Hello folks: This email was forwarded to me by a couple of cousins of mine (distant, but related nonetheless) who have a son in the US Army fighting in Iraq. They are strong supporters of Bush.. and their son is also a strong supporter of being in Iraq. I've kept getting their forwarded email because I AM interested in what he is doing while in Iraq.. and I obviously dont want him getting killed, regardless of their/his political affiliation.
This email I got today from them however, seems to show the mindset of these people and what you folks are up against in changing opinions. Its not from them, but they've forwarded it along from a mailing list they are on. It follows in full below:
Subject: Wear Red On Fridays
The Americans who support our troops, are the silent majority. We are not "organized" to reflect who we are, nor to reflect what our opinions are.
We would like to start a grassroots movement using the membership of the Special Operations Association, and Special Forces Associations, and all their friends, simply, to recognize that Americans support our troops.
We need to inform the local VFW's and American Legion, our local press, local TV, and continue carrying the message to the national levels as we
start to get this going.
Our idea of showing our solidarity and support for our troops is - starting Friday, and continuing on each and every Friday, until this is over, that every red- blooded American who supports our young men and women, WEAR
SOMETHING RED.
Word of mouth, press, TV -- let's see if we can make the United States, on any given Friday, a sea of red much like a home football game at a
University. If every one of our memberships share this with other acquaintances, fellow
workers, friends, and neighbors, I guarantee that it will not be long before the USA will be covered in RED - and make our troops know there are many
people thinking of their well-being.
Let's get the word out and lead by example; wear RED on Fridays. I sent this out to everyone on my email list; hopefully, you will too.
Please forward this to everyone you know!!
Now.. normally.. when I get some of my cousins' pro-Bush, "Iraq isnt as bad as the press is making out to be" messages, I usually act like a typical Canadian by forcing a smile while I read it, and calmly deleting it without commenting on it... This email however got me angry (and I'm not even American) about the implied suggestion that one isnt supporting the troops if they are anti-war/anti-Iraq. My cousins will be getting an earful from me tonight in response.. it might end the correspondence.. but I guess thats the chance I take.
I've not yet decided whether or not I wanna take the bother of emailing the orignator of the email message or not (it was forwarded along by my cousins)... to tell her how I respectfully disagree with the tone and implied "traitor" aspect of the message. I suspect I'd get tons of hate mail.
However, I thought I'd pass this along to show what the other side is trying to plan to do..in case this is a new tactic. Not sure one can really do about combating the "wear red" meme.
My other thought is, I dont know whether its very tactful to be giving out the originator email address on here for people to write her/them to express the opposite point of view.. else I'd list it on here for anyone who felt the desire to exercise their democratic right to free speech..so I'll hold off on doing that for now til I hear the opinion of others on here.. The only loophole I see here is that she said to pass the email on to others in your own mailing list.. and KOS is a big list of people.. (ok.. thats stretching it.. but she didnt seem to account for the fact someone might get this who actually disagrees with what she says).