I in no way intended to say that I do not support our troops. I commend them all for being brave enough to commit to something so enormous. I myself know that I'm to much of a pussy to ever join the army, and so to say that I'm insulting the army is a blatant lie. What I was refering to about Bush, was the fact that obviously we've needed continually more troops to win the war in Iraq, and the army needs to recruit more soldiers. The truth of the matter is that Bush's plan has, as you can guess, been failing, and so he's continually pushed the army to recruit more and more soldiers. The fact that an ad has been sent to a 16 year old (someone who can't legally join the army), just goes to show that despite their best efforts, they're losing a lot of men to Iraq, and it's a horrible tragedy that should have never have elscalated this far. And I never said that I I don't love my country, I really do love a lot of America (of course not all of it), but I think the fact that we may have to have a national draft just goes to show that even though soldiers are dying valiantly, Bush didn't have enough of a plan so now the army is being forced to recruit by mail. Please don't misinterpret me posting this as insulting it. And about the sarcasm with the two lines, it was simply because I'm very cynical about motivational statements, and the fact is that Bush has pulled the patriotism card about almost everything he's done. Yes, it is very patriotic to join the army, and yes, it is a great thing to do, even in a war you don't support to help keep America safe. But to appeal to someone not legally allowed, or fully rationally developed, to make decisions about their own life? That's low. I think that the soldiers are great people, but the ones doing the paperwork need to work harder at developing different strategies to win the war, not different ways of recruiting soldiers. And besides all of that, this was not a political jab, I'm simply documenting something interesting that happened to me that day.
Now that we've gotten that ugliness out of the way, it's onto a new blog that managed to pass the 1 month challenge. Aymon! Good job Aymon! Congratulations! Here's the link. He did miss one day, but on average he posted at least twice a day, so I don't think we'll penalize him. Besides that, not much is happening. Sorry I had to make that apology, but when that guy said: "You deserve a hell of alot worse than you are going to get," I was a little disturbed. He seems very passonate about his country, and that's a good thing, but I think he blew my sarcasm out of proportion. Hope he's not too angry.
Sorry about getting overly angry, I'm just tired of people blurring the line between Bush and the Army, inadvertantly(or advertantly) insulting people who die to protect them. I also apologize for getting to angry. I am passionate about his country, but realize it could be better. What I meant by my comment was that yuo live ina priveleged country, one with stability, if you lived in Iran or Sudan yuo(or most anyone else) would be screwed. I realized it was sarcasim and maybe I crossed lines to, and for that I apologize. I am glad to know you meant know harm to the army, and again I apologize for any offensive comments I may have made. And I agree that Bush was wrong in about every way he could be, but the men on the frontlines did nothing wrong. I was frustrated that you seem to be perpetuating a common misconception: Because you are liberal you hate your country, and that is a lie. And I agree that advertising to you is wrong, and that it is pretty low. And you have every right to joke about the motivational statements, I think they are pretty weak too, and even the army brass, but I just have a strong dislike of people who don't know what it's like to be there(I',m not, but I don't insult the soldiers), they simply laugh at them. Noone appears to have any notion of what they are talking about, some people insult the army, others want to join because "Tanks are awesome!!!!" Grow up. The reason we need more men is that everyone expects someone else to protect them. Sorry again, your're a good person, but the combination of that statement about "America" and Outback Steakhouse(Australia should not be allowed to make music anymore) radio commercials had me pretty pissed. Didn't mean to disturb you, but I just got out of control. Nice blog by the way.
Posted by: Brian at February 4, 2005 05:53 PM