Has this 'Support the Troops' bullshit finally petered out?

[Philosoraptor]

I am so sick of this cheap, childish phrase I could puke every time I hear or see it. But I get the sense that these three little words are all worn out and no longer have the desired effect, to make war critics look like traitors.

[Captain Hilts]

1. It's often used to differentiate between support for the troops and support for the war. nt

[The Stranger]

26. It is actually used to COVER and SILENCE dissent from the war by hiding it behind the troops.

There is a subtle blackmail involved -- you have to support the troops because they are presumably just like you and me. But they presumably have to fight in the war.

By supporting the troops, therefore, you support the war.

[Captain Hilts]

28. No, not within the military community that opposes the war. nt

[LaurenG]

2. I hope we always support our troops and do that by bringing them home

We can't be sick of that phrase if it's being used in the strictest sense. Remember the Viet Nam vets. They did not do well once Americans were "sick of that phrase".

[Philosoraptor]

4. I'm firmly against wife beating too.

Of course we support the troops, it goes without saying, but to say that you don't support them because you hate bush gets you called a traitor.

[LaurenG]

5. I know, that use of "support our troops" is bs. nt

[marmar]

3. I hear it very rarely nowadays....

The fatigue from this war is such that even that crowd has gone silent.

[KharmaTrain]

6. It's Morphed Into...

..."You Don't Support The Troops". When you unmask a hypocritical boooooshlicker, they will immediately divert or distort rather than face their own contradictions, logic or reality.

To these goons, they "did their part"...if the war is "lost", it's everyone elses' fault now. They blame the troops for daring to speak out or complain. They blame Democrats who were right from the start and now have a majority of the people behind them. They blame other Repugnicans who have sold out by just asking questions. They blame the "librul media" cause they won't manufacture enough phony stories and dare to show what's really going on. They've totally absolved themselves of any responsibility here and if they do condemn boooooosh, it's only because he didn't kill enough.

[bryant69]

7. It's a tricky thing

Because on the one hand, I do support the troops in the sense that I wish them well. Yeah I know about Abu Ghraib and I know about Haditha, but I don't believe those are the norm. And of course the Right Wing paints us as a bunch of soldier haters (which infuriates me).

On the other hand, the Right Wing is trying to create the impression that to support the troops you have to support how President Dopey chooses to use them. And a lot of soldiers and soldiers families seem to have bought into that.

At any rate, I don't expect that "support the troops" has petered out; too useful for the right wing, and too much of a real sentiment among the people.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[fasttense]

8. Support the troops hmmmm......

I heard a caller the other day on Air America say, "When do you start holding the troops, the people, the individual who signed up for the Army during a known illegal occupation, accountable for supporting an unjust war?"

I don't know the answer and the talk show host quickly cut him off. But some of these kids who were conned into enlisting during a known illegal occupation, only wanted money for college, only wanted to get out of a small rural town that has lost all its industry and entry level jobs. Some of these men and women are good solid citizens who think they are doing their patriotic duty.

Yet if they would quit enlisting, how quickly would the Iraq occupation end? I don't know. I think the support the troops phrase is associated anymore with support the Iraq occupation. I think we should say support the individual military member but don't support their function.

[earthside]

19. 'Universal Soldier'

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER

He's five feet two and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of 31 and he's only 17
He's been a soldier for a thousand years

He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain,
a Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
and he knows he shouldn't kill
and he knows he always will
kill you for me my friend and me for you

And he's fighting for Canada,
he's fighting for France,
he's fighting for the USA,
and he's fighting for the Russians
and he's fighting for Japan,
and he thinks we'll put an end to war this way

And he's fighting for Democracy
and fighting for the Reds
He says it's for the peace of all
He's the one who must decide
who's to live and who's to die
and he never sees the writing on the walls

But without him how would Hitler have
condemned him at Dachau
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body
as a weapon to a war
and without him all this killing can't go on

He's the universal soldier and he
really is to blame
His orders come from far away no more
They come from him, and you, and me
and brothers can't you see
this is not the way we put an end to war.

By Buffy Sainte-Marie
Recorded by Donovan - 1965

[Raksha]

43. One of my favorite anti-war songs....

thanks for posting the lyrics. Yeah, I know I'm showing my age but who cares? I've seen all this shit before, and it DOESN'T get better the second time around. Quite the opposite.

