I came across this in a friend's status update this morning.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
9734; If you support our troops then please post this on your status and leave it there for one hour. There should be no excuses from anyone!!!! This should appear in everyones status. Please do this for the ones that make this the Home of the Free because of the Brave!!!! ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
9734;
I don't think I'm alone in reading this for what it is. My reply is after the jump.
It's written in a tone that suggests the author means it as test of patriotism, like a child saying "if you don't say I'm your best friend then we aren't friends anymore at all." What's with the "If you support..." Who doesn't support the troops? They serve our freedom. No one doesn't support them. And the "no excuses..." part makes that suggestion even more blatant. I don't like the tone. I support the troops, on my terms, and in my words. And now you can all see that. But I won't have that support judged based on whether I post a poorly written status update or not. In any case, putting words up on Facebook is not meaningful support, it's the support of armchair patriots. Send a care package if you really support the troops. Or better yet organize a book drive for them. How's that?
PS-How about supporting higher taxes to pay for increased veterans' benefits? Or higher taxes to get the Pentagon to overturn its recent decision to cut tuition reimbursement for the spouses of active duty service personnel? That would be putting one's money where one's support is.
This is typical. According to the parameters implicitly set by the person who first wrote this status update: if you are critical of aspects of U.S. foreign policy, either you post the status update, in which case you succumb to the pressure of having to 'prove' you still support the troops, or you don't post it, and look like you don't. We need to reject these parameters, and turn them back around, which is what I tried to do here. You may encounter this on Facebook as well, which is why I thought I'd share what I wrote here.