tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6436782247272162797.post3760987335813794277..comments2024-03-28T22:00:08.221-04:00Comments on Strangely Blogged: My Condolences to the Families of the Niger FourVixen Strangelyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01976594951225450413noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6436782247272162797.post-92223194895257536942017-10-19T23:21:45.179-04:002017-10-19T23:21:45.179-04:00Which is doubtful because I just Tweeted POTUS tha...Which is doubtful because I just Tweeted POTUS that he can get bent. And I have several origami diagrams I could suggest.Vixen Strangelyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01976594951225450413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6436782247272162797.post-25954440696853377152017-10-19T23:11:42.841-04:002017-10-19T23:11:42.841-04:00Here's the thing that bugs me--trained to be a...Here's the thing that bugs me--trained to be a weapon in life, and honored/armored to be a shield in death. Trump is the guy who trotted out 2nd LT Robert Kelly to shield him from the claim he wasn't doing enough to acknowledge the dead. But then again, Trump is also the guy who trotted out any Memorial Day cliché to pretend that the national anthem is for them, the fallen, and not for all Americans. The Daily Beast has a recent story of a 70-something guy who pretended to be a Navy Seal who wanted to present a glass Presidential Seal to honor Trump and appeared on, of course, Fox News--this "stolen honor" thing happens because people like medals and uniforms better than they like understanding foreign policy and studying how to go to war, and studying how not to go to war anymore. What you say about comparing warfare to Las Vegas is pretty spot on--you take a look at the people we lose to gun violence right here on US soil, and maybe add into that the people we're losing in the opioid crisis and maybe just for kicks throw in crack and meth, and people are doing themselves in and getting done unto in this country from stupidity, grief, untreated mental illness and bad social policies, at a rate that would eclipse many a war. I wish we made heroes of social workers and teachers and civil servants who tried to fix things here. <br /><br />I have a lot of thoughts about this from Gen Kelly's address today. I'm still trying to work this into one post, but he has two distinct areas of strongly bad fuckery--martialism, seeing things pretty much only from a military POV, and the misogyny of high expectations that is referring to regard of women as "sacred". There is much I want to stomp into a mudhole and hope new life generates around the death of that kind of stupidity. I only hope I can channel all my mad into intelligible English.Vixen Strangelyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01976594951225450413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6436782247272162797.post-63341092426915060072017-10-19T15:53:10.583-04:002017-10-19T15:53:10.583-04:00I have to say, this slavish worship of soldiers, d...I have to say, this slavish worship of soldiers, dead, damaged and safe at home - is the most singularly irritating part of the American experience.<br /><br />These were four highly trained professionals, doing exactly what they wanted to do at the very pinnacle of their careers. They were supported and armed lavishly - young men who started out on this path because they wanted to 'blow shit up' who turned out to be ideally suited for breaking things and hurting people. I don't have a specific problem with them - I completely understand the high keening rush of combat, and the satisfaction of professionalism. <br /><br />But if they had stayed home they wouldn't be dead. Not at all true of the people killed in Las Vegas at a concert, or any other much more genuine tragedies that affect people who didn't actually volunteer for the privilege...mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701313718589322noreply@blogger.com