He writes today in his little-read column (the only place we could find it was the Buffalo News):
Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home.
Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people - sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them.
We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.
Our grandfathers...and their grandfathers...and their grandfathers have all fought for this nation the same way. Anyone who bleeds, and those that support them, are fucking heroes no matter what path got them to the battlefield.
Early in World War II, Andy Rooney serves with a U.S. artillery regiment assigned to England. He soon joins Stars And Stripes in London. In 1943, Rooney is among the first group of correspondents allowed aboard bombers attacking Germany. He writes for CBS News in the 1960s and 70s. Rooney begins his essays on "60 Minutes" in 1978.
I think the term HERO gets thrown around to easy. Brave, yes, has-balls, yes...
Thing is, in my opinion, a true hero is that one or few individuals who go above
and beyond the call of duty, or who throw themselves into situations way above expectations in order to save another human life, once already functioning in that brave, courageous capacity.
I go back to 9/11. The true heros were those who saw the first building come down and went into the second, or the unknown people who never asked to be put into a danger situation, who were just going to work that day and elected to stay behind and be with somone who couldn't get down.
There are a lot of brave people around, but few heros. That's what makes the word valuable and special.
Andy Rooney's little statement above is DISGUSTING LIBERAL TRAITOROUS FILTH!! Anyone who enlists, serves his country wearing the American Flag and puts his or her own life in harms way is a hero in my book. Unemployed or not, these men and women are doing a job so that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms and security that Andy Rooney obviously takes for granted in the comfort of his kumbaya singing, marshmellow, tie die wearing hippi home. Fuck the geriatric bastard.....send him straight to Hell.
Lighten up mike... My disrespect for her are the lies and protesting she did after brave people saved her and she decided to wrongly promote a book for her benefit...
And also because the media - hyping her to be this godlike image...
But then again - coming from you Mike - I am glad you find me disgusting... [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]
And early on - it was the US Governemnt that was using this story to boost morale and garner support for the war. THEY let hte story out- knowing it was not 100% truthful, but took advantage of a pretty little soldierfor their own PR opportunity.
She served her country and we should respect her for that. My guess is that once this thing started - it snowballed really fast and would be hard for anyone not to be swept up in all the publicity. You also don't know how she was being handled by our own government. Managing publicity and manipulating public opinion is a huge effort in goverment/politics.
He writes today in his little-read column (the only place we could find it was the Buffalo News):
Treating soldiers fighting their war as brave heroes is an old civilian trick designed to keep the soldiers at it. But you can be sure our soldiers in Iraq are not all brave heroes gladly risking their lives for us sitting comfortably back here at home.
Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people - sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them.
We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army. About 40 percent of our soldiers in Iraq enlisted in the National Guard or the Army Reserve to pick up some extra money and never thought they'd be called on to fight. They want to come home.
I read the previous and came away with a different take. I don't think his intent is to lessen the "heroism" of our armed forces. I think he's suggesting that there are many soldiers fighting in Iraq that never intended to serve in a war. And that by "calling" those soldiers "hero's" is likely doing them a disservice relative to their actual wishes. He's suggesting that by branding these soldiers (not all) as "hero's," it makes it more difficult for them to return home (their "real" desire).
It's a bit more subtle than the obvious "liberal hawk-bashing" read. I'm not saying he's correct, but we should at least be discussing the author's intended opinion.
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