My dad missed it, he stayed in bed, but I watched the CBC Remembrance Day coverage. Hey, he's 90 now, he's entitled to give it a pass.
This year's coverage included an appearance by a rabbi who exhorted the audience to profess that they actually "loved" the troops. Loved'em? Why, 'cause they're now fighting Muslims? Loved'em? Just how? Wrecked'em? Damned near killed'em!
I listened to that shit and I just about howled! This guy wanted to turn a solemn moment of remembrance into some sort of knee-jerk, Love In? We let this guy come in and co-opt their sacrifice and their deaths to his own political agenda. There's not so much something wrong with him and still there's a whole lot wrong with us that we didn't react to that.
Do I respect the troops? Totally. Do I support the troops? More than most, in my own way. Do I "love" the troops? Of course not. Why would I and, better yet, would any of them really want my love? My sincere respect, appreciation and support? Sure they would want that. My love? I'll bet that would leave them as twitchy as it does me.
This whole idea of soldier-worship really bothers me. If for no other reason but that it takes away from their sacrifice by exploiting it to advance someone else's political agenda. I don't believe in feeding political agendas on the dead. It's just plain wrong.
7 comments:
Jesus H. Christ, talk about missing the point. I know it's more of a Christian thing than a Jewish thing to "love thy neighbour", but this rabbi dude is hardly the first religious figure of any faith to go on TV urging us to love. Ever been in a church? Love God. Love Jesus. Love your neighbour. Love Mary. Love this. Love that. Love your pet rat Edgar. Blah blah blah love love love. There's nothing political about it.
We're at war, and he, as a religious leader, is exhorting us to love those who are dying for us. What the hell do you expect him to say for crissakes? He's a religious figure. That's what they do - tell us to love stuff. Yesterday was Remembrance Day, so we're supposed to love soldiers. Agenda? You've got an axe to grind and you're seeing agendas where they don't exist.
I can't wait for Pakistan's Remembrace Day. Pakistan's present troops are fighting to maintain freedom and democracy. Gotta Love 'em!
I will add that I agree with The Mound of the Sound that we should be bothered by worshipping soldiers. Soldiers are instruments of the state. One day, they can be overseas battling enemies who have less than democratic ideals; another day, the same soldiers can back home shooting at students on a university campus because those students choose to exercise their democratic right to protest.
"Ohio!"
If those Canadians who oppose Canada's mission in Afghanistan because it's wrong, how can we support our troops to do something wrong?
Is this post about the fact that you dont "luv the troops" or the fact that you think Jews have an "agenda"? Its a little confused but the anti-semetism is really unmistakable. We know who you don't "luv" anyways. Troops and Jews. This rabbi by the way has been conducting the rememberance day eulogy for about 2 decades. If you hadn't forgotten about 6 million Jews were killed in camps that out roops as well as other allied forces risked their lives to liberate. I dont know if his parents were some of these Jews who were liberated, although its highly likely. That's certainly a reason other than an "agenda" to love our troops.
Would it be ok for you to tell people to love fire fighters, if they had saved your baby from a burning building and your whole family and in fact your entire race?
By the way, get your head out of your ass.
The person with the knee jerk reaction and no real thought in his head is you.
Ah, Rabbi Reuben Bulbka. Ironic that he wants us to 'love' the troops, but not too much. He's a bit of a so-con who thinks that homosexuality is a disease and sits on the board of one of those religious "cure teh gays' clinics in the US.
The only "troop" I will love is my brother. The rest can make due with my respect and admiration, if they earn it.
I'm not anti-Semetic but I'm not surprised you latched on to that old saw. I don't love the troops and I don't love police officers or firefighters or any of the thousands of others who serve and safeguard me. I respect them and I appreciate what they do but this "love the troops" thing is just plain wrong. Anybody think that many of the troops are just aching for your love? Wait a minute.
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