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Y'know this has been bugging me all @#$%ing day.

Today in the US it is Memorial Day, when we remember soldiers who have fallen in our nation's wars.

It is a good thing to do this.

But maybe tomorrow we can also take a minute to remember the craven and incompetent leaders who sent them to die in unnecessary wars? Or who failed to make sure they were adequetely equipped? Or failed to fund medical care for them afterwards?

Your list might not look like mine, but I'm sure we could all make a blood-boiling list of failures and fools who should be remembered and, if they're still in office, punished.

Can we maybe spare a minute for that?

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Y'know this has been bugging me all @#$%ing day.

Today in the US it is Memorial Day, when we remember soldiers who have fallen in our nation's wars.

It is a good thing to do this.

But maybe tomorrow we can also take a minute to remember the craven and incompetent leaders who sent them to die in unnecessary wars? Or who failed to make sure they were adequetely equipped? Or failed to fund medical care for them afterwards?

Your list might not look like mine, but I'm sure we could all make a blood-boiling list of failures and fools who should be remembered and, if they're still in office, punished.

Can we maybe spare a minute for that?

Hey... I've always said that the US guv really should make the VA hospitals the crown jewel of healthcare.

And name them for politicians who voted to go into Vietnam, Iraq... name the pointless war.

Yeah, the Richard Cheney Memorial VA Hospital and Robert McNamara Memorial Long Term Treatment Facility sound about right.

 whembly wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Y'know this has been bugging me all @#$%ing day.

Today in the US it is Memorial Day, when we remember soldiers who have fallen in our nation's wars.

It is a good thing to do this.

But maybe tomorrow we can also take a minute to remember the craven and incompetent leaders who sent them to die in unnecessary wars? Or who failed to make sure they were adequetely equipped? Or failed to fund medical care for them afterwards?

Your list might not look like mine, but I'm sure we could all make a blood-boiling list of failures and fools who should be remembered and, if they're still in office, punished.

Can we maybe spare a minute for that?

Hey... I've always said that the US guv really should make the VA hospitals the crown jewel of healthcare.

I say all healthcare in the US should be the crown jewel of health care.

But yeah, memorial day in all honesty, means nothing to me. Why? What does having a day off, a barbecue or a night out with friends have to do with remembering the troops. Its basic slacktivism. You post on facebook "Lets remember our troops" and your duty is fufilled as an american. You can then go on doing nothing to help out families of vets, to stop wars from happen.
Memorial day is a day to give empty platitudes and then do nothing of real value.

One thing I always liked in DC is that the Pentagon overlooks Arlington National Cemetery. I doubt it was deliberate but well, it's something.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:


But yeah, memorial day in all honesty, means nothing to me. Why? What does having a day off, a barbecue or a night out with friends have to do with remembering the troops. Its basic slacktivism. You post on facebook "Lets remember our troops" and your duty is fufilled as an american. You can then go on doing nothing to help out families of vets, to stop wars from happen.
Memorial day is a day to give empty platitudes and then do nothing of real value.

That... could be worded differently, and better.

Thats how I feel. Yeah, I love helping the troops. I give to wounded warriors or other such organizations when I can.
But I honestly feel that people use memorial day and things such as facebook on memorial day for excuses to be lazy. posting things like "I support our troops. like or share" Before going off to a bbq or camping trip is the height of laziness. All it does is allow us to feel better about ourselves, pat ourselves on the back and go on our business saying we did something for the troops when you did NOTHING.

Working retail I hate that I am expected to sell "memorial day special buys" to folks who come into the store. I feel it cheapens and commercializes the day, distracting from what it's really about. If anything, rather than "hot buys on grills" I'd much rather something like a percentage of all normal transactions is donated to veteran's charities, to help wounded or widows.

As for the numbskull politicians? Don't have a day of remembrance. Let them be forgotten.

 Alex C wrote:


As for the numbskull politicians? Don't have a day of remembrance. Let them be forgotten.

Gotta disagree, we do more than enough of that.

