General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why do we buy into the worship of the military? [View all]malthaussen
(17,186 posts)Part of it is collective guilt about the way Vietnam vets were treated after they came home. Part of it is a sense of collective guilt that the civilians "stabbed the military in the back" by "not letting them win" in Vietnam. The non-victory there cut very deeply into the US's psyche, but we could hardly blame the military for failing, so it must have been our fault.
I think this feeling is what led to the orgy of honoring the "Greatest Generation" a couple of decades later. This was a Boomer phenomenon, largely. Might it have been more guilt at remembering the disrespect with which those soi-disant "Greatest" had been treated as their parents? It seems curious to me that as the Boomers became parents themselves, suddenly their own parents didn't seem so bad.
So much for the possible feelings of the People. As for the power structure, it always pays to have the plebs honor the military, that's one way of conning the starving masses to go out and kill and be killed for them. In this respect, Smedley Butler's little tract "War is a Racket" has said all that needs to be said.
Part of Mr Reagan's "Morning in America" was restoring faith and confidence in the military (as well as paying them better: Ronald Reagan really was a friend to the troops in that respect). That's why we stomped Grenada so hard. We could then beat our collective chest and chant "USA! USA!" (although that chant had not been invented yet) It's vitally important in this country to be Number One. After a bunch of rice-eating peasants (as the saying went) whipped up on us so bad in Vietnam, we needed to find somebody to beat to restore our amour-propre. The Seventies were a terrible decade for the self-confidence of the nation, which is probably the biggest reason Mr Reagan was able to sell his line of crap and be elected by such overwhelming majorities.
Thus the military, as a propaganda piece, has become the most prominent symbol of our "Greatness." By "honoring" the troops (at least, while they're on active duty), we participate in that "Greatness" without having to be subject to the inconveniences of risking our lives in a rich man's war. When someone says "Thank you for your service," they're really saying "Thank you for making me feel like hot shit."
Mind you, I'm a tad cynical about the whole thing.
-- Mal