Tuesday, June 27, 2006

What the fuck is with this "defending my freedom" bullshit?

I'm told I must adore our soldiers in uniform because they're "defending our freedoms". What the fuck?

Look, when I walked into the air force recruiting station, I was there mostly to get money for college, okay? And yeah, Ronny Raygun was nuts and might get us into a war, I wasn't stupid, but I worked the odds and they seemed okay. I also had the notion that I might defend our nation if it ever became necessary. But "defend our freedoms"? What kinda bullshit is that? What kind of "freedoms" can you defend with a fuckin' bomb? All you can do with a bomb is *KILL* people.

I suppose that if you're killing someone who is going to come to America and destroy it, the military could be "defending our freedoms". But the last time that ever happened was 1941-1945. Since then, our military has not been used against any power that could ever destroy America. When our military went into Afghanistan after Osama bin Laden, they weren't there to "defend our freedoms". They were there (but not long enough) to catch a murderous bastard who had killed some Americans but who couldn't destroy America in his wildest wet dreams. Osama ain't the shit compared to Hitler or Stalin, both of whom controlled enormous industrial machines. Osama's just a two-bit thug who thinks he's something, like a jillion other two-bit thugs in every "bad" neighborhood on the planet. In short, our soldiers were there as cops. Who defend property and life, but not freedom.

And of course our troops in Iraq aren't defending shit, much less our freedoms. They're too busy trying not to get killed while doing... what? Propping up some government that's so shabby that it'd collapse the moment we left? What in the world makes such a weak government worth shoring up in the first place? And what the fuck does that have to do with defending my freedom to post the word "fuck" on the Internet?!

Look, I don't have freedom of speech because cops say I have freedom of speech. I have freedom of speech because the law that controls those cops says I have freedom of speech. The cop would rather I not have freedom of speech, because that makes his job harder. It's not the soldiers or the cops who defend our freedoms. It is our laws and our courts, starting with the Constitution and going downwards from there. Which is what pisses me off about the Busheviks shredding our Constitution in their attempt to imitate the slathering of rabid dogs.

If you want to defend freedom, defend the courts, and support folks like the ACLU and EFF who are trying to get the courts to uphold freedom. Because soldiers don't defend freedom. Soldiers kill people. That's their job. That's what we pay them to do. And they're good at it. And I'm glad, because there's some nasty folks out there who need killin'. But killing people isn't "defending our freedoms" unless the people we kill could somehow destroy America and thus our freedoms. Which ain't nobody in Iraq or Afghanistan, that's for sure. So let's quit with that bullshit and get back to reality, okay?

-- Badtux the Rude Penguin

10 comments:

  1. Great post Bad Tux, and so true, it is hard to believe that conservatives do not see the good that the ACLU does for people.

    Instead, they cringe at the acronym ACLU because it gives freedoms to people that are different, like homosexuals, people with darker skin, or other things that offend their mostly white Christian sensibilities.

    What really gets to me is the people that say that the soldiers in Iraq are defending our freedom. How the F can that happen, actually the war in Iraq has made us less free!

    Thanks for getting me aggravated this morning Bad Tux. ;-)

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  2. You got it. Name one freedom that the soldiers in Iraq are defending. Other than the freedom of Halliburton to earn obscene profits at the expense of the American people and with the blood of our soldiers, that is. Bleh.

    -Badtux the Rude Penguin

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  3. Amen!

    When is the administration going to get it through it's thick head that using the army as police just plain doesn't work. They tried that in Vietnam, and all it got them was a bunch of dead soldiers, a bunch of dead civilians (who weren't necessarily the bad guys), some really screwed up vets, and a majorly bad reputation. Yet, it appears that we're going down the same road again. :-(

    Don't get me wrong. I'm all for the military, and the guys (and gals!) in it. But, they need to be used for what they're good at, for what the military was designed for, which was fighting. Having them walk around with targets on their back isn't a good use of those guys and gals. :-(

    As for defending my freedoms, the ACLU and EFF have done a heck of a lot more than the administration, which has tried to clamp down on my freedom of speech on the internet for years. So, in honour of all of the great work that the ACLU and EFF have done for me, I'm proud to say Fuck. Fuck the administration. Fuck the world. Why? Just because I can say it!

    Dave

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  4. And to make matters worse, now recruiters have a new brain-washing program called "Educating the Educators", where they smooze high school faculty into helping brain-wash the kids!!
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13572586/
    I was so pissed off when the damn recruiters pulled my son from study hall last year to talk with him, the principal and counselor found me steaming mad in person in their offices the next day!!!
    Recruiting by high school faculty should be grounds for dismissal, and then send their sorry asses over to EyeRack!!!!
    According to these BushWackers 'Guard officials say by educating the educators, they gain valuable allies in recruiting students whose parents are often concerned their children will be sent into battle."
    I better clarify it for them, I'm not concerned, I'm scared shitless for them.
    Pardon me Badtux for the momentary burst of hostility. I'm usually quite polite.
    But they should get the FUCK OFF THIS PLANET!!!!

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  5. For what it's worth, military recruiters have been placed into an impossible position. They have to recruit people to go fight in a war in some miserable sandpit overseas that has absolutely nothing to do with defending America. It's easy to use patriotism to get people to volunteer to defend America. Hell, it worked on me, anyhow, and I'm not exactly the robo-droid easily-swayed type. It's a helluva lot harder to get people to volunteer to defend Vice President Halliburton's profit margin...

    I have a couple of solutions to handle the recruitment problem, one serious and one not-serious, but neither is politically practical. The serious one is to offer citizenship in exchange for service in the U.S. military, much as the Roman Empire did once Romans quit volunteering for the Roman military (Rome abandoned the draft after the Punic Wars). If we're intent upon empire, we might as well act like one, dagnabit!

    The non-serious one is to make military service mandatory between ages of 61 and 70 if you want to receive Social Security, thereby staffing and equipping the new 101st Fighting Geriatric Division, with its insignia being a bottle of Geritol and its elite uniform of fuzzy slippers and bathrobe. The terrorists will cower in fear of the 101st Fighting Geriatrics! Hey, old fingers can pull a trigger just as easily as young fingers, right? :-).

    Or then there's the real solution, which is to bring our guys home and have them defend America, not Halliburton's profits. Our military had no problem recruiting twice as many people as today back when Ronald Reagan's military buildup was underway, when it was understood that the military would only be used to defend America, not to go conquer places overseas. But naw, that'd make too much sense...

    -BT

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  6. I'm getting married next summer, and the future wife is definitely gung-ho to get started on makin' some babies shortly thereafter. I read shit like that msnbc story that cornfield jane linked to, and I'm not so sure I want to bring a critter into this world. No kid of mine is getting sent to some hellhole on the other side of the world to defend ShrubCo's profits.

    (Yes, I realize that no kid of mine would be military age for at least 18 years, but I'm assuming we'll still be cursed with a Bush in the White House 18 years from now. Thank you, Diebold!)

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  7. Hear! Hear!
    Well said, Tuxster.
    Now, if only the talking heads in the MSM would get it right.

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  8. Thanks you for saying something I've felt for a very long time. I especially get annoyed when the TV comes on with a grieving mother or father who says their son/daughter was just defending our freedoms. What a crock o' crap.

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  9. That is a great post!

    It's not the soldiers or the cops who defend our freedoms. It is our laws and our courts, starting with the Constitution and going downwards from there.

    and that should be repeated, often!

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