Day 136
I don't support the troops. There I said it!
The "just following orders" plea is no excuse for Hitler's concentration camp staffers and military men, and nor is it an excuse for individual soldiers fighting for or against any country when it comes to war crimes. We seem to live in this weird political climate (in Canada and below the Border) when it comes to war. We're allowed to criticise or even reject policies on the highest levels of government, but we mustn't say a word outside of praise for the people actually doing the killing half way around the world.
Shouldn't it be the opposite way? Shouldn't our anger, outrage, and democratic voice speak out against the people who are actually, literally, committing the bad actions?
I believe we are living a thinly veiled lie when we "support the troops but oppose the war." We come up with every excuse in the book for why the troops are nonetheless great men, patriotic folk defending their nation. They're not signing up to make decisions, they're signing up to follow orders. They're pushed into the desert far from home to shoot at strangers, no wonder some occasionally lose themselves and commit horrible crimes. They're willing to get injured, even die for a cause, whose right is it to criticise such bravery?
And so on. But doesn't anyone notice what we're doing when we make these arguments? We're marginalizing the individual consciousnesses of the men and women in the armed forces. We're giving them the status of peons, of slaves, of mere warm, capable, impressionable bodies. To look a military man in the eye and tell him you don't blame him one second for the wrongs his army has done, is to give him no respect. It is to tell him you don't think he's capable of, or responsible for, moral decision making.
If we want to really, truly respect each other we have to be willing to drop the excuses and hold people accountable regardless of stigma and consequence. Do not fear the heat when you must hold your friend's (or lover's) feet to the fire, and do not fear losing them either.
The "just following orders" plea is no excuse for Hitler's concentration camp staffers and military men, and nor is it an excuse for individual soldiers fighting for or against any country when it comes to war crimes. We seem to live in this weird political climate (in Canada and below the Border) when it comes to war. We're allowed to criticise or even reject policies on the highest levels of government, but we mustn't say a word outside of praise for the people actually doing the killing half way around the world.
Shouldn't it be the opposite way? Shouldn't our anger, outrage, and democratic voice speak out against the people who are actually, literally, committing the bad actions?
I believe we are living a thinly veiled lie when we "support the troops but oppose the war." We come up with every excuse in the book for why the troops are nonetheless great men, patriotic folk defending their nation. They're not signing up to make decisions, they're signing up to follow orders. They're pushed into the desert far from home to shoot at strangers, no wonder some occasionally lose themselves and commit horrible crimes. They're willing to get injured, even die for a cause, whose right is it to criticise such bravery?
And so on. But doesn't anyone notice what we're doing when we make these arguments? We're marginalizing the individual consciousnesses of the men and women in the armed forces. We're giving them the status of peons, of slaves, of mere warm, capable, impressionable bodies. To look a military man in the eye and tell him you don't blame him one second for the wrongs his army has done, is to give him no respect. It is to tell him you don't think he's capable of, or responsible for, moral decision making.
If we want to really, truly respect each other we have to be willing to drop the excuses and hold people accountable regardless of stigma and consequence. Do not fear the heat when you must hold your friend's (or lover's) feet to the fire, and do not fear losing them either.
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