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Garshasp

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On this Memorial Day in America I salute -- not the brain-dead, unprincipled, cannon-fodder drones who perished in combat for the United States, but who just as easily would have fought and died for communist Russia, Nazi Germany, and ayatollic Iran -- but the intellectual fighters for liberty for America. I salute -- not the many, nameless, fallen soldiers -- but the handful of great philosophical freedom-fighters, like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Thomas Paine. I also salute those all-important thinkers who came before, such as John Locke, Adam Smith, Montesquieu, and Voltaire. And I tip my hat to the more recent intellectual battlers for liberty and justice, such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Henry Hazlitt, Milton Friedman, and Ayn Rand. I even pay my regards to such recent practical, political figures, and semi-libertarians, as Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Gary Johnson, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas. These intellectual battlers for the rights of man, and individual freedom, are the true heroes and noble warriors of this earth!

Edited by Garshasp
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On this Memorial Day in America I salute -- not the brain-dead, unprincipled, cannon-fodder drones who perished in combat for the United States, but who just as easily would have fought and died for communist Russia, Nazi Germany, and ayatollic Iran -- but the intellectual fighters for liberty for America. I salute -- not the many, nameless, fallen soldiers -- but the handful of great philosophical freedom-fighters

The implication, of course, being that most of America's veterans are as you described and therefore deserve only contempt. You site Ayn Rand but if would read her essay "Don't Let it Go" you would know how much you disagree with her on the nature of the American people. If you had read the section of Galt's speech on mind and body you would know that she would consider your ideas a surrender of the world to evil.

 

Your "salute" for Memorial Day is disgusting.

Edited by oso
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The implication, of course, being that most of America's veterans are as you described and therefore deserve only contempt. You site Ayn Rand but if would read her essay "Don't Let it Go" you would know how much you disagree with her on the nature of the American people. If you had read the section of Galt's speech on mind and body you would know that she would consider your ideas a surrender of the world to evil.

 

Your "salute" for Memorial Day is disgusting.

 

I wouldn't at all say most American veterans "deserve only contempt" for their military efforts -- but I don't think they merit all that much respect, either. They're mostly fighting for their (randomly assigned) country, and not for freedom or morality, in my judgment. They're evidently mostly obeying the law and following orders, like a "good German," circa 1941. 

 

As for the nature of the American people, I think it's the best. But I also think it's overwhelmingly derived from the thinkers, especially those of the Enlightenment, and not from the workers or the obedient patriotic soldiers.

 

As for my tribute to intellectualism and philosophical freedom-fighters somehow being "a surrender to the world of evil" or "disgusting," I find that gibberish. America is the freest nation on earth today due to her intellectuals -- not her soldiers. They deserve to be acknowledged, remembered and saluted on Memorial Day.  

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I am inclined to agree with Garshasp but I am not sure how to phrase my view.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that soldiers receive too much praise in America. They are unconditionally worshiped as heroes despite their motivations for and actions in service (except for extreme cases of misconduct). The average solider joins the American military for the pay and/or some vague sense of patriotism which likely has little to no connection to proper values. Not that there is anything wrong with joining the military for the pay, it may indeed be the best career path for many poor Americans. But I wouldn't consider fighting for money to be anymore heroic than any other job.

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As a vet (US Navy 1975-1981) I wish to tell you that I find what you have to say on this subject on this particular day(and the manner in which you're saying it) to be at a minimum at least an exercise in seriously poor judgement.

Have you ever thought to consider that if the time and place of your birth would have made you of military age in Nazi Germany you might have got swept up in things and simply ended up being a "Good German" yourself?

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I am inclined to agree with Garshasp but I am not sure how to phrase my view.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that soldiers receive too much praise in America. They are unconditionally worshiped as heroes despite their motivations for and actions in service (except for extreme cases of misconduct). The average solider joins the American military for the pay and/or some vague sense of patriotism which likely has little to no connection to proper values. Not that there is anything wrong with joining the military for the pay, it may indeed be the best career path for many poor Americans. But I wouldn't consider fighting for money to be anymore heroic than any other job.

 

I would liken this to saying you only praise business men like Hank Rearden. The sad truth is, most of them aren't. Bill Gates is and Steve Jobs was philosophically depraved, but I still praise them for their accomplishments and what I receive from them. I think it's acceptable to celebrate the men in service and what they do without having to make a distinction of philosophy here.

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I would liken this to saying you only praise business men like Hank Rearden. The sad truth is, most of them aren't. Bill Gates is and Steve Jobs was philosophically depraved, but I still praise them for their accomplishments and what I receive from them. I think it's acceptable to celebrate the men in service and what they do without having to make a distinction of philosophy here.

 

I can praise some parts of an individual's work and philosophy while condemning others. Despite the ostensibly altruistic outlooks of Gates and Jobs, both men were Hank Reardens when at work by all accounts.

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On this Memorial Day in America I salute -- not the brain-dead, unprincipled, cannon-fodder drones who perished in combat for the United States, but who just as easily would have fought and died for communist Russia, Nazi Germany, and ayatollic Iran -- but the intellectual fighters for liberty for America.

And the intellectual fighters deserve salutations, as well.  That fight is the far more important one in the grand scheme of things.

 

But I just thought I'd point out that, were it not for our American "cannon-fodder drones" you would, at this very moment, be living under Shuria law (or worse!).  I would be, too.

The vast majority of Americans (perhaps even within our military) are horribly misguided and hold dangerous ideas.  But there are people in the world who not only hold such ideas, but would gleefully act on them; this conversation, itself, is made possible because our "cannon-fodder drones" prevent them from doing so.

 

I think your premises need checking.

Edited by Harrison Danneskjold
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But I wouldn't consider fighting for money to be anymore heroic than any other job.

Not necessarily heroic, as in something profound to aspire to.  Warfare in general is not heroic.

But if there was a mugger approaching you in a dark alley, and some random stranger ran in before they could kill you and killed the mugger first, while that may not be heroic (depends on many variables which I didn't specify) I think some amount of gratitude would be in order.

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