Beyond Woke

[C-Mag]

Good follow piece by Revolver News of Black Rifle Coffee Company

I found this interesting

In many ways, the imagery that Black Rifle indulges is actively harmful. Male-to-female transsexuals famously have a cartoonish, porn-influenced, stereotypical idea of what being a woman is like. That’s why drag queens have such a garish, over-the-top look. BRCC ads evoke the same idea, but for men. Their target demographic is, in a sense, male-to-male transsexuals. The ads reduce veterans from citizen soldiers to a pantomime of desperate masculinity, guys who need tattoos, whiskey, and twenty-seven different guns to feel like “real men.” BRCC ads are supposed to trigger “snowflake” liberals, but they’d be just as crass and ridiculous to a World War 2 veteran in 1946.

Many members of the military are heroic individuals, worthy of admiration and emulation. But many other members are not, and increasingly the worship of the modern American armed forces serves to distract from how wastefully American troops are used abroad, and the sinister way the Pentagon is transforming America’s security into a social science experiment.....................

So what should patriots do going forward? Well, if you like coffee, buy coffee. If you can give money to a company that shares your values, or avoid giving money to one that hates them, even better. But stop tethering your identity to specific corporations, and stop being an easy lay for slick marketers who try to impress you by putting a gun on a coffee mug. Fundamentally, it is liberals who derive meaning from brand allegiance and living life as contrived stereotypes (this is why they are so attached to identity politics). Americans of all political affiliations must adhere to something greater: Family, traditional values, and enduring, inherited institutions that don’t treat them as marks from which to grift another dollar.
https://www.revolver.news/2021/07/black ... ork-times/

[The Conservative]

Good follow piece by Revolver News of Black Rifle Coffee Company

I found this interesting

In many ways, the imagery that Black Rifle indulges is actively harmful. Male-to-female transsexuals famously have a cartoonish, porn-influenced, stereotypical idea of what being a woman is like. That’s why drag queens have such a garish, over-the-top look. BRCC ads evoke the same idea, but for men. Their target demographic is, in a sense, male-to-male transsexuals. The ads reduce veterans from citizen soldiers to a pantomime of desperate masculinity, guys who need tattoos, whiskey, and twenty-seven different guns to feel like “real men.” BRCC ads are supposed to trigger “snowflake” liberals, but they’d be just as crass and ridiculous to a World War 2 veteran in 1946.

Many members of the military are heroic individuals, worthy of admiration and emulation. But many other members are not, and increasingly the worship of the modern American armed forces serves to distract from how wastefully American troops are used abroad, and the sinister way the Pentagon is transforming America’s security into a social science experiment.....................

So what should patriots do going forward? Well, if you like coffee, buy coffee. If you can give money to a company that shares your values, or avoid giving money to one that hates them, even better. But stop tethering your identity to specific corporations, and stop being an easy lay for slick marketers who try to impress you by putting a gun on a coffee mug. Fundamentally, it is liberals who derive meaning from brand allegiance and living life as contrived stereotypes (this is why they are so attached to identity politics). Americans of all political affiliations must adhere to something greater: Family, traditional values, and enduring, inherited institutions that don’t treat them as marks from which to grift another dollar.
https://www.revolver.news/2021/07/black ... ork-times/

I sort of have an issue with their statement though, I read the entire thing... although I agree there are some parts of the military you probably shouldn't respect, overall there are people out there that we should respect who are in the military.

Also, these guys had a serious hangup on the transgender thing...

BRC fucked up... let's call it what it is... they don't need to take pot shots where none is needed to get their point across, it actually deters from what they are trying to say I personally believe.

[C-Mag]

Good follow piece by Revolver News of Black Rifle Coffee Company

I found this interesting

https://www.revolver.news/2021/07/black ... ork-times/

I sort of have an issue with their statement though, I read the entire thing... although I agree there are some parts of the military you probably shouldn't respect, overall there are people out there that we should respect who are in the military.

Also, these guys had a serious hangup on the transgender thing...

BRC fucked up... let's call it what it is... they don't need to take pot shots where none is needed to get their point across, it actually deters from what they are trying to say I personally believe.

First of all you need to understand that there is a ton of dick measuring in the military, and that modern war is very different from pre 21st C war. Dick measuring is By MOS(job), by deployments or lack thereof, by unit or branch you are in. Modern approx numbers - Only 25% of the 17-25 age group of the US is even elligible to be in the military. So that puts you in the top quartile. 40% never get deployed. 15% see combat. 30% in combat actually fire their weapon. Likely less than 1% ever kill an enemy.

Now contrast that with WWII where nearly 100% of combat troops fired their weapons. That's a huge difference. Even then, there were a lot of guys in WWII that didn't do shit. So, why are we respecting them ? Because they signed the line on a piece of paper........... OK, that is something. I've met the best and worst of humans in the military. No blanket praise, 'Thank You for you Service' is a nice gesture, it's hollow to me, but I know it makes the person saying it feel better, so I'm good with it.

