1984 Foreword "fascistic disposition"

[Dave Monroe]

Not radical.  Reactionary.  On the one hand, I have
friends in the military I certainly wish no harm to,
and even am in little to no disagreement with
politically.  On the other ...

   "Yes, yes, sure, whatever: I support the troops.
There, are you satisfied now? OK, now that that’s all
done with, let me say that I’m really, really getting
tired of this whole 'support the troops' argument. Of
course, it’s not an argument at all; it’s just an
empty phrase. What does it really mean? Support the
troops. How exactly do you want me to 'support' them?
Do you want me to send them cookies? Do you want me to
send them silent prayers? Do you want me to send them
cosmic rays? What do you want? Do you want me to
believe in the 'cause' their fighting for? That I
can’t do. Sorry.
   "Sometimes this refrain of 'support the troops' is
a well-intentioned plea from relatives of servicemen
and women, but just as often it is a rhetorical device
used by supporters of the war to shut off dialogue.
It’s the 'My country, right or wrong' argument dressed
up a different way. And like 'My country, right or
wrong,' it makes no sense.
   "Reasonable people know, of course, that it is
quite possible to both 'support the troops' and oppose
the war at the same time. Intelligent people know
this. I shouldn’t even have to be saying this. We’ve
gone over all of this before. But here it is, just one
last time, for all of you out there that haven’t been
listening: opponents of the war choose to show support
for the troops by wanting them out of harms way, by
wanting them to return safely home to their friends
and family. There, that’s essentially our position. So
can we now return to our critical dialogue, and
dispense with this whole 'support the troops' muzzle?
   "You know, it’s not always a good idea to 'support
the troops.' Were there people in 1930’s Germany who
said, 'I’m opposed to Nazism, but support the
brownshirts?' (The Bush Administration has made so
many Hitler analogies in its rhetoric about the Iraqi
regime, that surely I’m entitled to at least one.)
   "(Ironically, you may have noticed, it’s the
Pentagon that has done a rather dubious job of
'supporting the troops.' I would argue that when you
deploy a force too small to protect its own supply
lines, you’re not exactly 'supporting the troops.')
   "Of course it’s true that this circular, tedious,
non-discussion about 'supporting the troops,' is
leftover guilt from the post Vietnam era. And yes, it
was reprehensible then when individual soldiers were
treated poorly on their return home from Vietnam. Of
course that wasn’t very nice. And yes, sure, I make
this promise: I will never, ever, shout, 'baby killer'
at a returning veteran. I promise.
   "But it’s also worth pointing out that there are
more than a few men and women among our troops that
think this war is a bad idea. Before we get too
carried away talking about our 'all-volunteer' army,
we need to remember that that label is not a
completely accurate one. The American military is
disproportionally comprised of poor, lower working
class recruits – more often white these days than
minority, believe it or not –men and women who joined
the army because it was the only job in town. If you
want to call that 'volunteer,' go right ahead.
   "My uncle is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and I
recently asked him for his views on the 'support the
troops' rhetoric. He felt very strongly that one could
support the troops and oppose the war. He told me that
when he saw reports of war protests during Vietnam, it
did not disturb him at all; rather, he said, it gave
him a certain comfort to know that there were others
out there who understood that the war was crazy."

http://www.the-press.biz/columns/cook.html


Shameless other-promotion ...

Cook, Matt.  In the Small of My Backyard.
   San Francisco: Manic D Press, 2002.

http://www.manicdpress.com/

http://www.shepherd-express.com/shepherd/23/36/night_and_day/books.html


"The United States of Poetry"

http://www.worldofpoetry.org/usop/life2.htm

http://www.worldofpoetry.org/usop/life.htm#matt

http://www.worldofpoetry.org/usop/


"The Writer's Almanac"

http://almanac.mpr.org/docs/02_06_03.htm#tuesday

http://www.writersalmanac.org/docs/02_06_17.htm#wednesday

http://www.writersalmanac.org/index.html

--- Otto <ottosell at yahoo.de> wrote:
> 
> Although I disagree to MalignD's post I'm grateful
> that he really gave me something to think about.
> His last sentence is something one could really
> argue about:
> 
> ["with a war on one does best to shut up and support
> the troops (...) Hardly a radical position"]
> 
> For me this is a radical position. Maybe I wouldn't
> go that far as Pynchon to call it some kind of
> proto-fascism but there's a dangerous element for
> every democracy in it.

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