Thursday, July 05, 2007

A Tale of Two Soundbites

dueler88

I was walking down the street here in Moscow-on-the-Willamette a few days ago, when I observed a middle-aged woman getting out of her Subaru wagon (I think middle-aged leftists are issued these particular vehicles when they arrive in Portland). Most of these Subarus have idiotically trite bumper stickers on them, like "Buck Fush", "Hate is Not a Family Value," etc. This wagon, however, had the most short-sighted bumper sticker I've ever seen: "I'm Already Against the Next War."

News Flash (which won't make it to those who need to hear it): one's decision to engage or not engage in warfare has no bearing upon another entity's desire and/or determination to engage in warfare against you. How about this - since you're not going to do anything to prevent the destruction of my civilization, I suggest you get out of the way so I can put a cap in that Islamic Militant suicide bomber that is standing next to us with his thumb on the detonator. That's a metaphor, mind you; let's hope it doesn't become an actual incident somewhere.

Juxtapose this idiocy against a headline I saw in the USA Today this morning: Guard Passes Goal For Recruits. Wait a second - I thought that the military was supposed to be hard-up for body-bag occupants. The article goes on to say that, as it turns out, appealing to patriotism and "emphasizing the warrior-soldier" are good selling points. Who would have thought? You need committed, combat-minded people in order to be victorious in combat?

Pick a side: the one that won't fight and will therefore lose (and lose pretty much everything of value to them), or the one that will fight and will win if s/he has sufficient will to win.

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