How Our Culture's Insistence on Calling Soldiers Heroes Deadens Our Democracy

[99th_Monkey]

I was just thinking about this very thing this morning, about how probably many a school yard bully "grows up" to become a gun-totting military and/or police professional. Not that ALL military and police fall in this category, but still, it just makes sense on the face of it. The epidemic of murderous police violence against unarmed often innocent citizens comes to mind, along with fact that policemen are something like twice as likely to be a perp of domestic violence.

I don't know the answer to all this, but do know that it's seriously fucked up. The entire system of military and police related institutions needs to be completely re-imagined and re-designed to foster peace, reconciliation, and harm-reduction. It is daunting to think about, and not very likely to ever happen IMHO. I wish there was something to do besides lament how FUBAR it is.

Thoughts on this anyone?

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How Our Culture's Insistence on Calling Soldiers Heroes Deadens Our Democracy
Forced troop worship and compulsory patriotism must end.
November 10, 2014 * Alternet / Salon * By David Masciotra

Put a man in uniform, preferably a white man, give him a gun, and Americans will worship him. It is a particularly childish trait, of a childlike culture, that insists on anointing all active military members and police officers as “heroes.” The rhetorical sloppiness and intellectual shallowness of affixing such a reverent label to everyone in the military or law enforcement betrays a frightening cultural streak of nationalism, chauvinism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism, but it also makes honest and serious conversations necessary for the maintenance and enhancement of a fragile democracy nearly impossible.

It has become impossible to go a week without reading a story about police brutality, abuse of power and misuse of authority. Michael Brown’s murder represents the tip of a body pile, and in just the past month, several videos have emerged of police assaulting people, including pregnant women, for reasons justifiable only to the insane.

It is equally challenging for anyone reasonable, and not drowning in the syrup of patriotic sentimentality, to stop saluting, and look at the servicemen of the American military with criticism and skepticism. There is a sexual assault epidemic in the military. In 2003, a Department of Defense study found that one-third of women seeking medical care in the VA system reported experiencing rape or sexual violence while in the military. Internal and external studies demonstrate that since the official study, numbers of sexual assaults within the military have only increased, especially with male victims. According to the Pentagon, 38 men are sexually assaulted every single day in the U.S. military. Given that rape and sexual assault are, traditionally, the most underreported crimes, the horrific statistics likely fail to capture the reality of the sexual dungeon that has become the United States military.

Chelsea Manning, now serving time in prison as a whistle-blower, uncovered multiple incidents of fellow soldiers laughing as they murdered civilians. Keith Gentry, a former Navy man, wrote that when he and his division were bored they preferred passing the time with the “entertainment” of YouTube videos capturing air raids of Iraq and Afghanistan, often making jokes and mocking the victims of American violence. If the murder of civilians, the rape of “brothers and sisters” on base, and the relegation of death and torture of strangers as fodder for amusement qualifies as heroism, the world needs better villains.

It is undeniable that there are police officers who heroically uphold their motto and mission to “serve and protect,” just as it is indisputable that there are members of the military who valiantly sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. Reviewing the research proving cruelty and mendacity within law enforcement and the military, and reading the stories of trauma and tragedy caused by officers and soldiers, does not mean that no cop or troop qualifies as a hero, but it certainly means that many of them are not heroes.

http://www.alternet.org/culture/you-dont-protect-my-freedom-our-childish-insistence-calling-soldiers-heroes-deadens-real

[bhikkhu]

1. Ordinary respect is fine

and if you don't want to call them heroes, you don't have to go to the other extreme. The same goes for policemen, priests, teachers, etc - every profession has kits share of criminals, as a statistical certainty. Yet most people everywhere are good, honest, hard-working, and well-intentioned. If you don't "get" that, you're not a liberal.

Basic respect should give anyone the benefit of the doubt, and I've known enough good people in the military, who served willingly and well, to have my own opinions based on direct experience.

[99th_Monkey]

3. As have I ..

"known enough good people in the military, who served willingly and well" ..still I think the article makes a good point, without using too big a brush.

[bhikkhu]

5. When we talk about reforming the education system

we don't use the few instances of pedophiles to energize the discussion and brand the profession. I know there have been instances of soldiers going off the rails, but I don't think its a good idea to paint the whole military that way. Most of my problems with the military are with the decision makers at the top, not with the soldiers.

[aikoaiko]

2. In terms of a vibrant democracy, praising vets is the least of our worries.

[99th_Monkey]

4. I know for some it's almost "unthinkable'

to not extend hero status to military & police. Which in a way makes the author's point.