Remembrance Day rant
Nov. 12th, 2006 03:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanWarning: Partially incoherent
I am not a pacifist.
Far from it. If my life has shown me anything, it has shown me that Not Taking Shit is the only way that shit will not be delivered unto thee. I don't like being picked on, so standing up for myself has become a bit of a policy of mine.
Having said that, I have no issue with pacifists. In fact I admire them. People who are willing to take whatever fate metes out in order to prove their point and live up to their ideals gain my absolute admiration. It's a way tougher road than I am capable of walking, and more power to them on their journey.
But I do believe that there is a place for force in the world. It is a tool, and in some cases it is the only language that bullies understand. When somebody respects nothing but force, you show him force and he will sit the fuck down. But I think it's important to remember that it is only a tool. Ideally it should be one among many - if possible the tool of last resort. I have seen that public opinion will sometimes sway a bully when public opinion is important to that bully - it worked for Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and Amnesty International has built an entire mission statement out of it. I strongly believe in debate, I believe in negotiation, I believe in sanctions, I believe in economic pressure. i believe that one tries every possible means before one brings out the big guns. I believe, that just as when one is dealing with wild animals, one always gives one's enemies a way to back out gracefully amd save face.
And I also believe that those things are sometimes not possible.
And when every other recourse has been tested and has failed, people fight. And people die.
I see those stupid stickers that say "support our troops" and they make me angry, because all those people are really supporting is factories that manufacture magnetic car stickers. Have you voted for politicians that don't waste the lives of enlisted men on piddling political gains and winning elections and ensuring oil company profits? How about making sure that those troops you are supporting so fervently have absolutely the best in equipment and training? And medical services for LIFE, because it don't mean shit if their disease or their syndrome or whatever the fuck was contracted during their service, they deserve to be taken care of for life simply because they offered the biggest risk that any citizen can take. Give them citizenship if that's an issue in your country. Give them education. Free. Under any circumstances. Support for their families, so they don't have to chose between serving their country and paying Little Timmy's medical bills. There Should Not Be any suck fucking thing as vets living on the street. Ever.
I believe that people who offer the "ultimate sacrifice" as it's euphemistically called, deserve absolutely the best of all of those things. Not because of some romantic fetishization of military hardware, but because they offered to fucking die if that's what it took to accomplish the goals that their country held as being important at that time.
Yeah, I have a big fucking hard-on for soldiers even though I have never been one. I also have a big fucking hard-on for firemen, people who defuse bombs, people who staff hospitals in war zones, all those people whose professions demand that they suck it up and say, "I might die here today. And it will be worth it if other people don't die because I was here."
Remembrance Day, for me, is about respecting people who made the sacrifice that was asked of them. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't noble. It was necessary. And they fucking died. And two minutes of silence is the least we can do to acknowledge the fact that they did it so we wouldn't have to. That's the easy part. Throwing some actual dosh and some will behind taking care of those who survived ought to be worth even more.
I am not a pacifist.
Far from it. If my life has shown me anything, it has shown me that Not Taking Shit is the only way that shit will not be delivered unto thee. I don't like being picked on, so standing up for myself has become a bit of a policy of mine.
Having said that, I have no issue with pacifists. In fact I admire them. People who are willing to take whatever fate metes out in order to prove their point and live up to their ideals gain my absolute admiration. It's a way tougher road than I am capable of walking, and more power to them on their journey.
But I do believe that there is a place for force in the world. It is a tool, and in some cases it is the only language that bullies understand. When somebody respects nothing but force, you show him force and he will sit the fuck down. But I think it's important to remember that it is only a tool. Ideally it should be one among many - if possible the tool of last resort. I have seen that public opinion will sometimes sway a bully when public opinion is important to that bully - it worked for Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and Amnesty International has built an entire mission statement out of it. I strongly believe in debate, I believe in negotiation, I believe in sanctions, I believe in economic pressure. i believe that one tries every possible means before one brings out the big guns. I believe, that just as when one is dealing with wild animals, one always gives one's enemies a way to back out gracefully amd save face.
And I also believe that those things are sometimes not possible.
And when every other recourse has been tested and has failed, people fight. And people die.
I see those stupid stickers that say "support our troops" and they make me angry, because all those people are really supporting is factories that manufacture magnetic car stickers. Have you voted for politicians that don't waste the lives of enlisted men on piddling political gains and winning elections and ensuring oil company profits? How about making sure that those troops you are supporting so fervently have absolutely the best in equipment and training? And medical services for LIFE, because it don't mean shit if their disease or their syndrome or whatever the fuck was contracted during their service, they deserve to be taken care of for life simply because they offered the biggest risk that any citizen can take. Give them citizenship if that's an issue in your country. Give them education. Free. Under any circumstances. Support for their families, so they don't have to chose between serving their country and paying Little Timmy's medical bills. There Should Not Be any suck fucking thing as vets living on the street. Ever.
I believe that people who offer the "ultimate sacrifice" as it's euphemistically called, deserve absolutely the best of all of those things. Not because of some romantic fetishization of military hardware, but because they offered to fucking die if that's what it took to accomplish the goals that their country held as being important at that time.
Yeah, I have a big fucking hard-on for soldiers even though I have never been one. I also have a big fucking hard-on for firemen, people who defuse bombs, people who staff hospitals in war zones, all those people whose professions demand that they suck it up and say, "I might die here today. And it will be worth it if other people don't die because I was here."
Remembrance Day, for me, is about respecting people who made the sacrifice that was asked of them. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't noble. It was necessary. And they fucking died. And two minutes of silence is the least we can do to acknowledge the fact that they did it so we wouldn't have to. That's the easy part. Throwing some actual dosh and some will behind taking care of those who survived ought to be worth even more.