[Jacobin]

9. Its one of those glib, basically meaningless jingoistic chants

WTF does it mean, really? Does it mean your tax money pays for their equipment and salary? Well, duh. Does it mean you are cheering them on the sidelines like people at a football game to 'win'? If so, what is there to 'win' in this quagmire? Does it mean that you support the war itself? Well, most Americans now, clearly don't.

Those little yellow magnets on cars have mostly fallen off in my red state and I say good riddance. Its meaningless and actually somewhat cruel, given how the troops have been treated with longer deployments, being used as political pawns until Smirk is out of the WH, and the spotty medical treatment they are given, especially for PTSD

[genie_weenie]

10. Nope. Because every war cheerleader and bush backer

will parrot this line in order to stifle anyone pointing out the horror and carnage of this tragedy.

And even though every action of the regime and it's lovers shows they hate the troops and consider them nothing more than expendable cogs to advance their power.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[genie_weenie]

15. That's a rough stance.

Because if you pay taxes in America then you support killing babies in Iraq. So, until you stop paying taxes and put your ass on the line I blame you for Iraq.

[iamahaingttta]

24. You're absolutely right!

That's why I don't pay taxes.

[iamahaingttta]

41. Well, that just looks weird...

...without my original message, which was deleted above.
Ooops! Can't have people saying anything politically incorrect!

[Beelzebud]

12. I'm for the war but against the troops!

(Just a Bill Hicks joke he used to tell during the first Iraqi debacle)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. replaced by "Thank you for your service"

regardless of what that service was.

When the septic tank guy comes, and hoses out the festering liquid, do we thank them for their service? you bet!
When people enlist in the military because they can't get a job, do we thank them for their service? yeah.

but, when US troops kill iraqi civilians trying to give up, when they rape and torture, then murder iraqi families, when they shoot into buildings blindly, just in case, when our choppers strafe grade schools filled with school kids, when our officer corps marks time, just so they can enter a lucrative arms dealer contract, when our generals quit telling the truth, but parrot WH lies just to keep their jobs, when the military is complicit in PR-BS knowing that it is false, then i have a problem suporting the troops.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

25. putting them in harm's way is a very weighty choice, to be taken

with care, with due cosideration, and with a great deal of forethought.

Truman, Ike, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, all agonized over it. Reagan did not. Bush, to my mind, is happiest playing with his toy soldiers, pushing them around on his desk, making bang bang noises out loud.

Invading a country without a reason pretty much makes it impossible to "win". When you fail to define the end goal, it guarantees that victory is not just elusive, but nonexistant. When you do things on the cheap, rummie style, well, we see the clusterfucked disaster that we face.

Yes, we do NOT support their continued involvement in a vile, unnecessary, illegitimate war, started for no good reason.

[noamnety]

27. blech

Supporting the troops doesn't imply faith in the mission in Iraq, or support for an illegal occupation.

It's already been stated in this thread that SUPPORTING them means doing what's best for them, which is not the same as throwing them into a senseless mission, exposing them to depleted uranium, ripping their families apart, sending them on hopeless missions where the BEST that can happen to them is they don't get killed that day, and then leaving them in the gutter without adequate support for physical or pyschological harm that resulted from that mission.

And furthermore, it does not mean supporting them at the EXPENSE of other people.

You know what would be great for the troops - and would NOT be at the expense of others? Bringing them home, and putting them to work doing disaster relief. We got cities here that still don't have clean drinking water because of Katrina. We have contractors charging $15,000 per FEMA trailer to hook up electricity, and subcontracting that work out for $2,000 - and pocketing the difference. Put our soldiers to work doing that sort of thing, and they will have a real mission with a real purpose, real people will actually benefit from their work, they will get actual job skills (kind of like what recruiters promise but don't deliver), and they can live the rest of their lives knowing they did some good in the world, instead of going to bed with nightmares, seeing the faces of dead children when they try to go to sleep.

What's politically DIShonest is claiming you support the war because you "support the troops" when it's abundantly clear that the people profiting from the war isn't the troops, it's contractors and stock holders. Why not just get a bumper sticker that says "I support Halliburton"? At least be honest, indeed. (Welcome to DU. Enjoy your stay.)

[Solly Mack]

29. How is sending them off to a war of lies supporting them?

How is sending them off without proper equipment supporting them?

How is cutting veteran benefits supporting them?

How did Walter Reed support them?

and not just at WR

How did the VA support them with their bonus checks?

How is hard to get medical and mental care supporting them?

How are those long wait times for health care supporting them?

How is charging them for equipment lost when injured supporting them?


