Armistice Day

After all, that was the original name for it. Armistice Day, for the day that the guns fell silent along the Western Front in Europe, the last day of what was then called the Great War. 11AM on the 11th day of the 11th month, 89 years ago. Within a handful of years, there will be no veterans of that war among us, they will have all gone down the trail of those who fought in the Spanish-American War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Civil War, the Crimean War and all the wars that preceded them.

Then Armistice Day became Veterans' Day, which has now followed Memorial Day (formerly Decoration Day) to become observed by the various governments on a Monday, so all of the government workers and banks and school kids can have a three-day weekend and have an excuse to go to the mall and prop up our consumption-based economy.

But that is not what I want to discuss.

I am sure that it would take only a few seconds to find blog entries about Veterans Day that would discuss the sacrifices made by our veterans, blog entries that would go on to talk about the Iraq War and how we should support our soldiers and how that means we should support Bush's handling of the wars. They may even throw a bone about how the right to dissent is a cornerstone of a free society, but then they will imply (or state outright) that dissenting against the Iraq War is tantamount to disloyalty or treason.

But they will not discuss the one point that most of those writers have in common: They did not serve. They cannot go to their safe-deposit box and pull out an original copy of a DD-214, if they even know what a DD-214 is. No, the Fighting Keyboardists of the 101st Chickenhawks are all about honoring the veterans and prosecuting Chimpy's wars, as long as neither they nor their fellow keyboardists and their kin have to do anything other than run the risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from all of their praise of George Bush and the rest of his cabal.

I am sick of it. I am sick of them. I hold in low regard those who talk/type so blithely about the nobility of service or the righteousness of these wars, when they are also so unwilling to stand up and do anything other than flap their gums/keyboards.

Putting a yellow ribbon on one's SUV is a cheap gesture. Putting on the uniform is not. If you believe in this war, then put your body where your mouth is. Go serve in the Army, for they need people more than the other services. And if you are too old to join the Army, then go sign up with a contractor and show your support for the war by going there and doing something.

(Not that that's ever going to happen, the 101st Keyboardists are very big about other people sacrificing for their ideals.)

But whatever you do, shut the fuck up about linking respect for the veterans with support for Bush's wars.