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talkpoliticsLast known WWI veteran Florence Green dies at 110
This is not only the end of an era...it is, to me, a reminder of just how short-sided people tend to be these days (perhaps we Americans especially). The Great War (World War I, the First World War, the War to End All Wars, or what have you), which began ninety-eight years ago, is now as remote in time to us as the Napoleonic Wars were to the people of 1914, although the events of the Great War still largely shape the modern world to this very day. To a large extent, the people and nations of 1914 had forgotten how truly evil and destructive full-scale war was, as recruits enthusiastically shipped out to the front that summer, wildly cheered by adoring crowds suffused with a sense of glory and adventure. And who, these days, outside of university history departments and the ranks of military buffs, even knows the basic history of the war, why it happened, and how it changed the world?
And now, we can see the very same thing happening to our people as happened to those of 1914, as our Second World War veterans age into their eighties and nineties. As we approach the 75th anniversary of that war's beginning, is it even arguable that the West, by and large, has forgotten just how horrible and desperate full-scale war is? Especially here in the United States, where our armed forces has been all-volunteer for more than a generation, for many people the military has become an unfamiliar, mysterious, and even sinister entity; in my own family, dating back three generations, there has been only a single person who served in the military. I was seriously thinking about enlisting, but by the time I was in high school it was obvious that my health would preclude it; I was later privileged to have a semester internship with the Naval Historical Center (now the Naval History and Heritage Command) in Washington, DC. It was my first time working and socializing with active-duty personnel, and I am thankful for the experience.
Our Congress sees fewer veterans in its ranks every session, the last veteran on the Supreme Court retired in 2010, and we haven't had a president who served on active duty since 1992. I am certainly not saying that military service should be required to hold public office, but I am saying that, as the military becomes further and further removed from the daily lives of our citizens, we continue to lose a personal connection with the men and women who serve and protect our freedom. For all of our flag-waving patriotism, most of us don't know, and will never know, what it is like to have a close friend or family member in harm's way.
I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank every member of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
talk_politics who has served in the military of any nation. You are the protectors and guarantors of the freedom and liberty we take so very much for granted.
This is not only the end of an era...it is, to me, a reminder of just how short-sided people tend to be these days (perhaps we Americans especially). The Great War (World War I, the First World War, the War to End All Wars, or what have you), which began ninety-eight years ago, is now as remote in time to us as the Napoleonic Wars were to the people of 1914, although the events of the Great War still largely shape the modern world to this very day. To a large extent, the people and nations of 1914 had forgotten how truly evil and destructive full-scale war was, as recruits enthusiastically shipped out to the front that summer, wildly cheered by adoring crowds suffused with a sense of glory and adventure. And who, these days, outside of university history departments and the ranks of military buffs, even knows the basic history of the war, why it happened, and how it changed the world?
And now, we can see the very same thing happening to our people as happened to those of 1914, as our Second World War veterans age into their eighties and nineties. As we approach the 75th anniversary of that war's beginning, is it even arguable that the West, by and large, has forgotten just how horrible and desperate full-scale war is? Especially here in the United States, where our armed forces has been all-volunteer for more than a generation, for many people the military has become an unfamiliar, mysterious, and even sinister entity; in my own family, dating back three generations, there has been only a single person who served in the military. I was seriously thinking about enlisting, but by the time I was in high school it was obvious that my health would preclude it; I was later privileged to have a semester internship with the Naval Historical Center (now the Naval History and Heritage Command) in Washington, DC. It was my first time working and socializing with active-duty personnel, and I am thankful for the experience.
Our Congress sees fewer veterans in its ranks every session, the last veteran on the Supreme Court retired in 2010, and we haven't had a president who served on active duty since 1992. I am certainly not saying that military service should be required to hold public office, but I am saying that, as the military becomes further and further removed from the daily lives of our citizens, we continue to lose a personal connection with the men and women who serve and protect our freedom. For all of our flag-waving patriotism, most of us don't know, and will never know, what it is like to have a close friend or family member in harm's way.
I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank every member of
talk_politics who has served in the military of any nation. You are the protectors and guarantors of the freedom and liberty we take so very much for granted.
(no subject)
Date: 7/2/12 20:51 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 7/2/12 20:54 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 7/2/12 23:36 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/2/12 00:15 (UTC)Would you care to elaborate? For example, who is the "we" you are referring to? Also I'm curious if it's mostly not in the "common good" what is it "mostly" in?
(no subject)
Date: 8/2/12 18:04 (UTC)The "we" is anyone paying attention.
(no subject)
Date: 9/2/12 04:54 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/2/12 04:58 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 8/2/12 23:50 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/2/12 01:13 (UTC)Seriously, this has really gotten far afield from the comment that I asked for clarification on.That may be my fault for not being clear, it may be his fault for his coment to the coment being clear, it may be the fault of the original statement not being clear, it may be the fault of all of us not understanding what the other person meant in any comment, or it may be everyone having their own agenda to push regardless of what anyone says.
I think I'll go read a book ;)
(no subject)
Date: 10/2/12 04:14 (UTC)Smedley's speech spells out clearly from an insiders perspective how military action may not always be "in the common good (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1341118.html?thread=106604222#t106604222)".
I am unsure how I could make it any clearer myself, or why my words would carry any weight where Gen. Butlers haven't.
it may be everyone having their own agenda to push regardless of what anyone says.
Oh okay then. Noted.
I think I'll go read a book ;)
Yeah. Go enjoy reading your book.
(no subject)
Date: 10/2/12 05:48 (UTC)The original point of the thread (as I understood it) was whether or not some kind of "service" should be "required".
It was suggested that it didn't have to be military, but something that would serve the common good. It was hi-jacked with a rather broad generalization of the military, that implied that most thinking people "knew" the military was not in it for the "common good". Granting that people like Smedley (and I did listen to most of the video) were disselusioned (sp) the majority of people who have served, even under the draft believed it was for good. They (we) may not have been correct, all the time.
I realized after your post that it had gone off into a rant on the "military-indutrial complex" and perhaps I am too sensitive on the issue (being a (non-combatant) Viet Nam vet but I had too many friends "in the bush" and came home to too much crap in college in '68 and '69) but i felt the comment was a slur directed to all who served.
At any rate, sorry for the rant.
(no subject)
Date: 10/2/12 20:55 (UTC)most thinking people "knew" the military was not in it for the "common good"
Its a common idea. Not "most", but enough thinking vets to make a thinking citizen take pause. Especially when disillusioned veterans like Smedley offer such unassailable evidence of our imperialistic actions. Simply applying "the golden rule" objectively (or a space aliens perspective) to an analysis of our countries military behavior quickly reveals that we've gone astray in the "common good" area often enough.
America isn't unique in that respect of course. It is the nature of violence to turn us into something we dont like.
i felt the comment was a slur directed to all who served.
Well, I'm sorry. I know that isn't what I mean, and I sincerely doubt that is what dwer means. That said, avoid both false pride and undue shame, soldier. These criticisms are not slurs, so much as sad observations. You ever hear the expression, "hate the game not the player"? I think that fits pretty well.
It is the purity of the common soldiers supreme sacrifice which spoiled men in soft leather chairs have sullied.
Fuck those assholes, if you pardon my french.