Mountains of text were written after Vietnam about our mistakes, yet you can see the lessons forgotten and made anew in Iraq.

is it true the US Army wasn't even training people on counter insurgency when we went into Iraq?

We certainly didn't have the right equipment for a counter insurgency campaign. What did Congress spend a trillion (with a T, that's sixteen zeroes!) on?

And the fact that so many of the people who led us into that mess are still in office, even running for higher office means we cannot afford to forget.

JRTC and NTC was/is geared towards this type of warfare. Have to remember though that training for it and implementing it in a combat zone is two different animals

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Thats how I feel. Yeah, I love helping the troops. I give to wounded warriors or other such organizations when I can.
But I honestly feel that people use memorial day and things such as facebook on memorial day for excuses to be lazy. posting things like "I support our troops. like or share" Before going off to a bbq or camping trip is the height of laziness. All it does is allow us to feel better about ourselves, pat ourselves on the back and go on our business saying we did something for the troops when you did NOTHING.

If anything, exercising our freedoms on Memorial day is the best way to honor them. People died so we could have our freedoms. Breath the free air, revel in it, and remember their willing sacrifice. Weep not that such men died, rejoice that such men lived.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Alex C wrote:


As for the numbskull politicians? Don't have a day of remembrance. Let them be forgotten.

Gotta disagree, we do more than enough of that.

Mountains of text were written after Vietnam about our mistakes, yet you can see the lessons forgotten and made anew in Iraq.

is it true the US Army wasn't even training people on counter insurgency when we went into Iraq?

We certainly didn't have the right equipment for a counter insurgency campaign. What did Congress spend a trillion (with a T, that's sixteen zeroes!) on?

And the fact that so many of the people who led us into that mess are still in office, even running for higher office means we cannot afford to forget.

Hey... Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war during her Senatorial term. You going to hold her to account?

Where is this animosity coming from?

Frankly... there is no such thing as a "clean" war. This isn't an episode from the A-team where "I love it when a plan comes together" cliche is thrown about.

Specifically... what "mistakes" are you referring to? (there's a bunch).

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 whembly wrote:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Y'know this has been bugging me all @#$%ing day.

Today in the US it is Memorial Day, when we remember soldiers who have fallen in our nation's wars.

It is a good thing to do this.

But maybe tomorrow we can also take a minute to remember the craven and incompetent leaders who sent them to die in unnecessary wars? Or who failed to make sure they were adequetely equipped? Or failed to fund medical care for them afterwards?

Your list might not look like mine, but I'm sure we could all make a blood-boiling list of failures and fools who should be remembered and, if they're still in office, punished.

Can we maybe spare a minute for that?

Hey... I've always said that the US guv really should make the VA hospitals the crown jewel of healthcare.

I say all healthcare in the US should be the crown jewel of health care.

But yeah, memorial day in all honesty, means nothing to me. Why? What does having a day off, a barbecue or a night out with friends have to do with remembering the troops. Its basic slacktivism. You post on facebook "Lets remember our troops" and your duty is fufilled as an american. You can then go on doing nothing to help out families of vets, to stop wars from happen.
Memorial day is a day to give empty platitudes and then do nothing of real value.

If that's acceptable to you, that's your own problem. If you want to do something more than slacktivism, then do it and don't use the slacktivism of others as an excuse to justify your own lack of action. But either way, don't sit there and think that that is all everyone else is doing as well, because that's not the case. There are people out there who are doing a lot, and who give a lot of time and effort during the entire year, and saying what basically amounts to "Memorial Day doesn't mean anything to me because I don't do anything of substance on that day and no one I know does either" just seems like bellyaching about a self-made and self-perpetuating problem. If you're not satisfied, do something about it.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Thats how I feel. Yeah, I love helping the troops. I give to wounded warriors or other such organizations when I can.
But I honestly feel that people use memorial day and things such as facebook on memorial day for excuses to be lazy. posting things like "I support our troops. like or share" Before going off to a bbq or camping trip is the height of laziness. All it does is allow us to feel better about ourselves, pat ourselves on the back and go on our business saying we did something for the troops when you did NOTHING.

