We Support Those Baby-Killin’, Serial Rapin’, Pillaging Troops! Really!
Like most college campuses, the University of Illinois in Champaign has a vocal anti-war movement. This movement, while at least publicly saying they “support the troops”, does everything they can to enforce every bad image upon them.
Luckily, the anti-war movement’s volume is matched by their inability to get much accomplished. Because they value “feelings” over reality, they can rarely accomplish much as they insist on consensus. There was an attempt to begin a campaign of harassment against ROTC students but they weren’t able to agree on how to do it. Some advocated for outright harassment, spitting, throwing fake “blood”, and the like. Others advocated a more PR-friendly response because that would be “received better.” In either case, there is the implicit notion that these “kids” are unable to make good decisions for themselves and must have been lied to. Yet they “support the troops.”
There is something patently offensive about the idea that men and women who are between 18-24 and spend their time in serious endeavors like the military are wholly incapable of self-determination while the same people argue that 12 year old girls have all the faculties they need to make the life or death decision of abortion. It seems that the idea anyone under 25 doing anything besides drinking and carousing is unacceptable.
This is really little more than a re-hash of the 60s anti-establishment fervor. The military is despised because it is the “Establishment.” Any accusation, no matter how far from the truth, is acceptable. It’s not the evidence but the seriousness of the charge, after all. Recently an Army Colonel gave a presentation to a class of 10 year olds on good citizenship. No evidence was shown that this individual was recruiting kids for the armed service, and in fact, all evidence directly contradicts that. Yet the anti-war movement on campus cried foul. To them, a soldier is no different than a pedophile. Yet they “support the troops.”
The same anti-war movement established a police review board in Urbana. Anyone can be on this board except one class of people. Felons can serve, serial rapists can serve, and even people currently serving in prison can serve. The only people not allowed on this board are actual police officers. They are the “establishment” and they can’t be trusted either.
They reiterate every accusation against the US Armed Forces as fact, and even when the facts show the troops are innocent, they still insist on the fiction. Yet they “support the troops.” They object when you “question their patriotism.”
As Whittaker Chambers said, “Experience has taught me that innocence seldom utters outraged shrieks. Guilt does.” They wouldn’t have to claim support for the troops if they actually did support them. At least now, society has less tolerance for their anti-troop behavior than they did during Vietnam.
John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a columnist for the Daily Illini and blogs at Part-Time Pundit deep from the corn fields of Illinois.
He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.
John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a freelance columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans and other children in Tanzania to get an education. He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange. | More from John Bambenek
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