ReadabilityOh NOW the left cares for the vets?
Thursday I went to the Twin City Mall pay my Comcast bill (I never pay a bill online that I can pay in person) and I noticed a poster on the wall advertising a new Showtime series, Homeland! The catch line is “They see a hero, she sees a threat”.
I instantly thought of the president’s SOTU and the whole question of Vets trying to find work and I thought: REALLY?
For decades, DECADES the left though the entertainment industry, has painted the American Vet as unstable, psychotic and unable to function in society and we don’t have to be talking about movies like The Deerhunter or Apocalypse Now, we’ve seen it in more subtle ways.
Let’s give a simple example of a movie you might not consider in this vein: For the Boys with James Caan and Bette Midler as a pair of performers who entertain the troops in three wars and the consequences thereof. The primary plot is the relationship between the two characters but the backdrop are the wars.
At the beginning of the movie they are entertaining the troops in World War 2, the theme is upbeat and while the jokes are a bit raw the troops are respectful and the only hint of the costs of war is a bombing raid that they dance to and the funeral of Dixie (Bette Midler’s) husband.
This is despite the fact that over 400,000 US soldiers were killed during WWII, only the Civil war killed more.
When we get to Korea, suddenly war become a story of mud and rain and wounds and the horrors of war. Somehow a war that with 54,000 US deaths (36k in theater) is magnitudes worse than a war that was fought all over the globe, resulted in the wholesale destruction of cities and mass murder.
And since the template had been set by MASH we had the stereotypical “bad” gossip columnist degrading the Koreans while supporting the war while George Segal is the smart witty writer who in full Alda mode speaks of the stupidity of the fight.
One only needs to take a look at the two Korea’s today to answer the question: Who would the South Koreans agree with. MASH not withstanding the answer would be the same in today as it would have been in 1991.
Once we get to Vietnam, our troops are boors who can’t keep their hands of the girl from the show and are incapable somehow of fighting back, they are just victims just like the rest of the 58,000 US troops who died.
And of course in the Vietnam scene Dixie son is killed but not before he gets the chance to say how BS everything is, not just the war but the philosophy of duty, honor etc.
Note the difference the most devastating war of the 20th century is clean (It would not be until Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers that WW 2 managed to catch up ) but the smaller wars that followed are a national trauma, why?
Well first you have to remember that it wasn’t until once the Germans invaded the USSR, that the American Left concluded that they were the enemies of the world and the fight was both noble and worthwhile.
But Korea and Vietnam; boat people, re-education camps and tens of millions slaughtered in China and the USSR not withstanding any fight against a foe from the left is pointless, destructive and soul scaring.
I remember for decades during the cold war pols of the left like Kennedy, Biden and others, some still in office fighting tooth and nail any attempt to restrain the Soviets or their allies. We saw the same fight against President Bush (Jr. & Sr.) with pols on the other side embracing not only the worst of the opponents of this country but embracing their propaganda against us.
And it still doesn’t end, It was just last week that the media hit the Marines over Haditha again while a former Kerry aide was charged with outing CIA operatives in the war on terror just didn’t produce the same outrage.
So when I see president Obama and his friends in the media beat their breast on military unemployment and ask why an employer might hesitate to hire a vet, I want to shout: “Because you’ve been telling people their dangerous for decades you phony two-faced &$##&@&s!”
It’s not often that this stuff gets me angry, but when I see this kind of stuff it makes my blood boil.
(Quick FYI. In fairness to Showtime the series Homeland it’s more of a “Manchurian Candidate” style plot rather than simply a standard “these vets are crazy” story, but the poster doesn’t convey that.)
Thursday I went to the Twin City Mall pay my Comcast bill (I never pay a bill online that I can pay in person) and I noticed a poster on the wall advertising a new Showtime series, Homeland! The catch line is “They see a hero, she sees a threat”.
I instantly thought of the president’s SOTU and the whole question of Vets trying to find work and I thought: REALLY?
For decades, DECADES the left though the entertainment industry, has painted the American Vet as unstable, psychotic and unable to function in society and we don’t have to be talking about movies like The Deerhunter or Apocalypse Now, we’ve seen it in more subtle ways.
Let’s give a simple example of a movie you might not consider in this vein: For the Boys with James Caan and Bette Midler as a pair of performers who entertain the troops in three wars and the consequences thereof. The primary plot is the relationship between the two characters but the backdrop are the wars.
At the beginning of the movie they are entertaining the troops in World War 2, the theme is upbeat and while the jokes are a bit raw the troops are respectful and the only hint of the costs of war is a bombing raid that they dance to and the funeral of Dixie (Bette Midler’s) husband.
This is despite the fact that over 400,000 US soldiers were killed during WWII, only the Civil war killed more.
When we get to Korea, suddenly war become a story of mud and rain and wounds and the horrors of war. Somehow a war that with 54,000 US deaths (36k in theater) is magnitudes worse than a war that was fought all over the globe, resulted in the wholesale destruction of cities and mass murder.
And since the template had been set by MASH we had the stereotypical “bad” gossip columnist degrading the Koreans while supporting the war while George Segal is the smart witty writer who in full Alda mode speaks of the stupidity of the fight.
One only needs to take a look at the two Korea’s today to answer the question: Who would the South Koreans agree with. MASH not withstanding the answer would be the same in today as it would have been in 1991.
Once we get to Vietnam, our troops are boors who can’t keep their hands of the girl from the show and are incapable somehow of fighting back, they are just victims just like the rest of the 58,000 US troops who died.
And of course in the Vietnam scene Dixie son is killed but not before he gets the chance to say how BS everything is, not just the war but the philosophy of duty, honor etc.
Note the difference the most devastating war of the 20th century is clean (It would not be until Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers that WW 2 managed to catch up ) but the smaller wars that followed are a national trauma, why?
Well first you have to remember that it wasn’t until once the Germans invaded the USSR, that the American Left concluded that they were the enemies of the world and the fight was both noble and worthwhile.
But Korea and Vietnam; boat people, re-education camps and tens of millions slaughtered in China and the USSR not withstanding any fight against a foe from the left is pointless, destructive and soul scaring.
I remember for decades during the cold war pols of the left like Kennedy, Biden and others, some still in office fighting tooth and nail any attempt to restrain the Soviets or their allies. We saw the same fight against President Bush (Jr. & Sr.) with pols on the other side embracing not only the worst of the opponents of this country but embracing their propaganda against us.
And it still doesn’t end, It was just last week that the media hit the Marines over Haditha again while a former Kerry aide was charged with outing CIA operatives in the war on terror just didn’t produce the same outrage.
So when I see president Obama and his friends in the media beat their breast on military unemployment and ask why an employer might hesitate to hire a vet, I want to shout: “Because you’ve been telling people their dangerous for decades you phony two-faced &$##&@&s!”
It’s not often that this stuff gets me angry, but when I see this kind of stuff it makes my blood boil.
(Quick FYI. In fairness to Showtime the series Homeland it’s more of a “Manchurian Candidate” style plot rather than simply a standard “these vets are crazy” story, but the poster doesn’t convey that.)