If anything, exercising our freedoms on Memorial day is the best way to honor them. People died so we could have our freedoms. Breath the free air, revel in it, and remember their willing sacrifice. Weep not that such men died, rejoice that such men lived.

I guess I dont see it this was because all I see is posts from my friends, family and close friends that are nothing more than things like "Like if you support our vets" or stuff like that. I just hate it I guess.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Hordini wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Snip

Did you read the post above where i said I often give to those foundations?

 whembly wrote:

Hey... Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war during her Senatorial term. You going to hold her to account?

She's on my list yes.

How could she not be?

Where's the animosity coming from? I live in DC ATM and like other posters where I'm tired of these insincere gestures of thanks and futile play acting.

If someone really wants to support our troops, rolling around on a harley with a bit ole POW/MIA flag ain't the way to do it.

Identifying the leaders and policies who got them killed, captured and injured and making damn sure they never work again in this town, that might actually help.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Did you read the post above where i said I often give to those foundations?

Yes I did. So why are you complaining about not doing anything? Do you feel like you ought to do more, or are you just peeved that none of your family or friends do anything?

No, Im pissed because they think they are doing something, helping the troops. When all they are doing is making it worse.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
No, Im pissed because they think they are doing something, helping the troops. When all they are doing is making it worse.

How does liking something on facebook make something worse? Sure, it might be slactivism, but it isn't hurting anything.

If you think not enough is being done, then do something about it. If you already are, whats the problem?

It does, just recently i read that slacktivism is hurting real activisms numbers. because by liking, people think they did their part.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It does, just recently i read that slacktivism is hurting real activisms numbers. because by liking, people think they did their part.

I doubt that very much. I think the people that just Like stuff are the people who wouldn't have done anything anyway. It would be really tough to prove otherwise.

This is the first year I've noticed people making it a point to let people know that they don't believe in a holiday honoring murderous psychopaths. Which has pretty bummed me out for the whole day.

I even had a guy post on a battles fb page to lets us know that we are the root of evil (using a new racial slur..for me atleast) and that he couldn't wait for the death of the country.

The insincere platitudes directed at the living service people and veterans at least were nice.

Okay, first, Slacktivism is one of the worst buzz words I have ever heard.

Second, you ever think that some of the people sitting at home BBQing with friends are BBQing with their military friends? My roommate was in the Air Force. All he wanted to do for Memorial Day was cook food on the grill and have a peaceful day hanging out with friends. That is what we did.

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Okay, first, Slacktivism is one of the worst buzz words I have ever heard.

Second, you ever think that some of the people sitting at home BBQing with friends are BBQing with their military friends? My roommate was in the Air Force. All he wanted to do for Memorial Day was cook food on the grill and have a peaceful day hanging out with friends. That is what we did.

oooookaaaaaaay? So. My point still stands. People thing by celebrating memorial day, they are somehow helping the troops. It is slacktivism.

I doubt that everyone thinks they are helping the troops. I think you may hear one or two people around you say that or something similar, and then be confusing people "thinking that they are helping" with the fact that the majority of people think that they are honouring the memory of soldiers past, or something similar, by doing the barbie and what not. And you know what, if they even take a second to think "damn this is a nice day, I'm glad I have it. Thanks" then they have. And even if they don't, I'm sure a lot of those men, if you believe their spirits linger somewhere, can look down and think "hell yeah, I helped that happen" and ghost-five the buddies around them.

"Slacktivism" would be something more like;

[img]INSERT IMAGE OF WOUNDED SOLDIER

OMG, Like this image if you respect our soldiers, share if you want them to get better medical care!!!111!! Let's do this for our boys!!11!

That'd be "slacktivism", the simple clicking of a mouse button on one of a multitude of circulating photos that isn't going to do anything. Celebrating a day isn't slacktivism. It is celebrating.

Ha, had to go through and remove the term diggers so I didn't confuse anyone. Damn language barriers...

