I value your well-thought views (when you are not goofing of about pop-culture that is :), however, I somehow cannot relate to what you wrote. It rings some truth, yet something seems to be missing.
Perhaps it is my personal experience. I was in a rut many times, yet each time I was able to get myself out of it. First, there was opium addiction - nasty home made easily available stuff that killed thousands in Eastern Europe. After three or so years of shooting up and seeing my druggie friends disappearing, some turning up dead other in jail still other just dropping out of the picture, I decided to quit. I bought a stash just to have it around (knowing that you do not have it can be really nasty) and suffered through two weeks of excruciating joints pain, chills, shivers and diarrhea (ok I killed some of it with barbiturates, but it was really nasty).
Then there was leaving the country for good and ending up in a Polish ghetto in Grand Rapids, MI, where my compatriots dreamed of going to Chicago where everyone spoke Polish so they did not have to learn English and find a job. There was some heavy drinking, but I did manage to go to ESL classes and work a night shift as a janitor. Somehow, the idea of working for a Polack in Chicago had little appeal to me.
Then there was the Department of the Army job, a sinecure indeed. Safe, secure, little challenge, useless indeed, but paying the bills. When I decided to quit (on less than amicable terms, but that is another story) and go to a graduate school the old timers thought I was crazy. I was in a shitty rut alright, but at least I had a job until retirement.
So each time I was in a rut and looked like there was no light at the end of the tunnel, I was able to get out and reinvent myself. Many times. And without nepotism or riding on somebody's back, or taking advantage of others. I also understand the concept of people not having the same start (I did not when I came to this country) some having really tough luck - but these are situations that can be dealt with, save for a few most extreme cases. Perhaps I will not be a celebrity or rich and famous, but at least I can have a decent life. Why cannot others?
So I have a hard time relating to people who seem to be in similar situations, yet they are unable to get out, or worse yet they try by turning the lives of people around them into hell. I just do not understand it.
As to the reasons why people voluntarily join the Army and want to kill their enemies, again I come form a different background. Obviously I did not experience the war, but most people around me did. And it was not the war they chose to fight, like the one in Korean or Vietnam, but the one that was forced upon them in a very brutal way. Poland lost about a third of its population, so by these standards 50 thousand killed in Vietnam out of 250 million does not even register on the statistical radar screen. As far As I can remembers, war was one of the most dreaded things. Nobody wanted to fight it and nobody saw any reason worth it. So it came as a surprise when I saw how casually many (if not most) US-sers talk about inflicting violence on others, nuking the Ruskies, killing the commies, bombing Baghdad to the stone age - and then cheerleading when that happens. Again, something I did not experience before and something I had hard time understanding why?
So a lot of it, after all, is personal. Perhaps I had unrealistic expectations about this country, and seeing its reality created a sense of disappointment
As to your statement:
> And sure, Woj, it's relative. But I can't abide by this claim that there
> are people who are truly poor but not 'merikans who have their subsistence
> needs met with $8/hr jobs. (Don't take this the wrong way. I could
> illustrate everythign I"ve said here with statistics and evidence from
> research so dismissing it as mere rationalization is B.S. You're making
> claims aboout pople you don't know either--such as claiming that they go
> into the military to get a free ride. I don't have a problem with personal
> examples, and you shouldn't either. I'm must responding to your claims.)
I never doubted that you could support your views with data. I was objecting to your using personal friends as counter examples to my arguments. That put me in an awkward position. How am I supposed to argue this case without insulting your feelings? I would not want to hear bad things about people I know and care about.
As to knowing or not knowing people - I speak mostly from personal experience. I worked about 6 years for the Army and I talked to a few people there. Many of them were my friends, and had no problems sharing with me reasons why they joined. I also met a few people in my various lives. Some of them fit the description, others did not.
Generally, I am not trying not to generalize, but that Bush thing really threw me off. 53 % of the population! It is disconcerting. Hitler initially got only 9% of the votes, LePen never ventured into two digits either.
Wojtek