Think about it, there aren't many HOLLYWOOD movies where the American soldier is the bad guy, doing wrong in the world. Military movies always glorify and exemplify the American soldier and make him look like a hero. Recent military advertising makes being military personnel seem like one of the most honorable things you can do with your life. E.g. ^^ No thanks, not only do I probably not have what it takes, but I don't believe in it what it says. Sorry. Plus I can choose to live in a way I like to without having to be trained to kill. Keep in mind that in different countries and cultures, the military can be equivalent to the lowest class in society. So, imagine yourself being a member of a different society, a different culture. How do the American people seem? I think we're one of the most war-mongering countries on the face of the planet today. Our culture celebrates and gives prestige to the military, something that is fairly uncommon in history. (those instances in history where the military had high-status in society were in war-like empires/dynasties.)
I completely disagree with you, having served in the Marine Corps myself, but this will probably be my only post in this topic. I can just picture myself getting extremely upset. Not sure why. Wars and conflicts have been around as long as humans have. Feel free to not participate, but it's never going to end unfortunately. I just love your focus on the US military. Let's completely ignore every other country's.
Um. Yeah. What do you want? For people to start spitting on them? Why wouldnt we give our military prestige?
I wouldn't call it war-like, exactly. But our culture is definitely overly violent. Watch Bowling for Columbine if you haven't already.
I'm all for the military defending our freedoms and nation, too bad it seems military force is used to make the corporate govt. of this country great at the expence of its citizens...jmo
You have to respect those that serve, thats thier choice and they deserve the utmost respect for it. As far as a commentary on our society I 100% believe that the military is an evil force that takes advantage of the poor & young (all 18 year olds are stupid, its just a matter of to what degree). Any 18y.o or homeless person is gladly going to take the salary because it provides a roof and food if they truly needed to survive. And you can't tell me that the military/ police don't brainwash these young men, i've seen it first hand so many times; a nice kid goes away for 4 years and comes back talking about killing "sand ******" and talking about how many he shot in the face. He was never like that before. It changes people forever. Now sometimes violence is necessary but on a war scale it useless. there gonna send someone else to carry out the governments warped agenda mostly based upon something that 2 parties couldn't just agree to disagree on. The largest problem with our country is that we are all (to some degree) to ignorant to admit when we are wrong. But I ulimately have respect for our service men & women because if nothing else they're brave.
It could be worse, we could be eating our offspring. As for Hollywood glamorizing the American military, duh. Hollywood is in America. Where exactly did you pull this out of? Of course we praise the military, it's called morale. You'd rather boo and throw stuff at our troops before we send them to fight against other soldiers? War is not a man-made creation. Sure, we're more organized and efficient at it than any other animal but violence has to exist.
Do I find our culture to be war-like? I find human history to be warlike. The U.S. has only been around for 200 years, there was plenty of war to go around before us.
I don't know, so our youth don't learn the lessons of war, aspire to become military officers, and shed blood around the world? I don't want HOLLYWOOD to continue lying to my peers about the depiction of "the heroic American soldier", because there are certainly some twisted, sick people in the military. I don't want the marines, navy, and army on my T.V. screen, enticing me with the heroic music and unrealistic depictions of awesome, disciplined people. Not all soldiers are like that. How about some middle-east prisoner photos? Why don't they show the raping and pillaging done by our soldiers? that being said, I do know honorable people in the military. I also know enough "crazies" and "off" types of people in the military, far from the depiction of "the Hero" To answer your question of whether or not we should spit on our soldiers, my answer is NO. I don't think they are dishonorable. I just don't think that the military should be something young people aspire to be in. Not one bit. It's wrong, its war-like, its barbaric.
For Hollywood, thats just good cinema. No one would go to a movie where they depict the military in a bad light. How do you plan to get people to join the military anyway? We gotta have soldiers
Yup, we love wars. We love starting actual wars abroad, even without declaring war. We love guns. We also like waging war on concepts (War on Drugs, War on Terror, etc.). Yeah, we like to show them brown-skinned folk whatfor.
If you seriously think what you just listed the US military doing as the worst things in humanity, I think you need to do a little research into other countries, and what their military does. Of course there's fucking morons in the military, but they certainly aren't the majority. Just as there's extremely ignorant people on Grasscity getting high and posting anti-American garbage threads, when not even expanding their narrow-minded views and learning a few things about the history of humanity. Perhaps we should disband our military. I think you'd find out fairly quickly that your quality of life will drop significantly. Fantastic idea.
It's human nature to challenge anything you can't understand or are against. And while i think it's morally wrong to kill another living thing, killing things is natural. Ya know, survival of the fittest. Conflicts are never good, but to go to war seems childish: like someone can't wait to see the explosions and disregard human life. But our government has definitely manipulated the image of the army to this: [ame=http://vimeo.com/7015914]The U.S.Army, Aww Yeah! on Vimeo[/ame] AWW YYYEAH As for wars... I like this quote from south park Benjamin Franklin: "I believe that if we are to form a new country, we cannot be a country that appears war-hungry and violent to the rest of the world. However, we also cannot be a country that appears weak and unwilling to fight, to the rest of the world. So, what if we form a country that appears to want both." Thomas Jefferson: "Yes, yes of course, we go to war and protest going to war at the same time...." Benjamin Franklin: "And that means that as a nation, we could go to war with whomever we wished, but at the same time act like we didn't want to. If we allow the people to protest what the government does, then the country will be forever blameless." John Adams: "It's like having your cake and eating it too." Anonymous Hick Redneck Founding Father: "Think of it: an entire nation founded on saying one thing and doing another." John Hancock: "And we will call that country the United States of America."
You can very easily pack your stuff, renounce your citizenship, and move out if you dont like the freedoms the threat of our military might provides. Do you honestly think we could survive in this world if other countries people didnt fear having their ass handed to them? Ask bin laden.
Yeah, deciding something for everyone is what all the cool kids these days do. Consider this: The military has denied several movie directors permission to show their movie. All movies depicting the military must be approved by high-ranking military officials who view the movie even before the film raters. How do you know that no one would want to watch a movie where the military is depicted in bad light? You don't, that's right. Good cinema isn't "good guy beats bad guy. fuck yeah america. lol herpderp". Its an art. Art for art's sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for. - George Sand You mean the interests of American politics and business needs soldiers? Once our national security is threatened, America will stand and defend itself. WE don't need troops stationed in the 80 or so nations around the world. WE don't need military bases dotting the landscape of places we can't even pronounce. The rich elite, those who own the majority of private property and the major big businesses of America need their overseas markets maintained and protected. Go ahead, support the troops, they are honorable people. Do not, however, think automatically that what they fight for is noble and just. They fight for the selfish, greedy interests of the American elite who guide the political action in America. To me, less troops = a good thing. I will go as far as to say that those who disagree with me are puppets, and the government makes you dance their dance. Those who agree with me are true patriots.