So, to get to another point, I recently was floundering about, drowning in a sea of MySpace commerciality, when I ran across a bulletin post entitled “Petition to Remove the ‘Fuck The Troops’ Group from MySpace.” A little MySpace background, for the woefully uninitiated: bulletins can be posted by any of your online “friends” (who, on MySpace, are often as not internet prostitutes) that you have picked up in your hitch-hikings through the worldly wide web. You can read them, respond to them, and even repost them so that your own set of “friends” can be exposed to your rants, thus resulting in some sort of twisted, informational pyramid scheme where one post can travel the highways of MySpace from one group of friends to another. Groups, such as the one previously mentioned, are started by people who want to connect to more friends with similar interests or affiliations. Groups such as “UCLA Alumni,” “Knitters Worldwide,” and “Raging Alcoholics” are good examples of the range of interests supported by the wonderfully tolerant MySpace program code.
So, I recently logged onto MySpace and came across the aforementioned bulletin (which, for academic integrity, is cataloged at the end of this entry). The purpose was for each person who agreed with it to add their electronic signature (also known as a “name”) to the list that it provided, repost it, and thus increase the size of the petition. Allow me, once again, to get tangential here. This idea is inherently flawed for two reasons:
- Each time someone reposts this, the list changes, meaning that instead of having one comprehensive list, there are, in actuality, countless competing lists clogging up MySpace, garnering names. Remember the pyramid scheme idea? As the list splits from its original users, the chances of users later down the lines crossing paths becomes more and more unlikely, thereby spawning a wealth of petitions with entirely different name lists, all of which, at some point, fade into internet obscurity as they reach end users who don’t care to repost them. Which brings me to…
- Tom, the guy who “runs” MySpace, and to whom the petition is meant to reach, will never read it. There are millions of MySpace users. MySpace recently announced that it gets more daily hits than Yahoo! That is some pretty serious bandwidth there. This thing, one bulletin amidst countless others, will not fall into Tom’s lap but by unparalleled good luck, and, even if it did, he wouldn’t do anything about it since it is as unofficial as any petition could possibly be. So, basically, the petition exists as a way for enraged military folks to say how much they hate “tree-huggers” and other peace loving folks. Which is really what I wanted to talk about in the first place.
So, this bulletin…what to say? The more I read, the more astonished I was at the contradictory nature of many of the posters. You see, more than just signing names, as the bulletin went on posters started to add their two cents into the mix. Some were short and sad, wishing well for husbands and sons engaged in situations overseas that I’m sure are little less than horrifying. Others left angered rants against anti-war advocates, often declaring their willingness to eliminate these “Americans against freedom” that surely comprised the “Fuck The Troops” group. In any case, it got me thinking, and I began to think that maybe a different perspective was in order:
To be honest, though some may think I’m unpatriotic, I really don’t have a problem with a “Fuck The Troops” group. Its not that I entirely support what they are saying, but I adamantly support any system that gives them the right to say it. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right that is one of the few left in this increasingly fascist nation. How is it fascist, you ask? I would cite the Patriot Act, quietly renewed a short while back, that allows the government to collect information regarding the types of books its citizens are reading, or the type of websites they visit. Every time I logged onto a computer at San Diego State University, I was reminded of that via the notice that warned that all my actions on that computer could be monitored by federal authorities. How about the suspension of the writ of Habeaus Corpus? Anyway, I’ll avoid another tangential exercise here. You get the idea.
What happens when you and your friends start a club called “Meat Eating Aficionados Unite” and a group of angry, militant vegans decide that you are ruining the earth and shut down your group meetings? Is this ok? You cannot silence the Klu Klux Klan for the same reasons you cannot silence those who say "Fuck The Troops." Being a real American isn't about being happy; its about being tolerant. Very few Americans understand that, which is why I often distance myself from my countrymen. Humanity seems to be filled with people who want to tell others what to do. Only tyranny comes from that.
Of course, I can say all I want, but why not let the petitioners speak for themselves? I quote from the bulletin the following entries (my commentary is in brackets):
"These people need to be eliminated, the men and women of our armed forces are the only reason why there is myspace right now!!! If it wasnt for our soldiers keeping us safe god only knows where we would be!!!" [Actually, Al Gore is the reason you have MySpace. At least, that is what he would tell you.]
