empathy, thought, logic and rationality to current events This felt like you were taking a stab at me.
I didn't even quote you. If I had wanted to speak about you, I would have said it to you. Going around and talking through petty curve posts accomplishes nothing.
I'd like to point one thing out, if I may: Not everyone who joins the military, in any capacity, can be automatically labeled as a hero. Sometimes they're just doing it because it's a job. I'd say a good majority of military veterans will tell you the same thing. And not every war is fought to protect our "freedoms." If that's how you view it, you're very, very naive.
And I don't see the War on Terrorism as trying to protect our freedoms. I see it as us trying to help out a struggling people that cannot fight back who are being ruled by (dare I say) "savages."
The only time a soldier has ever protected our freedom was in the 1700s during the American Revolution. Without them we would still be under Britain's oppression most likely. Sadly, it wouldn't be that different from where we are today. Those soldiers must be rolling in their graves for letting America get warped into what it is now. Every war after the American Revolution hasn't been justified and the "freedom" propaganda is just used for brainwashing the public in order to gain their approval. Ask yourselves what would actually happen if we didn't have our military sprawled out all over the world. Would we really have less freedom if our military was downsized by like 95% and kept on our home soil? We have nukes up the ass and we have like 3 times the amount of guns than we have citizens. Nobody is ever going to invade our country because they know they'll get fucked up and/or their country will get blown to hell.
Do people even "invade" other countries in this century? What are you people so paranoid about? I come from a third world country and we don't spend our time plotting murder against Americans, we've got enough poverty and rape in our own country to worry about. It just seems a little self-obsessed that some people in your country think people from Pakistan or Afghanistan are like that. I'm sure there are some terrorist groups but is violence really a great way to fight them? It's because I'm sure harsh life and violence is what made them terrorists in the first place. Isn't there a better way to handle them? And this talk of saving people from their "savages", I am deeply sorry for the following remark if the people there actually asked for your help, but it seems a little bit like colonialism, the British justified colonising India by saying that it was for our benefit. And I am very deeply sorry for if the above said stuff offends any of you and if I am wrong, I am sorry.
Lol I'm gonna ask this til it gets answered. If it's not for freedom then what's it for? To help out other countries? Cause if that's the case it will be our own downfall. Our infrastructure is falling apart and here we are spending trillions on the military. TRILLIONS! Couldn't we allocate a couple billion of that on the economy, health care, the environment, the poor, education, anything? Maybe instead of continuing to send soldiers out to psychological trauma, instead we could help the ones we've already fucked up. Philanthropy should be a priority, but right now might be the time to be a little selfish. What is in these other countries that requires so much of our focus, money, and lives?
Some might argue that the Civil War had quite a bit to do with freedom, albeit, 100 years delayed (end of Civil War --> Civil Rights Act 1964). I don't know much about Chris Kyle or The American Sniper, but what I do know is that Hollywood loves to exaggerate. People say whatever they have to say to sell books / movies. Any secondary source of information should be taken with a grain of salt, since the truth can be bent so easily. Let's call it what it is: this is a propaganda film to muster up some American pride. I also want to say that supporting the men and women who serve the military is not the same as supporting their actions abroad. These two can be independent of one another. Even if we don't agree with wars, there can still be a level of respect for the people that sacrifice some of the most prime years of life. The United States is the dominant force in the world. From the economy to the culture to the military, the United States holds a lot of power. This power comes at a price, though. The country is very paranoid that everyone is after us to destroy our "comfortable way of life". It used to be easy when they could say that the war was on Germany, or Japan, or Italy, or Russia. These are countries which people identify. Now, the wars are fought to stop an entire feeling. Terror is a natural feeling that all people can feel. It's impossible to win this war. That's why we need to garnish support for the troops and those that don't are often quickly stigmatized. It comes back to blind American nationalism.
I was under the impression that travz21 meant wars directly impacting the freedoms of Americans living in continental United States. WWII certainly had much to do with freedom.
I wonder how LP feels about this. They're heavy supporters of soldiers overseas and here as well. They've widely promoted support for the armed forces, from free admission to their concerts to promoting a Lisa Ling documentary about PTSD-affected soldiers.
The government claims these wars are to protect our freedoms, but our freedoms haven't really been threatened since World War II—and even that's a bit of a stretch, I think. It's about showing the world the U.S. has the biggest dick. It's a pissing contest, really, when you think about it. We've got no business going into all these other countries, trying to be the world's police (hey, that sounds familiar). If the U.S. cut its defense budget in half, we'd still have the most powerful military in the world, and certainly the largest standing military force. We could use that money in other places, like you said, but the government refuses to, for whatever crazy-ass reasons they've got. I wish the U.S. would stay out of the business of other countries for a couple decades and worry about what's going on inside our own borders for once.
@Apop and Will: that's kind of what I'm getting at. There's nothing physical to be gained. In fact it's costing us quite a lot. Whether it be paranoia or a dick sizing competition, either way it's not worth it. As of right now the real benefits lie in rebuilding our infrastructure. Or future. Despite what the government may tell you, our future does not lie in Iraq or Lybia, Serbia, Iran, or anywhere like that. The future might call for it, but right now our monetary focus needs to be on ourselves. As you have both pointed out, the military can handle a pay cut. The money sent to them gets blown anyways. We have 22 aircraft vessels. Nobody else has anything near that. You cut that in half, you still have more than anyone else and you can afford to bump our crumbling economy. We have the resources at our fingertips, but we're spending it about wisely as me in a record store Edit: My apologies, there are only 20 commissioned aircraft carriers. That said, the next closest country has 4. Think we might be over compensating.
The people saying that our soldiers are murderers are very unpatriotic, arrogant and ignorant. They should be ashamed of themselves. So I ask what would you do in the case of a child running with a highly explosive bomb towards your brothers in arms? Would you allow the child to carry out with the suicide bombing or would you save your brothers in arms? I don't expect an intelligible answer from the incompetent few who believe they have all the answers. Many decisions in life can be extremely difficult even more so in life and death situations.
honestly who gives a single shit without this movie there would be less muslims in america being fucking attacked at movie theatres
I just want to point out that any person that kills another person could be considered a murderer, regardless of the reason. Also, I hope you don't mean me. I'm not saying the military and those in it are evil, but the intentions and results don't always match up. The military has some of the best minds in the country. Personally, I would love to see the best and brightest in America work towards curing disease, not creating bombs. That's my only point, there is wasted potential. I'm not sure if anything like that in particular happened. Also, like I said earlier, I have not read the book or seen the movie. However, I would be willing to bet that this movie plays and pokes at Americans general fear and ignorance of Islam as a religion.
I don't fear Islam. Some of my best friends are Muslim. I just fear the radicals. Just like I worry about radical Christians, etc.