I got an email from a buddy of mine who is still on active duty today. He was pretty hot over the the recent supreme courts ruling on the legality of protesters at military funerals.
He told me how this is all bullshit, these people are protesting at the funerals are criminals. He wanted me to agree.
Dedicated to the men and women who have given their lives to protect our constitutional rights
I can’t. In good conscious I can’t agree to anyone stripping Americans’ constitutional right to assemble and protest. Far too many people have died to secure this right, and in this age it is taken for granted far too often.
Many people fail to appreciate the right to protest. There are many nations where speaking your mind gets you stuffed in a van with a bag on your head and never seen again. China, North Korea, Iran- these nations are all famous for inhumane treatment of anyone who speaks out.
For some people this may sound like an over reaction- but we are not so far away from that shit. I have zero doubt how fast we would fall if protest was deemed a crime against the state.
Shit, if that was true writing this very article would get my ass thrown in a cell. Fuck that.
Back on task. Protesters and funerals.
This war is terribly unpopular. The media’s coverage and American’s attention has fallen off, so much so that they do not even report daily incidents and actions. Television is not capturing ratings anymore highlighting mangled and dead young Americans being shipped home from foreign lands. 3 kids get blown up and it does not even get the little scrolling bar….it’s all coverage of Charlie Sheens madness and what celebrity is being a dumbass. So these protests have served a utility.
The funeral protests have been one of the key things pulling the media attention back in. If it is true there is no such thing as bad press, then this is a good thing. People have had to return to the ugliness of 20 something year-olds being killed. Maybe the focus is on the wrong part of the picture, but you can’t hide it. While I do not like the mechanism to get eyes back on it, I am still happy to see people acknowledge this fucking war is still happening, Americans are still dying, and promises made to end it are unfulfilled.
Now of course there is an issue of taste.
Do I agree with people protesting the war at a funeral by leashing out at the deceased and the family? Fuck no. I don’t think that should be illegal to do, but it certainly could earn a protester an ass whupping (as it has.) Remember for every event there is a time and a place, and within that time and place there is a proximity. Don’t get so close that you upset the family, have some fucking class.
Do I agree with the many parents who have protested the war over the body of their dead sons? Absolutely. If anyone in the world has the right to protest this war it is the family members of the deceased.
I bring this up because a law suit banning protests at funerals could be twisted against these families.
Very few of our laws protect us. Keep that in mind.
I personally am seriously opposed to any law or legislature which reduces our freedoms, and I personally do not appreciate people attempting to side line these rights by playing to an illusion of moral high ground.
Today they try to ban protests at funerals, tomorrow its banning protests at government buildings, next thing we are back to massacres of people demanding action and change. The middle east is a vivid example of this right now.
On that topic of freedoms: the second amendment is always under attack. Some people ask what a gun is for. Here is what a gun is for: killing people. You know what happens when you disarm a population? Crime goes through the fucking roof and law abiding citizens are left powerless to defend themselves. If I had the power I would provide every single American with a hand gun, every family with an assault rifle.
An armed society is a polite one.
A disarmed society will be victimized. Over and over.
It's true words hurt, but bullets hurt more...
Weapons bans do not stop criminals from having weapons. Free speech restrictions do not protect your children from hearing “bad words.” Protest bans, no matter how well intentioned do not serve our people’s liberties.
I recall a certain presidential candidate swearing to end wars and return our troops home. This has not happened. If any more of my friends are killed, I will be protesting their death and this bullshit war. My right as their friend, my right as a veteran, my privilege as an American which has been paid for in blood.
We live in dangerous times. The rights of the individual are under attack. You need to know that.
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First of all I’d like to say great site Adam!
I have been a regular reader and have benefitted tremendously from reading your posts. Regarding your assertion that disarming a population leads to crime going through the roof, I live in New Zealand where few people own personal weapons and even the police do not carry weapons whilst on duty. The crime rate in New Zealand is much lower than the United States and while this disparency is most likely due to various cultural and socio-economic factors, New Zealand is an example of a mostly de-weaponised society which has not turned to chaos and offers the large majority of its citizens a safe environment in which to live.
Thanks for all the great articles they have improved my training results exponentially and i look forward to more great posts in the future.
Hi Adam.
It infuriates me to see the protests. I thank God for the people that show up and cover the streets to save the family from having to hear and see the vitriol and hateful signs. A church spewing hate and intolerance towards others sounds more like the an Al-Sadr speech than a peaceful protest.
