Today existenz posted a diary "WWII Vet Vs. Right Wing Blogger Smackdown" about another sickening episode of the bottomless pit of ignorance we fight every day. It was about a conservative blogger who pursued an attempt to slander Obama by smearing his war hero Uncle,and that blogger has ended up:
1. Being totally owned by a WWII vet!
- Showing us, again, that if you scratch a conservative, you find something disgusting - in this case a tinge of Holocaust denial.
As sometimes happens, the comments got off on many tangents - some trollish, some affectionate and ennobling. One thread wandered through how and what we've named our favorite relatives. Another became an impromptu salute to the veterans - of WWII, mostly, but many others - who are near and dear to many kossacks.
I added a nod to my forebears and friends' parents who went to war, as did dozens of others. It soon became like we were attending an old soldiers reunion, on behalf of our passed on loved ones. Dads, Moms, Uncles and Aunts, Grand-dads, the hallowed figures of the intersection between the personal and the historic. Names of far off islands and battles, long ago divisions, the iconic images of the machinery of war, populated by our beloved ghosts, jaunty and grave and quiet and garrulous and determined, each carrying their unique image of home deep inside.
That thread saluting our veterans got me to thinking. The lack of military experience, or honorable military experience, on the part of most of the architects and salesmen of this war has been well documented. Even administration officials who had military experience, had apparently failed to learn sufficiently from it coughcolin powell*cough*.
I grew up a boomer kid of WWII parents. Since Mom (RAF) and Dad (USAAC) both served, I heard many war stories. In my case, Dad was not much of a raconteur, but Mom certainly was. As a kid I heard many tales from Mom, about how the people resolutely set about daily life in a war zone; how they made do or did without; how they literally soldiered on despite heartbreak and privation and a world gone nearly mad. Interestingly, I remember the majority of Mom's stories were funny in one way or another. Perspective and humor got people through some awful years. But there were plenty of tales that touched on the horrific, wrenching deaths in catastrophic moments. Half of my family is Scottish, so this wasn't "over there" to them; Hell came right to them.
We know Bush 41 served; but what about the rest? How many of these yank warlords even had parents or other relatives who served and saw war? And what about the right wing blogosphere? Did Powerline's John Hindraker have a mess Sgt./corn dog supply officer in the family to warn him of the horrors that counterbalance the glory of sending others off to battle? Where did Michelle Malkin get the grunt's eye view in the family lore? What did Freepers hear of the War?
What produces the hardcore Iraq dead-enders? The martyrs for George W Bush? Where do these people come from, who would litter their nominating convention with "purple heart band-aids", every single one of which was an insult to the Americans who have watered the soil of freedom with their blood?
How did the son of A WWII flyer become so indifferent to the real costs of war? How did conservatives grow up, that they regard such dire episodes so lightly? We all share in the lore of recent warfare. Why isn't it too compelling for some people?
How did Ted Kennedy grow up in such a life of privilege, and then devote his life to the common person, the "least" among us? What is it that extinguishes compassion in today's conservative spokesmen? How do conservatives come to want secrecyabout how their companies do business, yet they want to sit in judgement in our bedrooms?
I've heard that the best way to fight terrorism is through understanding the other cultures that feel they must be our enemy to survive, to learn how terrorists are created, and develop a strategy for prevention. What turns people into these little monsters of 21st century conservatism, and how can we stop them before they mature into the grave societal danger that they've shown themselves to be?
What is the pathology of wingnut Republicanism?