Did you know we're fighting in Iraq for our right to vote?
A member of the Fox News stable of cute vapid blondes informed her audience this morning that we're fighting in Iraq for our right to vote.
The three friends had been talking about some problem with voting by soliders in Iraq and she put on a sweet pout to complain that that's why we're fighting -- for our freedom, our freedom to vote.
I've heard things like this before. I watched a video of a memorial service held for a fallen soldier in which the kid's father explained that he died fighting for our freedom of speech. I have a guess about what's happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.
Here's what I surmise: during their military training today's soldiers need to be given a noble reason to fight. Oil wouldn't be a very palatable reason, neither would profits for defense contractors, so trainers swap out those reasons for rationale from the past, borrowing from Cold War rhetoric. Then the military personnel pass on what they've been taught to their families and friends to make them feel more OK about why they might die.
It could be a part of the larger neo-con book of talking points. Remember when Bush used to say radical Islamic groups wanted to kill us because they hate freedom? He doesn't say that so much any more, possibly because there was pushback from thinking people. I think they use "freedom" as a multi-purpose, red, white and blue umbrella, or as an all-purpose seasoning you can sprinkle on any food, or on a crock of shit, to make it taste better.
(BTW, is anybody else sensing that the tactic of delivering over-simplified talking points over and over may be losing its effectiveness? Examples are the Chris Matthews appeasement interview and Hillary's gas tax ploy. We're not so dumb as they think. Head On, apply directly to the forehead. Head On, apply directly to the forehead. Head On, apply directly to the forehead.)
I don't know. Help me out. I'd like to understand this better. Maybe somebody who's been in the military recently can correct me or fill in the blanks.
