Andrew Sullivan and the Right-Wing Blogosphere: We Know the Answer!
Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan commented on the Beauchamp Case [far off our topic], saying the following:
Very similar incidents of mild troop misbehavior are on YouTube if you want to see them. Of course this kind of things happen in a war zone. These are soldiers, not social workers. What's staggering to me is that having ignored some of the most serious evidence of brutality and war crimes on the part of a tiny minority of troops, the right-wing blogosphere have gone ape-shit over these typical shenanigans as if they somehow tarnish the broader reputation of the troops. You'd think they'd never heard of soldiers misbehaving in a war zone. Frankly, I'm amazed that more of this stuff doesn't happen. They're human beings - under stress the rest of us can barely imagine.
You'd think they'd never heard of soldiers misbehaving in a war zone.
Andrew, the reason most right-wing bloggers have never heard of soldiers misbehaving in a war zone is because, in our opinion, most right-wing bloggers have never been in a war zone, nor do they know anyone who has.
The same goes for quite a large number of influential Americans, in and out of government, who don't personally know any enlisted servicemembers or junior officers, who are most at risk in war zones. Don't believe us? Just look at the casualty reports.
posted by OYE @ 10/26/2007 04:20:00 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
My then girlfriend, now wife came from an upper middle class family and neighborhood in San Diego. Neither she or any of her friends knew or had met anyone in the service.
I've never met a Bush supporter who has seen combat or knows anyone who has. In fact, I'm the first combat vet many of them have talked to.
When I went to college at UC Davis. I only knew one other guy who had been in the service besides myself.
There aren't so many soldiers/population anyway.
However picking right wing bloggers is hardly accurate.
Michele Malkin went to Iraq. Micheal Yon was in action with 24 for quite some time. I've been to about 5 blogs of soldiers that were on Iraq tours and 4 were more or less "pro".
Our only problem is with those eligible to serve who support the war, provided that "other people" fight it.
We haven't taken a position on the war, just on hypocrisy and cowardice.
peterus (05 November, 2007 17:12)-
We're not talking about right-wing bloggers with military experience, nor those who have personally known an enlisted servicemember or junior officer, to include journalists "embedded" with real troops for long stretches.
At minimum, such patriots will have some idea of what things are really like, i.e., the ground truth, and they'll understand better. And the blogs you cited fit this profile.
Escorted tours, even of the war zone, don't count, because they don't include enough time, including time with real troops, for context.
I stand by the statement that a lot of right-wing bloggers have never been in a war zone in any meaningful way and don't even personally know anyone who has. A few counter-examples doesn't change the basic conclusion.
Similarly, there are quite a lot of eligible-to-serve prominent Republicans who have not even considered volunteering for military service. And we provide specific examples right here on this blog.
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