You know. I was reading an article in Time a couple of days ago entitled The Danger of Yellow Ribbon Patriotism by Joe Klein, and it really got me to thinking about the (so called) war and the effects the millions of decals, magnets, ribbons and signage displayed all over the freaking place.
It appears as if the display of these Ribbons are more of statement of compliance and a fad than in support of anything. It’s a big, fat, stupid bomb of Patriotism – fire and forget. Most people in the country really have no idea what is going on over there, and quite frankly they really don’t want to. With the exception of the tragedy afflicted soldiers and family members, to whom this war has become far too familiar, what the hell difference does it make if you slap a $2 sticker on your $50,000, 5 ton, 10 mpg SUV or not? Now don’t get me wrong, I support the military action 100% and every one of the soldiers & civilians stationed overseas; in all capacities. Having served in the Marines myself, those are my extended family over there getting shot at, bombed, and blown up – not a bunch of no-names who matter not.
Our government refuses to give 100%, and they are not united in OUR commitment to providing a peaceful resolution to all of the military actions currently underway in the Middle East. Where are the bonds? Where is the national call to service? Why hasn’t the government called on us to make sacrifices for our troops? You know, the ones we are so strongly supporting? We are all content to just sit back, sipping our Starbucks while looking over the latest sell-sheet for the new Ford SUV to hit the market. Meanwhile, the country free falls into a bottomless pit of debt.
Maybe instead of paying $200,000 for that $15,000 house in the upper west side, or tossin’ that MasterCard like like so much pizza dough – we should start to look at what really matters and see if we can figure out a way to get our people home safely.
excerpt:
It is only with a public acknowledgment of the unutterable agony this war has caused that we can begin a serious and long overdue conversation about Iraq, about why this war—which, unlike Vietnam, cannot be abandoned without serious consequences—is still worth fighting and why we should recommit the entire nation to the struggle. This is a failure of leadership, perhaps the signal failure of the Bush presidency.
That pretty much sums it up for me – thanks Joe.