Remember that I have been in full-on "campaign mode" for two years. You think that being thanked in the airport by a guy wearing a big earring, a "Howard Dean For America" jacket, holding a copy of Z magazine under his arm didn't cause a little cognitive dissonance in the minds of these grunts?
The Republican meme is "leftists are soldier-hating anti-patriots" and, if nothing else, that is not the impression that (mostly) working-class soldiers should have. Excuse me for not being an uncontaminated Leftist Bubble Boy but there are real political considerations here.
boddi
On 11/28/05, andie nachgeborenen <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> wrote:
> OK, I will, started this last night and lost the
> message.
>
> First a picky point, ther Fugitive Slave Acts were not
> enforced by the military but by local law enforcement,
> bounty hunters, and the slaveowners themselves.
>
> But the real question is, what attutude to take
> towards grunts who fight imperialist wars and may
> commit atrocities? The Boo-Hiss crowd here, liked you,
> Joanna, and Travis, seem to miss the basic Marxist
> point, that moralizing misses the point. The questionm
> si,w hat promotes goals of popular opposition to the
> wars and self-organizationm in opposing the wars? ANd
> the answer is, not moralistic superiority on the part
> of same-at-hime liberals and leftists about people
> who for the most part had to join the service because
> they were poor and then had to follow orders in
> dangerous places. If we want working class support, we
> better show respect and sympathy. Thanks wouldn't be
> out of place either, as long as it comes with
> anti-imperialist analysis, which probbaly is not too
> hard to see to most of the troops.
>
> Maybe the grunts stand morally condemned in the eyes
> of God for being Bad. Leave that to God. Our problem
> is different. Why does it take a libveral democratic
> like me to point out this basic and obvious Marxist
> precept?
>
> jks
>
> --- joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > boddi satva wrote:
> >
> > >"There was once a law that upheld slavery in this
> > country. Would you
> > >thank the soldier who captured a runaway slave and
> > returned him to his
> > >owner?"
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Yeah, we actually split the nation in half over
> > that question. You
> > >know, when the troops in the South decided to take
> > it on their own
> > >authority to do what they thought to be the moral
> > thing and defend
> > >slavery. So, unless you are suggesting that we have
> > a civil war over
> > >the question of Iraq, it is not exactly an apt
> > comparison.
> > >
> > You did not answer the question.
> >
> > Joanna
> >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > > ___________________________________
> >
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