boyfromks
Tonight on Sportscenter
25 February 2003 11:04 P.M.
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So, I saw something rather disturbing this evening . . . on Sportscenter, no less. It was a story of a female basketball player at some Div. II school that turns away from American flag during the pre-game playing of the national anthem. This is something she's been doing all season as a comment on the state of the country. I guess it recently received some publicity, as at one recent game a Vietnam vet went on to the floor during the game to present her with an American flag. What was truly disturbing, was some comments by coaches that said that they would kick a kid off the team for doing something like that. That pissed me off. I mean, I remember being in elementary school and pretending to say the pledge of alliegence, while actually not saying it. Even then, I resisted having to do something so overly symbolic that seemed reduced to a mere duty. It seemed to me that it shuold be gennuine admiration for the country, not forced. Or, maybe I was just a spoiled brat who couldn't stand to be told what to do.

Either way.

Another disturbing point, is this belief that any voice of dissent is automatically some massive insult to "our boys fighting for our freedom." What a bunch of crap. How can it be insulting to the men and women in the armed forces to say that we should be careful when deciding to send those men and women to fight and possibly die. To me, it seems insulting to ask them to make that sacrifice so that another banker can fill up his H2, or so that King George II can get revenge for his daddy's mistakes, or so that President Cheney's cronies at Haliburton can reap billions in extra profits as they rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure we spent billions destroying. And, with all the capital gains they'll achieve with those profits, they'll benefit greatly from the massive tax cuts the King dolled out to them. Of course, to pay for all the reconstruction and occupation and other unforseen costs the gov't will have to keep running massive defecits and cutting services like, oh, support for the new clients of the VA that these escepades will create. Gulf War Syndrome, pt. 2, anyone?

Could you ask a soldier to their face to fight for THIS? I couldn't.
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