"GET THESE MOTHER FUCKERS OFF THIS SITE!!! THEY DESERVE TO GO TO HELL!!!!"
"haha, i didnt even know about these guys, we should invite them all to a 'tree hugger hippy lets get high and complain together' discussion campout in the middle of the woods somewhere and then proceed to hunt them down in military fashion with nothing but rusty K-BARS and C-Wire dipped in pigshit, then hang them feet first from the trees and let the technis/gangreen kick in all the while giving them chinese incision torture..... yeah that sounds about right" [That’s the spirit.]
"......being Ex Military...thats shit is fucked up...start a group called "fuck Bush" I am fine with that..." [This one is great because the writer has no problem with proverbially “fucking” something, so long as it isn’t the group he is affiliated with.]
"we all have friends or family in the military. so we should all be supporting them. stand behind the troops or stand in front with the enemy." [You’re either with us or with the enemy, right El Presidente? At least you know some of your voters listened.]
"Its funny how 'americans' decide to bad mouth those who protect their rights as americans" [Hmmm, you mean, the rights you are trying to take away right now? Your position appears weak, oh great military philosopher.]
"GET THOSE IDIOTS OUT OF HERE!!! I WISH WE COULD SEND THEM OVER THERE!!!!! BET THEY WOULDN'T HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY THEN!!! LOL" [Ha, yes, it is funny to force people to do things. Especially when they are directly opposed to it.]
"fuck the troops? FUCK YOU! if it wasnt for the u.s. military, you wouldnt have the fuckin right to bitch and moan about anything. try living under a dictatorship like saddam hussein then talk." [Another brilliant entry. Because, you know, a place where we are free to eliminate groups that speak in ways we don't like isn't like old Saddam's regime at all.]
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| Because, after all, a nation made up of different viewpoints is wholly intolerable. |
"I don't care if they get romoved or not. I pray to God that these people find themselves in need of some help one day just so I can extend my hand to them, , , then watch their faces as they realize I'm holing a pistol." [Nothing says “American” like wishing hell and torment on others. Other than atrocious use of the native language. Oh, wait...he DID get that one...]
"SUPPORT THE TROOPS EVEN THOUGH YOU DONT AGREE WITH WHAT THEY ARE FIGHTING FOR... HELL SOME OF THEM DONT AGREE BUT STILL THEY FIGHT." [One of those "just doing my job" lines. How can someone support something they don't believe in? Sounds very collectivist to me. If one values their independence, their free thought, their free will, then mustn’t they likewise live in and work in a manner consistent with that? To me, that would surely entail doing a job that does not force one to act in a fashion contradictory to one’s philosophical beliefs.]
"All gave some; some gave all. Remember those who give you the right to speak your mind, you have freedom. But exercise it wisely .. or I'll beat your ass." [This one is so classically, so beautifully, contradictory! The idea of free speech entails NOT having to exercise it wisely. Otherwise, it isn't free.]
"SSgt Darryl Johnson 609 Air Communications Sq- I did my time out there and if it wasn't for the past fallen troops they wouldn't have the right to say shit like that freely..." [Yes, Sergeant Johnson, this is true, and isn't it wonderful that they DO have that right. You might have been able to say you agree, in fact, until your actions superceded your words as you signed this petition.]
I've noticed a lot of people saying "the troops are just doing their job!" and this, I'm sure, is true. Does that make it better? If our job is what we are (and in ultra-capitalist America, this is daily more the case), then isn't "doing our job" relevant to the type of person we are? I find the "just doing our jobs" line entirely invalid as an excuse for perpetrating acts that, to the actor, are philosophically unsound.
To sum up here, I don't hate the troops. I feel bad for them, having gotten stuck in an awful position after signing up for something they didn't really expect. At least it seems that that is true for most of them. Free speech is important. What you do for a living is important. We must reflect upon these things more carefully and not blindly charge ahead with only loyalty to light our way. Loyalty, bereft of thinking, is tyranny, for it is defined by the idea that one will follow any order given, regardless of intention. Intention is what makes us what we are. Think.
