Support our Troops

Chuck0 chuck at mutualaid.org
Mon Mar 17 22:30:39 PST 2003


Gar Lipow wrote:
> I forward the following without comment - it relates to previous
> discussion today and yesterday on this list.'
>
> Gar
>
>> Support Our Troops
>>
>> By Michael Albert
>>
>> If war comes even despite the historic, tenacious, and comprehensive
>> opposition now raging across the planet, the U.S. government will
>> proclaim triumphantly that everyone who isn't a traitor needs to
>> rally around Washington to "support our troops." Opponents of the war
>> could opt for many possible replies.

The ahistorical nature of the American Left never ceases to amaze and disappoint me. Once again we are witnessing the sorry spectacle of leftists trying to reclaim the phrase "support our troops."

Guess what folks? We tried to do that in the antiwar movement during Gulf War 1. It didn't work and only served to legitimize this phrase in its role in frothing up Americans into a patriotic fervor. This phrase can't be reclaimed and we waste our time trying to be cute about turning the meaning of the phrase around.

Let's not repeat the mistakes of the past. There have to be some snappy putdowns that can be used in response to this phrase. Let's reject "support our troops" instead of reclaiming it.

"Support the troops that shoot their officers."

Chuck0

------------------------------------------------------------ Personal homepage -> http://chuck.mahost.org/ Infoshop.org -> http://www.infoshop.org/ MutualAid.org -> http://www.mutualaid.org/ Alternative Press Review -> http://www.altpr.org/ Practical Anarchy Online -> http://www.practicalanarchy.org/ Anarchy: AJODA -> http://www.anarchymag.org/

"The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free..." ---Utah Phillips



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list