Response: Supporting People

In response to Justine Cozza's post on 3/29/2012:

The problem is that the troops are not actually dying to keep American civilians safe, or dying in the name of freedom.  They are dying because the American military leaders sent them to do so in order to further an agenda that has far less to do with freedom than it does with fossil fuels.  This is not to say that individual soldiers are aware of this; in fact, I suspect that most soldiers are either in the military because it was the best career path available to them, or because they honestly believe that by joining the military they can defend America.  In the latter case, their intentions (although not the actuality of what they are doing) is highly admirable; in the former, their intentions may not be admirable, but nor are they reprehensible.

As such, I do not believe that anyone should send cards or food or love to the soldiers overseas as a thank-you for what they are doing - but I do think that they should send those things because they care about the troops as people, separate from their unfortunate choice of career.  A card can really help someone in a bad situation feel better, and helping the troops to feel better is a nice (if not necessarily patriotic) thing to do.  In general, I think that soldiers are neither exceptionally good people nor exceptionally bad people.  Thus, they deserve the same consideration that any person in a dangerous situation would.  The best way to support the people working as troops, of course, is to attempt to get the government to bring them home.