"Support the troops." It's everywhere: it's on cars, signs, stickers, pins, and probably tattoos. But what does it really mean? How does one "support the troops?"
For most people, I would suspect that placing a yellow ribbon-shaped bumper sticker on their car is as good as it gets. They get to feel patriotic and smug and get a nice glowing feeling inside, because by buying a piece of magnetized metal they are somehow supporting our soldiers. How does that help? It's a totally vacuous, empty action.
What does it mean to "support the troops?" Does it mean listening to them when they come home and want to talk? Does it mean sending them goodie bags? Does it mean trying to get administrators in place who will provide them with adequate body armor and munitions? Does it perhaps mean not utilizing them in a useless political war?
I suspect that most people who trumpet their "support" for our soldiers haven't actually thought about what it means to do so. Putting a bumper sticker on your car is useless: all you're doing is helping people profit off a war. I suspect that most people's support for the troops ends with that little yellow bumper sticker and maybe a smarmy e-mail forward telling everyone how evil those scary liberal people who don't like war are.
Let me be crystal clear about this: I support the troops. I don't want them to be injured, misused, underfunded or undersupplied. I gladly paid my taxes this year (unlike too many rich, snobbish, tax-dodging purported supporters of the troops) and I gladly admit that while I support the troops and wish them well, I don't support a government that underfunds, mismanages, and abuses our soldiers. Supporting our troops would mean repairing the military's ailing medical systems and making sure our boots on the ground have body armor and adequate protection. It would mean not misusing intelligence to start a useless war. It would mean trying to reintegrate them into society when they come home and not being mean to them.
Support our troops: as it is now, it's an empty phrase applied to the backs of minivans to give people a false sense of patriotism. It's a useful way for conservatives to attack liberals, even though most liberals I've met don't have anything against the troops at all. It's a useless, baseless, empty phrase, and those of us who actually care about the troops would very much like those of you who are using it to pretend to care to stop.
After taking a second to think about what you said, I absolutely agree. I do not have no sticker or any other type of concrete item that I use to support the troops. I pray they be ok, but to support our troops takes more than that. We are in a senseless war. I do care about people raising the point that the U.S. is fighting against terrorism. What we are doing is creating more hate and more misunderstanding of what Americans are all about. I do not know why we are even in Iraq. If people wanted to support the troops then they should not have voted Bush as president. People need not be ignorant of issues that go on in this world. Information is kept secret, and those that have the knowledge construe it and make their own arguements and facts.
i understnd where your coming from...... although, a a liberal, and a cousine of a marine, and having best friends as marines and Army men I have found that one major way of supporting our troops is as simple as standing by them forever. They love getting e mails and real letters and care packages. I do however feel that people need to quit it with their empty salutations........
Peace is in the hand of the future generation.... we are the future...lets start now.
all freedom comes with cost and if you cant appreciate the sacrific our troops are doing then no one is sayin u have to live in the states there is always Iraq. go there first and then come back and say freedom is not a great thing to have.
It's not about a lack of appreciation for the troops.....its about a lack of appreciation for the government who is forcing this upon those troops wiht false pretenses....you have to admit....this war is not about freedom.....if it was, we'd be trying to find a way to have freedom from oil that we currently receive from the middle east.
you can support the troops, it doesn't mean you have to support the war.
"all freedom comes with cost and if you cant appreciate the sacrific our troops are doing then no one is sayin u have to live in the states there is always Iraq."
Or Canada. If you couldn't be bothered learning a new language.
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
"Support the troops." It's everywhere: it's on cars, signs, stickers, pins, and probably tattoos. But what does it really mean?"
Dunno if you know The Asylum Street Spankers, they're one of my favourite bands, they're from Texas. They have a great video on youtube called "Stick that yellow ribbon on your SUV". Worth watching if you don't know it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KmsOIjzQ1V8
_____________________________________________________________
I am the people my mother warned me about.
My favorite bumper sticker:
"Slapping a yellow ribbon on the back of your gas-guzzling SUV during a war for oil makes you look like an a$$hole"