My Culture war...

[sandwichwarrior]

On january 29th 2002, I enlisted in the US Navy. Despite being solidly left-leaning children of the 60s my parents were supportive. "At least he didn't join the Marines." My mother was heard to say. "You should be a computer tech or an air traffic controller, that way you can stay in the US and make good money once your 4 years are up." was also

Comments

[pastorlenny]

By virtue of participating in this discussion we are all combatants in the Culture War.

Huh?

[sandwichwarrior]

By posting you become involved, and the mindset of any two people involved in a conflict will always have some similarities when compared to the people who decide not to get involved.

[pastorlenny]

yes, they have in common that they are typing on the interwebs. That is not equivalent to engagement in a culture war.

[fizzyland]

Okay, well I'd say that people who get involved do so because they care and those decide not to get involved do so out of indifference. I'm not sure that's a better position.

I'd argue that the culture war isn't an artifact of people having positions on issues but instead a culture war is defined by way information is used to polarize people's viewpoints.

[sandwichwarrior]

I've sometimes wondered if she's also steve_potocin

He's my...

[sophia_sadek]

... hero! (swoon)

[enders_shadow]

Paft raped and murdered a woman in 1990?

[box_in_the_box]

What if I were to argue that the war was really over Risk vs. Reward, Talk vs. Action, or Freedom vs. Safety?The biggest problem being that the vast majority of people who advocate on behalf of risk are - unlike you (and thank you for your service, by the way) - not taking any risks at all. You put your money where your mouth was by enlisting and serving the types of duty that you did. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and the legions of other fat old white men who are all EMPIRE EMPIRE EMPIRE WAR WAR WAR are risking nothing by doing so, which is why I pray every night that they will contract ass-raping penis-cancer and die like pigs in Hell

[a_new_machine]

I wonder if Beck and Limbaugh are really on the Risk side of the equation. After all, Obama and the Dems are the ones pushing new social and economic policies, while the conservatives are holding on to the way things were.

That said, I think simplifying to Risk vs. Safety may be over-simplifying what's really going on. This isn't a Personality War, nor is any one set of values more or less prone to risk.

[geezer_also]

I'm only posting because this may be the only thing we ever agree on.
If we had a compulsory draft like Israel, I might accept it. Of course I hate the draft since I joined the Navy to avoid it, so I may have a bias :D
I still got "shore duty" in Cam Rahn Bay....the one place one could get the "benefits" of being in a war zone, without getting shot at (which is the main reason I rarely mention I was there)

[box_in_the_box]

Dude, you wore the uniform and that takes sacrifices enough. I do respect your wanting to clarify your status, though, because it's the same reason I always rush to tell people, "No, I wasn't a ground-pounder; my war was SAFE." :)

[retrofire]

What an excellent post - the Mike Rowe video was great too. My cousin has a huge crush on him and I can see why. Thank you for taking the time to post this.

You and I are on the same side but that doesn't mean we stand for the same things.

The way I put it is that we really do want the same things but what we believe has pushed us apart. That's what I say to my conservative friends to make peace with them (and they forgive the Obama shrine on my refrigerator.)

Our mentality has become like sport team fanatics - and I chalk it up to marketing firms who have become expert at molding public opinion.

[anosognosia]

Mike Rowe isn't a piece of meat.

[moonchylde]

We're all meat, technically.

[anosognosia]

Not Mike Rowe. He's a precious angel, and you stay away from him.

Rocky Mountain Oysters

[sophia_sadek]

I'll never think of Aristotle the same way ever again. Thanks for sharing.