Paid Patriotism

0
Congratulations are in order for Senator John McCain,a Vietnam veteran, and his Arizona colleague Senator Flake (I refuse to comment on HIS name) for pointing out to America that the Department of Defense is paying the NFL for demonstrations of patriotism. Here is the Washington Post article that my ever vigilant (and unabashedly patriotic) husband used to notify me of this wildly newsworthy knowledge.

I am no friend of professional football, even though my father and brother, both of blessed memory, spent most of the Sundays of my young life bonding in front of the television set, participating emotionally in this primal male ritual. I have seen too many men whose quality of life has descended seriously because of what I believe to have been chronic traumatic encephalopathy (you may have read my earlier writing on this) as well as other traumatic aspects of the game — even rejection at higher levels.

When I think of waving flags when my father got his junior high marching band to play “Stars and Stripes Forever,”  or cried with my Bobie (grandmother) when she told me how glad she was to have escaped what was then Russia for the America where she really did think the streets were paved with gold, how she struggled with the language wanting to fit in and be a “real” American; well, we cried together a lot.  The feelings were real and could not have been purchased. I have always wished she could have lived to see me serve in the U.S. armed forces. I know how proud she would have been. So I had to step back and wonder about what is going on here, and why. I plowed through other reports on the net.  Fast “me too” reports, but the only thing that really got me started on putting together insights was this excellent article in the Washington University (of Saint Louis, MO) Political Review. It’s hard to believe the author, Benjamin Szanton, is only a freshman. The government has paid out a total of 6.8 million dollars to professional sports leagues over the last four years. This seems to be focused toward salutes to the military. Sports teams are businesses designed to make money.  The question is, why on earth does our Department of Defense feel this activity — similar to halftime entertainment — needs paid advertising?

Szanton rightfully points out Amerca’s “polite disconnect” over time from tour armed forces. After all, it is true that no war has actually taken place on American soil since the Civil War. Be not mistaken, I am not advocating for this– only to say that it makes war more “real.”  I have heard stories from many French folks who lived through WWII.  I remember, for example, being told in the cafe where I waitressed in Amiens (France) that the last time an American had been in there he was a handsome GI who sipped his coffee with his feet on the table. I’ll never forget when my French medical school chief of Endocrinology told a bunch of patients in a public education seminar not to complain about his dietary suggestions, because during the war nobody had very much to eat, but they had lived well with their indomitable French spirit! Now American citizens are at war, in places we would not have otherwise heard of and probably would not want to visit if we had.  It is no wonder that people wonder why all this happened, what idealistic values we are supposed to be preserving, or whose economic self-interest we are supposed to be serving. I get a little befuddled when someone says “I support our troops.”  I may answer something silly like “How can you support them — they are so heavy?”  Mostly they simply wave flags or put stickers on their cars. Giving actual support is more than gestures. As a veteran (peacetime)of the US Army, I cheer the people who affiliate with organizations that send our dedicated soldiers cards, letters, or even care packages with things they can’t obtain overseas in a war zone (or that their own government won’t supply them).

For example: Szanton cites a statistic I had not heard before. In 2011, more than 3/4 of the folks over 50 had a veteran as an immediate family member, but only 1/3 of the people aged 18 to 29 did. The Department of Defense has advertised before.  I mean, I suppose they paid models to pose for plenty of recruiting posters. Perhaps the single most famous advertising poster of all time, at least in America, was for military recruiting. Of course I am thinking of the James Montgomery Flagg poster of Uncle Sam. The difference here is that the (more often male) fan who satisfying primal urges by watching grown men inflict chronic traumatic encephalopathy upon each other — well, these unsuspecting fans are being subject to an advertisement for an opportunity to become a hero. An advertisement for opportunities for educational advancement worked for a very long time.  Plenty of men were on the G.I. bill at Harvard when my father of blessed memory matriculated.  Some of the best doctors and nurses I ever worked with had lots of military experience. An advertisement that is honest, relevant patriotism may be helpful or useful, too. This kind of “spirit” or “heroic”advertising has been used to recruit troops since the beginning of time. Is somebody trying to co-opt this “primal spirit” of professional sports, making it into a spirit that can be used for battle? I think of the motto that was used to recruit soldiers for the Roman Empire, who had a lot of people fighting to conquer places the folks hadn’t heard of and would not have wanted to visit.

“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”– “It is sweet and appropriate to die for one’s country.” I took an oath of allegiance to the United States, I wore the uniform, and would have died for my country, but I will admit at this stage of my life I would rather stay alive if I could. If co-opting the large professional sports corporations to function as secret agents of recruitment for our military, this is not an ethical or appropriate thing to do. And if our mega-monolithic communications corporations are patriotic, why do they charge for these patriotic demonstrations rather than giving them Public Service Announcement time? Do you know what it costs per minute to put an advertisement on network TV? Perhaps the most ethical and appropriate way to love America is to congratulate an America that is at least trying to remain on track and police itself. This will keep me allegiant. I am known to always fly the American flag in my office. And I support our troops and especially our veterans in the best way I know how — by trying to improve their lives and health.
THE END

Filed under Family, News, politics, war by on #

Leave a Comment

Fields marked by an asterisk (*) are required.