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Okay, first, Slacktivism is one of the worst buzz words I have ever heard.

Second, you ever think that some of the people sitting at home BBQing with friends are BBQing with their military friends? My roommate was in the Air Force. All he wanted to do for Memorial Day was cook food on the grill and have a peaceful day hanging out with friends. That is what we did.

oooookaaaaaaay? So. My point still stands. People thing by celebrating memorial day, they are somehow helping the troops. It is slacktivism.

The only thing I did to help the troops on Memorial Day was spending time with my roommate and hanging out. I did very little. But, that was what my friend wanted to do and it is his day, so I did it. I had a lot of fun doing it.

Now I have all the other days of the year to help. I think the problem is you are expecting everybody to do something about it on one day of the year. When year round people are petitioning, calling, and sending e-mails to congressmen about this issue.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Okay, first, Slacktivism is one of the worst buzz words I have ever heard.

Second, you ever think that some of the people sitting at home BBQing with friends are BBQing with their military friends? My roommate was in the Air Force. All he wanted to do for Memorial Day was cook food on the grill and have a peaceful day hanging out with friends. That is what we did.

oooookaaaaaaay? So. My point still stands. People thing by celebrating memorial day, they are somehow helping the troops. It is slacktivism.

I'm seriously not getting your point. You seem to be all about crapping on everyone; because some people that you know are garbage. That was what I was getting at with my original comment - you seem to be mistaking the terrible gak people you know with ... y'know - everyone else.


Memorial Day is not about "helping vets"... it's about remembering the dead. I drank a bottle of Jack Daniels, and poured out the dregs for the fallen. Am I a 'slacktavist' because I didn't 'give'?

I spent time this past weekend with veterans from WWII (Lt Colonel at D Day), Vietnam, and the Gulf War (the first one).

To celebrate my freedoms that those fethers helped protect, I also got to hold my 6 week old niece for the first time, had some freedom beer (Shiner Bock, mother fethers), got sunburned driving a freedom rental car, and bought a bedroom suite with the Memorial Day freedom discount at the local furniture store.

feth your lazy facebook friends. Also, slactivism is a dumbass term. If you don't like what your "friends" and family post on facebook, un-friend them or unfollow them.

It's family. I tried unfriendIng them. It passes them off more.
But whatever. I'm outnumbered right now. I'm done.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Okay, first, Slacktivism is one of the worst buzz words I have ever heard.

Second, you ever think that some of the people sitting at home BBQing with friends are BBQing with their military friends? My roommate was in the Air Force. All he wanted to do for Memorial Day was cook food on the grill and have a peaceful day hanging out with friends. That is what we did.

oooookaaaaaaay? So. My point still stands. People thing by celebrating memorial day, they are somehow helping the troops. It is slacktivism.

What's your solution? Force people at gunpoint to honor the troops? Personally, I like Kid Kyoto's suggestion of getting the people out of office that recklessly throw people into combat and add to it those that hamstring and prosecute the troops in performance of their duties when they are put into combat, nullifying the gains they made.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Dreadwinter wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Okay, first, Slacktivism is one of the worst buzz words I have ever heard.

Second, you ever think that some of the people sitting at home BBQing with friends are BBQing with their military friends? My roommate was in the Air Force. All he wanted to do for Memorial Day was cook food on the grill and have a peaceful day hanging out with friends. That is what we did.

oooookaaaaaaay? So. My point still stands. People thing by celebrating memorial day, they are somehow helping the troops. It is slacktivism.

The only thing I did to help the troops on Memorial Day was spending time with my roommate and hanging out. I did very little. But, that was what my friend wanted to do and it is his day, so I did it. I had a lot of fun doing it.

Now I have all the other days of the year to help. I think the problem is you are expecting everybody to do something about it on one day of the year. When year round people are petitioning, calling, and sending e-mails to congressmen about this issue.

What you did is all it really takes, in my opinion. One person can't take the whole load.

I like that idea too. That is how I think the best way is to help troops and honor them. By stopping other soldiers for getting killed to line the pockets of oil barons.