It's time for the US to think about how we think about veterans and the military. 'I respect the military and all veterans' is a lazy cop out. Pre-WWII, active duty military, especially Lifers, were considered amongst the lowest tier of society. Which for a country founded with the notion of not having a large standing Army is understandable. In the 60s and 70s Soldiers were treated like shit by a large portion of the population. But since the 80s, maybe after the Persian Gulf War, Soldiers have been put on an increasingly high pedestal.

I've thought a lot of this over. For me, my service is personal. I have a lot of good friends from my time in uniform. We share stories and discuss the topics in depth. But I don't even with my family, at least not much. You won't find an I love me wall of military stuff on my property, or walls of medals, even a bunch of patriotic stuff. The military was a part of my life, not my life. I think that's where a lot of these guys go wrong. Their entire identity is tied up in being a Soldier.

As to Revolver. Yeah, I agree, a bunch of the stuff by veterans is machismo, that rings a little fake and ghey. I don't do that shit. Didn't do it when I was in uniform in charge of hundreds of troops. I certainly displayed more swagger, but you know what. If you walk the walk, you don't have to do any of that shit. People will know not to fuck with you, and it translates across language barriers too.

My message. Is Soldier Worship good for us as a country ? When you say 'Thank you for your service' is it placating a social norm, like pardon me or is it worship, or is it sincere gratitude.
Think about it.

[SuburbanFarmer]

I think of it as a way to be polite. Some military guys expect an extra level of respect when they’re in uniform.

Counter-question: why do military personnel feel the need to walk wear camo uniforms into a Pizza Hut?

(Not anywhere near a military base)

[C-Mag]

I think of it as a way to be polite. Some military guys expect an extra level of respect when they’re in uniform.

Counter-question: why do military personnel feel the need to walk wear camo uniforms into a Pizza Hut?

(Not anywhere near a military base)

No Idea.
Maybe in transit to some place. Maybe they just like getting thanked and a discount.

I knew a Staff Sergeant, E6 who on long weekends would go home to Oklahoma, where he had an entire Major O4 uniform that he would wear around Fort Sill.

It's amazing the number of guys in the military that have legit accomplishments, but they still fake having done more.

[DBTrek]

Military worship made more sense when we weren't fighting optional wars.
Like ... with WW2 it made sense to say "They're fighting so you don't have to!"
Because they were. It was a world war. We were involved. Someone had to fight it before the fight was brought to us.

But everything after that?
Pretty much optional wars.

Were the dudes fighting in Korea and Vietnam really "protecting our freedoms"?
I don't think Korea or Vietnam was ever in a position the take our freedoms, honestly.

Then you have 9/11 and the Desert Storms.
Were soldiers really fighting over thee so I didn't have to?
Nah.
Those were pretty much optional engagements.
They were fighting over there because the government wanted them to.
I would been fine with just blasting Afghanistan, Osama, and all his little training camps into oblivion from afar.

So why are we thanking all these volunteer soldiers fighting entirely optional engagements like they're somehow saving us from an invasion? They aren't. They're being paid for their service. They're reaping government benefits for their service. They're not defending the homeland from anything in particular - no real imminent foreign threats on the horizon. So ... meh.

Not trying to diss them, just recognizing that the WW2 doughboy who died on the beaches of Normandy was a far different soldier than today's PFC Jones who did three years rotating tires on Humvees in Georgia.

[C-Mag]

Military worship made more sense when we weren't fighting optional wars.
Like ... with WW2 it made sense to say "They're fighting so you don't have to!"
Because they were. It was a world war. We were involved. Someone had to fight it before the fight was brought to us.

But everything after that?
Pretty much optional wars.

Not only that. It's a pretty cush life now. Belton Cooper did a good job describing how they lived during war in Death Traps. It was a rugged lifestyle. In my time in deployments went from pup tents, living in the environment 24/7 and mess kits, to Contractor catered dining halls, movie theaters, computers, weight rooms and AC.

Now, there are combat outposts where the shit is as real as it gets, but see my posts above about percentages.

To your point, how should we feel about Soldiers fighting wars of opportunity today ? I don't know. I know worship is not it, spitting on them as baby killers is not it. Maybe something more reasonable, like not judging a person just based on what uniform they are wearing. Because right now we are handling it like it's college football. Roll Tide !

[DBTrek]

Just treat 'em like everyone else, I'd say.
What's the phrase - respect is earned not given?
If you were a combat soldier, who saw action, then I have no problems giving respect.
If you were just some 4-year REMF who did it for a VA loan and college cash ... you got what you were promised - so, we're square.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Government mercenaries aren’t all made equal.

[DBTrek]

Thank you for your service is transitory.