Tuesday, April 19, 2016
And this is where I lose my cool
I'm pretty cool to a certain extent about kids playing. But there is a point where "kids being kids" becomes "brats with no parental guidance or control". Teach your kids history, teach them respect, teach them about honor and sacrifice. For the love of God and all that's holy, teach your kids that the world exists beyond their little bubbles, and that all the freedoms they enjoy were bought and paid for by a small group of men and women who sacrificed. I'd be willing to bet the parents are off on a bench playing Candy Crush on their iPhones. Now I'm pissed off.
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17 comments:
The looks on the adults faces says it all....
I'm a Cub Scout den leader. We had an outdoor picnic a couple of weekends ago, and while doing the Pledge of Allegiance, one of the mothers pulled out her phone to take pictures. I went and grabbed it out of her hand. She started bitching that she was taking a picture of the boys lined up to do the Pledge. I told her in very short words that it wasn't the right time and place to take a picture, and that I expected her to set a better example.
ARRRRRGH!
Stupid, disrespectful "parents".
They need to have some sense slapped into them!
ARRRRRGH!
Stupid, disrespectful "parents".
They need to have some sense slapped into them!
I'm ... not so sure. I mean, respect is important but isn't this a position somewhat verging on idolatry? Veneration of "sacred" objects, as it were?
Of course, maybe it's just my libertarian side and disinclination to bow down to others (or their graven images) - I'd be perfectly happy buried with a jungle gym over me so that kids can get some enjoyment out of my last resting place. I can't think of many better ways to pass the afterlife (okay, Valhalla might be fun) than hearing children having a good time six feet overhead....
Not that I'd notice, since I expect to have a lot of books to hand. :D
Lawhobbit,
I find myself disagreeing with you here. I support someone's right to stomp on a flag. I also support on someone's right to punch that person in the face, if they are willing to accept the jail time.
That said, I have a problem with a monument to an actual person or group of people. Again, the issue is the same. The punch to the face, in the case of children should be issued by their parents as a strong verbal warning at the least. If this is not done when they are young, then the punch to the face might happen when they are older.
The SJW must learn that there are cause and effects to everything that they do. They have a first amendment right to protest however they want, and we have the first amendment right to disagree with them as well. If we injure them, we might go to jail. If we are ok with that, too bad for them.
IOL, it's not idol worship in terms of sacred and praying to graven images. It's not just about the dead, but about respect and compassion for the living. The survivors of those who sacrificed. It's about being a decent, compassionate human being.
As for the playground idea, I think that's lovely. But it would be your wishes, the intended purpose. A monument to honor bravery and sacrifice is a little different. Of course, those who would be offended won't make a stink about it, won't drag the media and government into it. That's just not their style.
My step dad did four tours in Vietnam. My mom did 25 years in uniform. I was in the Army in the 70's and my sister was in service in the 80's and kids playing on a pile of cast bronze doesn't bother me in the least. There is not one damn thing "sacred" about a statue out side somebody's head. Service is a duty and should NEVER be grounds for praise or special treatment. The first thing any dictatorship in history has done , was to create a cult of military worship. That always ends badly.---Ray
If one of those old men would have taken a minute to explain to the kids what the memorial meant, it might have helped. If you're telling stories and not bitching, it shouldn't upset the parents.
Hobbit, all I can say if I hope those kids six feet up don't piss on your grave.
Ray - You are a vet and your family all are. So are mine. I turned down an academy appointment. My son is a Marine. It is not about a "cult of military worship." It is about respect and selflessness, an absent trait in this world, at least in this country for the most part (I am a teacher, I know from whence I speak). When I was 8 years old my brother came back from 'Nam. My mom kept the headlines of the major metro newspaper front page, 3" letters high over a full page width picture of a little girl running to her brothers arms as he got onto the tarmac. The headline? "BABY KILLERS GO HOME!" It is not about a cult, it is about respect. It is about the sacrifice people make to a higher cause than their own self centered me-attitude bullshit. And, oh, by the way, my brother was a Medivac crew chief in Dustoff on the front lines, shot down 13 times behind enemy lines, captured twice, flew Laos and Cambodia two years before we admitted it. He was the guy hauling your happy ass out of harms way and patching you up so you could come home and not give a shit.
I am voting with you, Angel. How appropriate on Patriot's Day, April 19, 1775, the first shots fired in the American Revolution. Sons of Liberty shot in the back when they had laid down their arms. We owe them respect, just like we owe the Vietnam Vets respect for being sent to fight someone else's lying conflict.
I am - no surprise - going to go with Ray on this one. In fact, his "cult of military worship" bit is spot on.
Let's consider those figures represented there. Quite likely, they were military slaves. Forced at gunpoint to surrender their natural liberty - and their lives - to go "fight" in a war that was neither of their making nor in defense of their homeland. It was at the behest of a crew of oligarchs whose heirs have learned the important lessons of warfare. Don't send slaves to do it. Use employees.
Oh gentle and kind hostess, if you TRULY have compassion and respect for the living, how about starting by NOT sending them off to die (or, perhaps worse, be maimed for life) in wars with no meaning and no value. How many dead and wounded from the current combat ... with, let's be honest, what change? Dying doesn't make you honorable, it just makes you dead. Let me be even more blunt and risk a spanking - dying for somebody else's worthless idea makes you dead AND stupid.
I appreciate the opportunity to argue religion here, and don't expect to convince any of the cultists of my POV. But some things just need to be said....*
*okay, and the possibility of a spanking just adds to the zest. ;-)
The honorable vet in the push chair exercised admirable restraint by not whacking the little runts with his cane. It breaks your heart when people disregard these ex-service men and women.
Let's get away from the rhetoric and check some facts.
Fact: That is the Vietnam Women's Memorial, dedicated to the 265,000 women who voluntarily served. Not a single one of them was drafted. Most were medical, doctors and nurses.
Fact: The memorial was requested by an Army nurse who served in Vietnam, to honor her sisters who served. It's not a memorial to war, it's a memorial to women's strength and compassion.
My mistake - I wasn't paying close enough attention to what the bronze was of, noting the standing figure but not checking out the specifics to see it wasn't the the other VN memorial.
But that said ... is it a demonstration of compassion to want to smack children for playing on a statue that supposedly commemorates compassion?
I will wave a proverbial white flag here and just say that I think that we as a nation owe it to our soldiers both volunteers and conscripted and to our volunteer medical personnel male and female to not only recognize their efforts, but to teach our young people to recognize them as well. I misspoke when I said that I had a problem with a monument to an actual person. I meant that I had problem with a protest of a monument to an actual person. To protest the nation or it's leaders is protected by the constitution, to protest a monument in honor of the sacrifice of people is, in my opinion, not.
Okay, Hobbit, where in my post did I say anything about smacking the children? I said educate, inform, teach, you can teach compassion and respect for others without agreeing with them. Are you one of those people who tell the loved ones of a fallen soldier that he got what he deserved? Simply because you disagree with the action doesn't mean you have to disrespect the people.
OK everybody, lets just chill out here. I was the one who advocated smacking. NOT ANGEL. This coming Monday, 26th April, Australia will be commemorating ANZAC day. It honors the men and women who went to war at the request of their country. Most specifically the slaughter of the innocents at Gallopoli in the Great War. not WWI until after WWII.
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