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| Modern Heroes: our soldiers want respect, not pity. |
| 2007-10-04 |
| by Robert Kaplan, Wall Street Journal I'm weary of seeing news stories about wounded soldiers and assertions of "support" for the troops mixed with suggestions of the futility of our military efforts in Iraq. Why aren't there more accounts of what the troops actually do? How about narrations of individual battles and skirmishes, of their ever-evolving interactions with Iraqi troops and locals in Baghdad and Anbar province, and of increasingly resourceful "patterning" of terrorist networks that goes on daily in tactical operations centers? The sad and often unspoken truth of the matter is this: Americans have been conditioned less to understand Iraq's complex military reality than to feel sorry for those who are part of it. The media struggles in good faith to respect our troops, but too often it merely pities them. I am generalizing, of course. Indeed, there are regular, stellar exceptions, quite often in the most prominent liberal publications, from our best military correspondents. But exceptions don't quite cut it amidst the barrage of "news," which too often descends into therapy for those who are not fighting, rather than matter-of-fact stories related by those who are. As one battalion commander complained to me, in words repeated by other soldiers and marines: "Has anyone noticed that we now have a volunteer Army? I'm a warrior. It's my job to fight." Every journalist has a different network of military contacts. Mine come at me with the following theme: We want to be admired for our technical proficiency--for what we do, not for what we suffer. We are not victims. We are privileged. . . . Go read the rest of it. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #3 The media struggles in good faith to respect our troops, BULLSHIT |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-10-04 13:45 |
| #2 Thank you Mr. Kaplan. A big no-shitter. Why I hate the MSM: 1) O.J. - I could care f*cking less about this waste of sperm & what he does. 2) Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lynsay Lohan - see 1) above. Take all the time the MSM wastes on the aforementioned carbon blobs and use that air time to talk about what Mr. Kaplan advocates and we in the mil would respect the MSM again. Until then, FOAD losers. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2007-10-04 11:29 |
| #1 Remember the non-rape case of Duke. Remember the mind set of MSM about young white males. That's why you're never going to hear about these modern heroes. For why they represent every color, race, and creed, the shear bulk of them are 'hooligans' for MSM like the lacrosse boys who the MSM has demonstrated a deep irrational bigotry. As stated in the article, they have to be victims or nearly convicted perps before they'll get any coverage. However the message is getting through that Iron Curtain of the MSM as reflected in the esteem America holds its servicemembers and the lack there of it holds MSM. So, Dan, how are the readership and viewing audience numbers going? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-10-04 09:29 |