Friday, April 30, 2004
DON'T BE SHOCKED
Yesterday, BoTW commented:
. . . one Rene Gonzalez, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, weighed in on the combat death of Pat Tillman, the football star turned Army Ranger, in Afghanistan:
For people in the United States, who seem to be unable to admit the stupidity of both the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars, such a trade-off in life standards (if not expectancy) is nothing short of heroic. Obviously, the man must be made of "stronger stuff" to have had decided to "serve" his country rather than take from it. It's the old JFK exhortation to citizen service to the nation, and it seems to strike an emotional chord. So, it's understandable why Americans automatically knee-jerk into hero worship.
However, in my neighborhood in Puerto Rico, Tillman would have been called a "pendejo," an idiot. Tillman, in the absurd belief that he was defending or serving his all-powerful country from a seventh-rate, Third World nation devastated by the previous conflicts it had endured, decided to give up a comfortable life to place himself in a combat situation that cost him his life. This was not "Ramon or Tyrone," who joined the military out of financial necessity, or to have a chance at education. This was a "G.I. Joe" guy who got what was coming to him.
Cheers to UMass president Jack Wilson, who, the Boston Globe reports, issued a statement calling Gonzalez's remarks "a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country.". . .
This morning, the link BoTW cites appears to be getting such high traffic, one can't get to the original. (At least that's what the "error" message says.)
In any event, what Gonzalez writes about Tillman is not important, nor worth "deconstructing".
What is more important is what the piece demonstrates: If any of you reading this attended, or are attending graduate school, especially in the humanities and the social sciences, you know that such views are standard fare. You know as well that Gonzalez is not just speaking for Gonzalez. In seminars, as well as over lunches and dinners, "that" is the "common sense" and the "everybody knows" view of the war on Islamist terror, among students and the faculty.
So there is no arguing with "that". The only other way "that" can be dealt with is to cut off its money. "That" has to be made to get a real job and support itself, without recourse to state funding.
It's scary stuff. Indeed, if "stupid" Americans really knew what was taught and what went on, especially in the humanities and in the social sciences, and all heavily subsidized by the hard earned tax dollars of "stupid" people -- who have to go to work every day, worry about their families, and don't have time to explore graduate course offerings in the nearby state university -- those "stupid" people would probably vomit.
So, on what Gonzalez wrote? Don't get excited. Believe me, Gonzalez actually sounds rather moderate. ¶ by Robert, Friday, April 30, 2004
Yesterday, BoTW commented:
. . . one Rene Gonzalez, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, weighed in on the combat death of Pat Tillman, the football star turned Army Ranger, in Afghanistan:
For people in the United States, who seem to be unable to admit the stupidity of both the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars, such a trade-off in life standards (if not expectancy) is nothing short of heroic. Obviously, the man must be made of "stronger stuff" to have had decided to "serve" his country rather than take from it. It's the old JFK exhortation to citizen service to the nation, and it seems to strike an emotional chord. So, it's understandable why Americans automatically knee-jerk into hero worship.
However, in my neighborhood in Puerto Rico, Tillman would have been called a "pendejo," an idiot. Tillman, in the absurd belief that he was defending or serving his all-powerful country from a seventh-rate, Third World nation devastated by the previous conflicts it had endured, decided to give up a comfortable life to place himself in a combat situation that cost him his life. This was not "Ramon or Tyrone," who joined the military out of financial necessity, or to have a chance at education. This was a "G.I. Joe" guy who got what was coming to him.
Cheers to UMass president Jack Wilson, who, the Boston Globe reports, issued a statement calling Gonzalez's remarks "a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country.". . .
This morning, the link BoTW cites appears to be getting such high traffic, one can't get to the original. (At least that's what the "error" message says.)
In any event, what Gonzalez writes about Tillman is not important, nor worth "deconstructing".
What is more important is what the piece demonstrates: If any of you reading this attended, or are attending graduate school, especially in the humanities and the social sciences, you know that such views are standard fare. You know as well that Gonzalez is not just speaking for Gonzalez. In seminars, as well as over lunches and dinners, "that" is the "common sense" and the "everybody knows" view of the war on Islamist terror, among students and the faculty.
So there is no arguing with "that". The only other way "that" can be dealt with is to cut off its money. "That" has to be made to get a real job and support itself, without recourse to state funding.
It's scary stuff. Indeed, if "stupid" Americans really knew what was taught and what went on, especially in the humanities and in the social sciences, and all heavily subsidized by the hard earned tax dollars of "stupid" people -- who have to go to work every day, worry about their families, and don't have time to explore graduate course offerings in the nearby state university -- those "stupid" people would probably vomit.
So, on what Gonzalez wrote? Don't get excited. Believe me, Gonzalez actually sounds rather moderate. ¶ by Robert, Friday, April 30, 2004
