It has become obligatory to refer to members of the American military as heroes. They are the ones who, according to the Republicrooks, "GIVE-GIVE(can I saty it louder?) give us our freedom." That perversion of America is an example of how the Right attempts to guilt and cajole the nation off the Bill of Rights and jam through their subversion of the Constitution. They would have the military change from servants-SERVANTS-for the sometime protection of our Rights into tools of corporate interests.
A solier is not a hero simply for putting on a uniform, just as I wouldn't be the Pope by wearing the hat. People, citizens, American civilians don the uniform for myriad reasons. Some are economic, others deeply personal. Some are patriotic, and in the past many joined to avoid prison. A recent Department of Defense report showed that the number of enlistees without a high school diplomma is rising dramatically. Do we want to believe that a high school drop out is automatically a hero by sighing a piece of paper? Does he/she have the potential to become a hero? Absolutely, but so does the civilian who stops to help at an accident, the volunteer that helps a family in need, or the neighbor who catches a baby thrown from a burning building. Heroism, being a hero is a specific act, not a life style. Only Batman lives a hero lifestyle, although that thing about Robin is a little suspicious. But seriously, soldiers are as likely to commit crimes as any member of the civilian population. Indeed, their misdeeds may often hold grave consequences for our nation. Hardly the legacy of heroes.
The case in Okinawa is a prime example. Condoleeza Rice apologized for the rape by a 38 year old Marine of a 14 year old girl on that auspicious island. Is he a hero? His actions have had a profound impact on Japanese public perception of the United States, and threatens our strategic standing in the region. The Rape calls to mind the rape of a 12 year old girl by a Marine in 1995. Surely the incident will renew calls for the removal of US Troops from Japanese soil. How will that impact our strategic interests in the region? How does that incident reflect upon every American, whether travelling in the region for business or pleasure? And it all was because of the act of a single idiot. Hardly the act of a hero.
It is time to abandon the Republicrook mythology that every soldier is a hero. We may owe them a debt for their service, but not our worship. Not in a nation that prophers the idea that we are all created equal. The Late Stephen Ambrose wrote a stunning book about the fighting men and women in Europe during the Second World War. It was called CITIZEN SOLDIERS, an ideal of the American soldier since the Revolutionary War. Wise as they were the founding fathers declined to make the military a 4th branch of government. Indeed, the Right would throw away the judicial and legislative checks and balances in favor of the executive and military, all at the beck and call of corporate interests. That my friends is fascism.
2 comments on America's Heroes: The Cost of Hero Worship
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Militarists have to idolize the military without reservation. The rest of us need to learn not to enable them and to look at the military as an unfortunate consequence of needing to fight wars abroad so as to maintain cohesion at home.
Has anyone every noted that wars seem to follow restlessness and frustration with the status quo and that they seem to quell those feelings with "save the country" rhetoric?
I live in an Army town and I can attest that the military is made up of the same stuff as the rest of the country. No better and not worse.
It is the creation of a nationalist mythology, the great struggle illusion, the heroes that sacrifice for our benefit. It is nationalism and a perversion.