Walked out of Veterans Day Speech - Daily Kos op'ed

[Baitball Blogger]

Last edited Sun Nov 12, 2017, 08:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Walked out of Veterans Day Speech
By FredFredZ

The keynote speaker, a retired Navy officer, began his speech okay, with some light humor. I was rather apprehensive, as he gave the speech at a Memorial Day service, and quickly turned it into a talk about trans people in bathrooms. It went downhill quickly as he lied to the audience – 200-300 community members, veterans and their families as well as about 200 school children – about the violent protests that disrespect our flag and our veterans. He completely omitted that these protests are not violent, with the exception of the Nazi protest in Charlottesville and the sovereign citizens holding a Federal installation in Burns, OR. He deliberately lied to all present about their Constitutional Rights, including the First Amendment right to seek redress. He stated that no one has the right to be offended.This man was speaking in favor of totalitarian rule – a man, I may remind you, who took an oath to uphold the US Constitution. In a free society, as outlined by our Constitution, we do not have thought crime. Offense is a thought crime. This is well into totalitarian territory. He equated protests as sedition .At that point we got up and left in outrage. This was not an honor to our veterans. It's a slap in the face to living World War 2 veterans, and disrespecting the graves of all, including some of my relatives who gave their lives support fascism. We fought the Cold War to keep us free from totalitarian thought crimes. The US fought Nazi Germany to keep us free from such totalitarian regimes as those who have thought crimes. They did not fight in that war to have US citizens, including retired military members, embrace thought crimes, and totalitarian fascism. One of my former in-laws did not spend his 26th birthday landing on the beach in Normandy, sustaining injuries, and receiving a Purple Heart as a result so the US could become fascist. Today, I'm quite glad that he is now deceased and could not hear a retired military officer supporting exactly those fascist policies he gave his health to protect. I would hate for him to think he gave it all in vain, as did my uncle who gave his life fighting fascists over 70 years ago.

When I was in high school, I was in a town with a large immigrant population from Europe, mostly the children of displaced persons who came to the US after World War 2. Many of my friends' parents and grandparents had numbers tattooed on their forearms. They told their own stories of how they got in those concentration camps, and what happened. More than once, a parent or grandparent burst into tears relating their stories, in front of a girl they had just met. Yes, these were grown men and women crying in front of a teen girl. The stories were horrific. The same thing happened after I was an adult, when I went to the home of a coworker. This is the end result of where such fascism leads. I vowed back then that if I were ever in such a situation, I would not be quiet and allow it, because I was not part of the group of the day. Today, I have to put my money where my mouth is. Furthermore, if I did not, my relatives who fought in World War 2 would certainly come haunt me, as they are no longer peacefully resting, with their graves having been desecrated (changed from cruder term).

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/10/1714629/-Walked-out-of-Veterans-Day-Speech?detail=emaildkre

[magicarpet]

1. Bless you.... Fascism does not deserve a pat on the back...

Fascism only deserves spit or a solid fist directly to the face.

The intent of Fascism is to demean and dismantle Democracy. We can not just stand by and allow that to happen.

Overtures of Fascism, white supremacy, and the "Alt Right" are not welcomed and/or encouraged, the weak-minded will only embrace and coddle them to the detriment of society.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. These conservative, retired officers have their own agendas.

You have to live around them in red counties to see how they ply their "authoritay" to their advantage, and how others use them to keep a community silent about wrong-doings that are rampant.

BTW, I didn't write the op-ed. I just found it interesting.

[maxrandb]

8. I'm a retired Naval Officer and would have walked out on him too

But I would have made sure he knew how fucked up he is.

We (retired Officers) aren't all CONservative jackasses.

You shouldn't...we shouldn't...no one should allow a speech like that go unchallenged... loudly and voicferously.

If the election of Donnie Short Fingers and unchecked rule of the Retrumplicans is not enough to make us start calling out shit like this... this country is dead.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. .

Thank you for your service! I think it's obvious that there's still work to do in civilian life. We need good leaders that know how to treat everybody fairly and equally. That is, afterall, what the Constitution is all about and service men and women took an oath to defend it.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. Right-wing authoritarianism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism

Right-wing authoritarians are people who have a high degree of willingness to submit to authorities they perceive as established and legitimate, who adhere to societal conventions and norms and who are hostile and punitive in their attitudes towards people who do not adhere to them. They value uniformity and are in favour of using group authority, including coercion, to achieve it.

In their weird minds, they are being "cooperative" by behaving that way. It's the people who don't "do as the Romans do" when in Rome who are the problem.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/when_in_Rome,_do_as_the_Romans_do

when in Rome, do as the Romans do

Behave as those around do.
Conform to the larger society.
Respect the beliefs, customs and practices of a local culture.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Sounds like the shadow government that exists in Central Florida.

[Atticus]

5. THIS---is the way it's done! Likely a couple dozen in that audience who felt

offended and disgusted by Captain Wingnut, but only one had the guts to---as Spike Lee put it---"do the right thing!"

[shadowmayor]

6. Just more proof

For this retired enlisted veteran, I never give an officer the benefit of the doubt. Quite the opposite. Command will get you killed is an old saw in the military. How many Generals stood up and said that our wars were invasions, were illegal, and immoral? Not many would speak truth to the detriment of their careers. The guy giving the speech is just another typical American-made, red, white, and blue butthole!

[byronius]

7. That's a very American act.

[oasis]

10. My hat's off to you for publicly taking a stand.

[Baitball Blogger]

11. I didn't write it. Link to Daily Kos.

[burrowowl]

12. You are right!

to have walked out, others should have als0 walked out!