This morning I got a reply to yesterdayās ā§ost, āNot All Soldiers Killā that shows pretty succinctly what soldiers and veterans deal with. I wanted to share the message because it highlights not only the point I was trying to make but also illustrates some editorial choices Iāve made with this Substack. Here is the email, with the senderās name and address redacted;
I was a volunteer Marine who also volunteered to go to Viet Nam while safely stateside. I was an Admin Chief in a combat zone with infantry but relatively safe compared to the āgruntsā.
Now I am a Veteran For Peace. Whether you serve in combat where you might Kill another or others, or in another capacity, you are complicit in the murder, often of innocent civilians, who are the greatest casualty of wars. So I protest your position, while agreeing that one should never ask a vet or active duty military person if they are guilty of murder. Thou shall not kill. I am unsubscribing to your email list.
The sentiment that all soldiers, regardless of rank or specialty, are ācomplicit inā¦ murderā is exactly whatās wrong with the ASK stereotype, even if it is held by members of the military themselves. Without providing any logic or reasoning, this person is expressing nothing but their own opinion. Everyone is entitled to one but nobody, even me, gets to pass opinion off as fact just because it is widely held. If you think that all soldiers are murderers you are contributing to the problem of, not the solution to, military suicide. That brings me to the editorial choices Iāve made with The ā§ost.
I have a zero-tolerance policy for Stupid, for comments overtly and unashamedly devoid of any rational faculty. With an economic draft incentivizing military service, you canāt guilt trip soldiers for war any more than you can blame the poor for the wealth gap. Some of my readers have (or love someone who has) been fĀµĀ¢ked up by the very same puritanical snobbery evident in the sentiment above. By restricting comments, Iām able to create a space that is safe from toxic pacifists and armchair chickenhawks alike.
The comment also, admittedly, struck a nerve for me personally because it was the exact š same š sentiment š that, by calling out, got me effectively āblacklistedā by academic power brokers. Itās all the more reminiscent because the personās reaction, of cutting sling load, is the tried and true method of those same powerbrokers. Calling it a āprotestā might have felt good, but running away from your problems is a race nobody can win.
Iāve said it before, and Iāll say it again - if you donāt like what you read in The ā§ost, thereās plenty of sand to go bury your head under. If what I write doesnt āspeakā to you, itās probably because Iām not talking to you. Jesus said āThose who are well have no need of healingā¦ I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.ā But I prefer the language of grunts, like the Ukranian martyrs whose dying words were āGo fĀµĀ¢k yourself.ā
Iād rather die an honest man than live (and eventually also die) a self-righteous asshole.