I was merely in the Army reserves. I will add that my father was a Viet Nam vet in the Marines. My grandfather was a WW2 navy veteran stationed on a battleship. My great grandfather was in WW1 in Scotland helping to build forts. My great great grandfather was in the civil war as a volunteer from Maine to join the union army and died in the south in the war. I am also a descendant of fighters and other patriots in the American revolution who are recognized in official records as such.
None of my living direct relatives have ever served in any branch of the military. The closest would be my mother's brother (my uncle), who is a Squadron Leader and Air Traffic Controller in the RAF.
My father is a retired university lecturer and researcher in Physical Chemistry, specializing in Thermal Explosion Theory; The guy who built the IEDs used in the London Tube bombings (that my sister narrowly missed being a casualty of) was one of his students.
His father served in a rear-echelon administrative post in WWII, and spent the war away from his wife and family and surrounded by young female secretarial staff.
I am not aware of any of my ancestors having contributed significantly to any war effort, though statistically it's likely that some distant ancestor probably did at some stage in the last few hundred years.
Does this mean I am not allowed to have an opinion?
No, it doesn't. My point was that IF it were true that only military people have valid opinions, then the military people (such as myself and others mentioned in this thread) have said that other people's opinions matter. So it's contradictory. I will add that much of it is already contradictory because we throw words around like freedom all the time in the Pledge and in the anthem. Yet, here people are talking about how those who do not conform to government-approved opinions ought to be forced to conform even if it is done in a respectful way, such as kneeling peacefully.
bilby said:
Because anyone who thinks it does mean that can go fuck themselves.
They can, and I'd also like to show how they are presenting contradictory ideas and record that for anyone to read.
bilby said:
Glorification of military service is a societal sickness.
I half (at least) agree here. If people are presenting platitudes like 'they are fighting for your freedom' or 'military service is ALWAYS such-and-such' then I agree. However, for particular wars and particular individuals, praising their military service may not be a societal sickness--it might even be a good thing to do.
bilby said:
We should be thankful for those who put themselves in harm's way to protect us; But that doesn't render their political opinions more valuable than anyone else's. And it's not something that only servicemen do for us.
I don't see anyone suggesting that firemen, doctors, nurses, miners, or construction workers (all of whom risk their lives to make society work) are more entitled to a political opinion than anyone else; why would servicemen be any different?
I wouldn't suggest that either. I would, however, say that such persons ought to also be celebrated and make holidays for them, as well as a holiday for peace, rather than all our celebrations of war and military. I mean, we've got Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, etc, the government paying football (and probably wrestling) to engage in propaganda...
When you have all that I think it's important for veterans themselves to say "hey wait a minute..."
