Spitting on soldiers?

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Spitting on soldiers?

Postby professorpan » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:37 pm

I just had lunch at a sushi bar, and a chatty guy sat down next to me and started talking. Turns out he is a military cop. He was a nice guy, though he had the stereotypical cop personality -- a little heavy on the judgmental side, and his stories were all about busting people. <br><br>When I got up to leave, he saw the button on my jacket -- a photo of Bush with a red circle-and-slash through it. This got him talking about how much better off he was under Bush (at least as far as his salary), how important the Patriot Act was, and so forth. He mentioned that he had been to Iraq twice. <br><br>Whenever I meet a soldier, I always tell them that I despise the way antiwar protesters are portrayed. I emphasized that everyone I know in the antiwar movement wants the U.S. troops brought safely home, and pointed out that being antiwar is, in fact, very much supportive of the soldiers' lives.<br><br>He then told me a story. He said when he stepped off the plane, after his first tour of duty, someone saw him in his military uniform and spit on him. He said his friends jumped the guy and beat the shit out of him.<br><br>I don't believe him. <br><br>Not that such a thing couldn't happen, but I have never -- ever -- talked to a single person who is against the war who would do something like that. And the guy was very much a storyteller to begin with, full of what he thought were funny examples of stupid criminals, some of which sent my BS detector into the red.<br><br>Andi it reminded me that a couple of weeks ago I heard a journalist on NPR interviewing some soldiers. One of them went off about how war protesters were undermining and harming the soldiers in Iraq, and mentioned incidences in North Carolina (near Fort Bragg) where college students spit on soldiers. I found that VERY difficult to believe. Most people have the modicum of self-preservation that would make them realize spitting on a Marine was a good way to wind up in the ER.<br><br>I think this is an example of a recycled mythology from the Vietnam era. Even then, the spitting-on-soldiers incidents were probably very minimal (I read an article debunking it recently, but don't remember where). <br><br>Also, the only people I have heard talking about such incidents are in the military or callers on right-wing talk shows.<br><br>Has anyone else witnessed the rebirth of this meme? Sadly, it's easy for many people to believe, particularly those with stereotypical notions of the antiwar movement (dirty hippies who missed out on all the fun in the 60s, angry liberals who hate soldiers, and so forth).<br><br>I could be wrong, and maybe the guy was telling me the truth. But it rang very hollow.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Spitting on soldiers?

Postby chiggerbit » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:51 pm

I was always suspicious of those stories back during Nam days, myself. Heard the stories a lot, but never talked to a single soldier who had personally experienced it. Where's dbeach? <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 3/23/06 2:52 pm<br></i>
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Re: Spitting on soldiers?

Postby chiggerbit » Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:00 pm

<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:The_Spitting_Image">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tal...ting_Image</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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