Paid Patriotism

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.