Our rights are fragile and under constant peril of being suspended at a whim or under pretext of safety for political or ideological gain. We engage in long, drawn out conflicts with no concrete idea of what accomplishing the mission means anymore, and doing it with one hand on a rifle and another removing the Washington delivered dagger from your back.
“God bless you buddy”, “Stay safe…ha,ha feet and knees together!”-sound familiar?
You end up doing it for your buddies, and it hurts to see any of them get hurt when they come home.
Same feeling about burning a flag. It’s your right to do it; but it would take a lot for me to walk away, and I’m a really easy going guy now. Cheers!.
Enrique
“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.” Thomas Paine
Many others have said it better than I will but if you value your first amendment rights you need to support the second or the government could easily head in a direction we don’t want to go.
And I have a serious distaste for those protesting bastards but that is a personal decision not the governments.
Derek
I would like you to challenge the belief of “protesting bastards” if you can.
Famous “protesting bastards” include Jesus, George Washington, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Abraham Lincoln.
Those who speak up are the ones who change the world.
Just keep that in mind and see how that idea works for you.
Adam I understand and am comfortable with that. Funerals are personal and emotional for me (fear maybe) and I dislike people encroaching on my family so I could not imagine how I would respond.
Derek
I am glad you are able to disengage emotionally to take a broader view.
I do not agree with protesters interfering with the ceremony, harassing the family members, or taking action to inflict further problems on those who are directly affected by the death.
When I was a flight chief, I told my team the same thing every week.
“There are two ways for you to get on TV. One of them is to die. if that happens you will be on the screen for two seconds on a scrolling banner which reads ‘service member killed in southern iraq’ and the other way is to fuck up here. If you do that you will be the center of a smear campaign to demonize you in every way possible.
These protests at the funerals have brought attention back to the fact our people are still dying. A lot of people have become numb to Military members being kills in the war.
So the inflammatory nature of these protests does serve a utility.
That of course is just my opinion on the subject. One of the most helpful psychological changes I have made in the last year is to try and find a utility or positive for every event. It can make it easier to sleep at night.
Your outlook on things that might normally be swayed by ideology and life experience is still impressive to me.
Good points. Especially about the freedoms of expression/speech we enjoy in the U.S., they are definitely not a given in most of the world.
I know you won’t take it the wrong way but Adam, you think too much! You need some silly hobbies, like XBox or craft class. Relax sometimes, bro.
Adam,
While I agree with the majority of your comments and support your right to free speech and share your opinions, I take exception when personal opinion is being hoisted up as being fact.
No one is trying to take anyone guns away from anyone, as that has been a fear mongering tactic used against the current President ever since he first ran for office. Calling for better enforcement of current gun laws and improved background checks seems like common sense to me and something most legitimate gun owners I know are for. So far all I see is certain people acting on fear of what might happen versus any formal movement towards gun restriction laws. Where’s the facts to base these might be, could be claims? It seems to me that as far as the right of the individual being under attack that action is all coming from the far right politically in our country and no where else. When we reach the point of having income inequities so that just 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined we have a whole new kind of class warfare taking place.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110313/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_guns
As to the current President’s record on his promises made or kept, better in my opinion to give a man his do,rather than generalize because you may not like them. I don’t think President Obama is perfect by any means and there’s a lot to criticize about his performance, I just think you could have chosen some more concrete examples than what was cited here. As far as I can tell the President has done an o.k. job concerning his promises made on the two wars and I’m open to anyone providing evidence to the contrary.
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/126/begin-removing-combat-brigades-from-iraq/
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/165/train-and-equip-the-afghan-army/
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/promise/134/send-two-additional-brigades-to-afghanistan/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/subjects/afghanistan/
Again, Adam I enjoy your work and am all for fact driven discussions of any kind.
Regards,
Dave
Evelyn Beatrice Hall said “I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it” Freedom of speech is meant to protect the speech you don’t like instead of the speech you like. That is one of the reasons why I served in the military.
I don’t like what these people are doing, but they have a right to say it.
Well said
My sentiments exactly Adam.. it is hard to comprehend the ironic feelings one feels when posed with the thought of one persons death has given another the chance to mock and berate their usefulness as a human being in death. None the less bringing God and religion into the mix.
I love to hate these fuckers but in a way you have to realize they serve a purpose… and they are doing what those that died for fought to protect.
More media coverage is actually a good thing as the vast majority of our country is clueless, thoughtless, and never thinks outside of what affects them on a daily basis. They have no idea what it is like to be in a third world country where anything goes, especially your head if you even think of speaking against the government.
Never forget! Godspeed fellow patriot…