplyDeleteAs such, I do not believe that anyone should send cards or food or love to the soldiers overseas as a thank-you for what they are doing - but I do think that they should send those things because they care about the troops as people, separate from their unfortunate choice of career. A card can really help someone in a bad situation feel better, and helping the troops to feel better is a nice (if not necessarily patriotic) thing to do. In general, I think that soldiers are neither exceptionally good people nor exceptionally bad people. Thus, they deserve the same consideration that any person in a dangerous situation would. The best way to support the people working as troops, of course, is to attempt to get the government to bring them home.
P.S. I also posted this on my blog if you'd rather read it there.
Sometimes we forget that war is two sided. We think about war with the mindset that only Americans participate in war and that the opposition is shrouded in darkness or something. We think about our poor American soldiers and their poor American families. We think about how sad it would be if our poor American soldiers die. We neglect, however, to think about the opposition. We neglect to think that our poor American soldiers are killing their alleged enemies. Enemies who also have families and children, families and children who believe that their loved ones are fighting for the right cause. To answer your question about how I would feel if someone I loved went off to fight overseas, I would feel terrible that they thought joining the army was a good option, or feel terrible that they were misled into thinking that it would be fighting for freedom, when instead they were simply killing others because they were told to. I would miss them, and I would want with all of my heart to rewind time so that I could tell them not to be so foolish. I would always support them as people, but not as soldiers, unless there was a seriously justified cause.
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