The last book I read was Everyday is an Athiest Holiday by Penn Jillette, and the book before that was Penn's other book, God, No! Before that was Dan Barker's book Godless, and although the ride was great, I was certainly ready to cuddle up with a different subject. How about the idiocy that is today's modern American military? Now, I am a Maddow superfan, which makes me quite biased, but I will try my best to review her first book professionally, and without hyperbole. This is the best political book that I have ever read. Ever.
America's military was something we used to be proud of. I have always wondered what happened to our country's confidence in our troops, in our military leaders. I watch shows like Band of Brothers, or old History Channel WW2 docs with wide-eyed amazement as I see this country, (apparently, it's the same one I live in today) coming together to support our troops, support our involvement in something bigger than us. Rachel Maddow really explores the decisions we made in the last 70 years that changed the way things work in our armed forces. From privatization of maintenance jobs to the elimination of Congress's approval being necessary to go to war, Rachel changed my mind about a lot of things with her writing here. I needed my highlighter. A lot.
The part of the book that really stunned me, was around chapter 7 when the idea was presented that maybe the draft is a good thing. The idea presented is that if average citizens had to personally sacrifice, like we did before 1950, by buying war bonds, conserving paper, or dying, maybe we would take this war shit a little more seriously. Maybe we would actually, as a people, look into it when a president says that there is just cause to send our kids to Iraq. Perhaps we would demand quicker resolutions to our armed conflicts if it meant our next door neighbor got to stay home because of it. We've been in the Middle East for a decade, we were tricked, knowingly tricked into going into Iraq and we can prove it, but nothing is being done about it. This book asks great questions, at just the right time, and it doesn't hurt that it is beautifully written. If you are at all interested in some of the bigger blunders that our military has been responsible for, or concerned about our fighting forces going into the future, then buy this. It's one hell of an impressive narrative.
Tho I agree that our military is a mess and that we have made some incorrect decisions on the uses of that military (Iraq), I think you may be looking at a chicken or the egg scenario. Our military is considered one of the strongest, best trained, and best led armed forces in the world (http://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.asp). So it then stands as why our citizens have such a negative outlook on our military? It can be argued that our military SHOULD have a positive outlook despite its mistakes. That means that the information that the general public is getting obviously paints the military in a negative light. The general public gets this information from the general media. The general media has proven that it is not the most reliable or best source for information. An example is General David Petraeus. He is considered to be one of the greatest military minds in history, and not just in our country. Yet the general public views him as a failure and a horrible leader because the media paints him as such. Yet most other countries leaders and militaries view him as a genius. So in conclusion, is the view that our military is failing because of the points that Maddow brings up (I am not saying they are incorrect, just that they do not point towards a failing military) a correct one? Or is the public perception of a failing military brought on by a media spin and Maddow's points are simply occurrences brought up to try and explain this negativity?
ReplyDeleteDavid Petraeus is a great military mind, and I've always liked him because of his humanitarianism which is so uncharacteristic of a general. Yeah, the media tore him apart during the scandal, but I wouldn't blame that spin on the media, if the man didn't want to leave a tarnished legacy then he shouldn't have fucked around on his wife. Obviously, the media plays a role in all of this, but I think the general American population is smarter than you give it credit for. We don't need the media to know when we are being lied too, (not always). Agree with me dammit!
DeleteI am not talking about the scandal. I am talking about the medias portrayal of his military strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq when he was the head of central command in the Middle East. The outcry by the media even got so bad that Obama was forced to demote him from the position. The scandal came much later and he did deserve that negativity.
ReplyDeleteI think the media is the one lying to us when it comes to our military. As I said above, our military is considered the best trained, strongest and best led military in the world, yet the media portrays it as a mess and a failure. That is a pretty huge disconnect and the majority of the information that the general public gets is via the media.
How do you know about this all encompassing Glenn Beck media conspiracy idea? Did you learn about it through another media source? THE LIE IS EVERYWHERE
DeleteI do want to say that the points that you mentioned above from Maddow's book are great points. But I believe that they need to be looked at independently and dealt with on a case by case basis as opposed to lumping them in with the "perception of the military".
ReplyDeleteAnd on the case of the draft, I think an even better option would be to do something like what Israel has where every citizen, men and women, are required to do a minimum number of years in the military. Just a random thought.
No, the point is that if we had a draft, then nobody would go, and everyone would be more aware of the war-for-profit ideals of our leaders. If I was drafted, I would dodge, (any excuse to live in Vancouver), and that doesn't make me a traitor, I just don't want to die in the desert for a lie.
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