Musings of a Technonerd

This post was inspired in part by a post by my good friend "The Unhappy American."


I've seen a lot of these yellow "Support The Troops" mag stickers on vehicles since they first started appearing, and a lot of them are starting to get pretty faded. To me, they're a symbol of just how isolated and removed the average American has become from what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I've done my part for the troops. My 'Support the Troops' sticker is right there, on the ass of my Navigator."

But, what exactly IS the average American doing to "support the troops?" Shopping? Brittany watching? (BREAKING NEWS!! BRITANNY LOSES BRATS!!) Burning lots of gas and oil produced electricity so the Arab countries who hate our ass can rake in the money? Yeah, we're doing lots of that.

How about insisting that the troops who are stationed in the middle east have the correct and proper equipment so their parents don't have to have bake sales to buy body armor for their kids? (Rummy: "You go with what you've got." What utter and callous bullshit!) How about making sure that returning veterans immediately get any and all medical and psychiatric care they need, in well equipped, modern well staffed hospitals, without any of the paperwork and bureaucratic bullshit no congressman would ever stand for??? How about forcing the administration to either tell us the real reason we're there (None of this "stay the course, be patient, and trust us" crap.) or get the hell out? (Hint, shrub has used the word "crusade" to describe this war.) How about passing SERIOUS fuel conservation laws to wean America off their petroleum binge? (We're burning more gas then ever these days.) How about financially taking care of military families who are suffering economic hardships because shrub is using National Guard troops instead of regular army personnel so he can continue trying to fight this war on the cheap?? How about raising taxes instead of going into debt so my son's kids won't end up paying for this disastrous war?? How about next time this happens (Can you say Iran???) we Americans really, I mean REALLY debate the need for any military action instead of buying the line of bullshit this administration will feed us? How about Americans getting off their butts, and voting in congressmen who will have the balls to challenge this administration??

Nope. We're not doing much of any of that. Too inconvenient.

Thing is, this administration wants you to keep that up. They'd rather you were out there, consuming away, watching the train wreck that Britanny is, buying ever larger cars and SUV's, and watching tripe like American Idol on TV. That way. you're not paying attention to what the hell they're doing to this country and its Constitution. They'd rather you just didn't pay any attention to what's really going on. They don't want us to get upset about higher gas prices and record oil industry profits, or military funerals, or renegade mercenaries (Blackwater) shooting first and "letting god sort it out."

One bumper sticker I saw said "If you're not angry, then you're not paying attention." Americans are annoyed at Bush and his war, but for all the wrong reasons. They're annoyed because gas is expensive. They're annoyed because they're tired of hearing bad news every night on the TV. (Their response? Don't watch the news. There. Problem solved.) They're annoyed because they might have to carpool, or take the bus. They're annoyed because this war has become INCONVENIENT. They're not annoyed because this war is illegal and immoral.

That deeply disturbs me.



"Ignorance is bliss" Thomas Gray