How is sending troops over with medical and psychological problems supporting them?


How is reclassifying PTSD as something else supporting them?

Spare me your bullshit definition of support. If that's all you have to offer up as "support" - bullshit right wing talking points, then fuck you.

If you support Bush's "war" of lies then you DO NOT support the troops. It's really that simple. It's people like you that are getting the troops killed for NOTHING. YOU'RE doing it - with your mindless support of Bush and his lies.

My husband served in Iraq. My husband still serves. We are a military family. There is NOTHING the least bit supportive about sending the troops off to kill and be killed for a pack of lies and trumped up evidence.

Talk about being honest? Be honest about that.

[Matsubara]

32. Man, I smelt it on you on your first reply to my post about the CNN reporters.

Your second post on that thread made it more obvious, but now it's clear as a bell.

Don't they teach you people anything about subtlety?

Thanks for playing.

[bigtree]

34. they don't set their mission our elected representatives do

and that mission to cram them into the middle of Iraq's civil war is a death sentence for upwards of 100 a month just to defend the autocratic Maliki government.

How does a regime installed behind the sacrifices of our military, with a suspended constitution, actively engaged in suppression of the communities which oppose their manufactured rule, represent "democracy?"

[raccoon]

16. Noam Chomsky said the phrase is meaningless. I think lots of people

bought the stupid magnets and slapped them on their vehicles to makes themselves FEEL LIKE they were supporting the troops.

If they really want to show that they support the troops, they could write letters, send ditty bags, or do something that MEANS something.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[raccoon]

30. Hypocritical is the wrong word, Jack.

SOme of those people MIGHT do other things to support the troops.

Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Enjoy your stay.

[Matsubara]

33. A magnet does ZERO, NADA, ZILCH for the troops.

It is nothing more than an advertisement for the driver's ego - a declaration that "I am just OH SO patriotic" (in spite of the fact that they are here, instead of in Iraq where they ought to be if they think the illegal invasion is such a great idea.)

[Boo Boo]

35. How do you know that person doesn't have a loved one in Iraq? /nt

[Matsubara]

38. What does that have to do with it?

I understand the old tradition of tying a yellow ribbon around a tree. That is a tribute and a symbol of longing for the far-away family member.

The sticker on a car is a crass endorsement for the war - even people with family over there must know that.

My heart goes out to anyone with kids there, but I personally would NEVER allow one of my kids to go over to that meat grinder.

[Philosoraptor]

36. A bumpersticker is the LEAST one could do.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

37. But you get to support the magnet industry in China!

good for our economy!

blech.

[Philosoraptor]

39. Where would we get all our tiny cheap flags?

[deutsey]

17. I've noticed how many of those "yellow ribbon" car stickers/magnets

have lost their color and are now white...like flags of surrender.

[bullwinkle428]

40. I see FAR fewer of them on vehicles than I did in the first year

or so of the "war"...*cough*...OCCUPATION.

[WI_DEM]

18. it's getting more difficult to "support the troops" when you hear about some of the things they do

over there though I know that the real trouble makers are a small minority.

[LibDemAlways]

21. Still quite a few knuckledraggers in my area with

"I Support My President and the troops" stickers on the car. Everytime I see one, I think, "Well, you are advertising the undisputed fact that you are a moron and a hypocrite." No way in hell would those cretins have declared public support for Clinton, the last legitimately elected President.

[bigtree]

22. hope not

I have enough sense to differentiate what individuals mean when they use the term. To me, it's like all of the rest of our language the right has corrupted and distorted. I intend to continue to use the phrase and not be turned off of it just because some morons who are intent on dividing us from our soldiers think they own it.

[WinkyDink]

23. My area food stores (Giant; parent company = Germany's Ahold) just had a

"Would you like to donate a dollar to support the troops?" check-out drive.

[w4rma]

31. I support the troops by not supporting this war and their over-extended deployments. (nt)

[Hole in the Void]

42. Why Bother Supporting the Troops?

They don't support you.

I've encountered GI's that have bragged about giving people the finger for daring to put "Bring them home" stickers on their cars. Others have threatened to punch-out an acquaintence of mine for calling the troops' behavior disgraceful. The only soldier I ever met that advocated leaving Iraq did so on the premise that muslims were murderous, unwashed savages not worth dying for; a charge that brought nods and "Fuck yeah" from the other soldiers around him.

Do you really think they'll be voting for any democrats in 2008? They love their republicans.

[Philosoraptor]

44. yawn...