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One of the best benefits of this country is our supposed right to freedom of speech. So I celebrate the dialogue participants, their opinions, and their willingness to share them.
However, with every right comes responsibility.
To criticize the military with a broad brush, with little to no acknowledgement of the benefits we all share because of past military actions, demonstrates bias and naiveté. This partisanship does a disservice to the basis of the argument.
I agree that there "was," "is," and "will be" abuse in the use of the military. However, abuse of power is a human trait, rather than strictly a military one. It is present in all structures created by and for humans.
To imply that there has simply been "no reason" for war and that soldiers are merely "murderers" brings me to ask the following rhetorical question:
Are you perhaps denying the holocaust?
Sincerely,
=Peace-Thru-Reason=
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The editor replies:
 No-one on our dialogue page has denied the holocaust. No-one has said abuse of power is strictly a military trait, or claimed there is no reason for war.
There are always reasons for war — often silly, untrue, or secret reasons. Occasionally, there are noble reasons.
And despite the popularity of the cliché, rights do not come with responsibilities. We need both, rather like fresh produce and kitchen knives — but fresh produce does not come with kitchen knives. The Bill of Rights was not written with a matching Bill of Responsibilities.
The right to free speech is exactly that. It means we have a right to speak freely. Armed with only that right, Americans can and will criticize the President, the Congress, the military, or the Los Angeles Dodgers without "nice-ing it up" for weenies who can't take straightforward criticisms.
There's certainly no "responsibility" to be sure all critiques of the military system are carefully couched in terms always paying homage to historical heroics. The U.S. military is not a gradeschooler, with delicate feelings which might cause it to cry if we don't give it a hug. Someone who can't read an article critical of the military system without yearning for "acknowledgement of the benefits we all share because of past military actions" is, in my opinion, trying to avoid dealing with the issues raised.
If it makes you feel better, though, I shall state the obvious:
It is the official policy of Unknown News that we are thankful the U.S. and allies won World War II. We are grateful, possibly more grateful than you are capable of comprehending, for America's relative freedom. We are tremendously appreciative of many, many American soldiers and civilians who have risked or lost their lives winning and defending that freedom. We are tremendously grieved when the American military is wasted on wars without worthwhile reason (and with the possible exception of Grenada, America hasn't had worthwhile reason to go to war since WWII). We often visit Kansas City's midtown Vietnam memorial and weep.
We believe, however, that nothing is above criticism, including the U.S. military system. If the L.A. Dodgers can take our criticisms, so can the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.
We have criticized the U.S. military system when we felt criticisms were warranted, and we will do so again. This is our right, and we have no "responsibility" to make sure all criticisms are offered with hot cocoa and marshmallows.
=Helen & Harry Highwater= |
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