Generations of disrespect...

[Tgace]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210741_protest04.html

Guess were past the Vietnam era "kill the messenger" days....:shrug:

 

[Cryozombie]

I agree.

Lets abolish the military.

Then we will see who becomes Slaves.

"Those who beat their swords into plowshares will find themselves subjugated by those of us smart enough to keep our swords"

 

[Ping898]

They'll never get the recruiters gone though. The school will loose federal dollars from scholarships and such if it denies the recruiter's entry....no school is going to say no to money cause of an anti-war group of students.

 

[Tgace]

Wonder if they all went to the airport to spit on soldiers when they were done there?

By all means protest the gvt. the administration, have anti-war protests, thats your right. But abusing people doing their jobs, fulfilling their oaths and following orders??? Pathetic.

 

[dubljay]

I am glad this is not the case here at my college. Despite the liberal and anti war sentiment here, I know of a few people that live on campus that have signed up for millitary service. I am proud to simply know these people and live in the same community with them.

 

[rmcrobertson]

Gosh, that's terrible. Peaceful protest on an important public issue.

It's a pity that folks don't seem to be able to deal with the fact that in THIS country (unlike, say, Iran) we consider democracy important.

It's a pity, too, that so many Americans should have come to think that only convenient, generally-acceptable statements and sentiments are acceptable.

They'd taught me that this country was built upon, and had a long proud history of, difficult people expressing unpopular opinions and talking smack to power. Did they lie?

They taught me, too, that there was this freedom of speech thingy? In the Constitution? That what separated this country from others was our respect for dissent?

Now if you want to discuss social privilege on the parts of college students who all too often find it convenient to sneer at the working-class and poor kids who defend them, that's another issue. But it is profoundly un-American to attack people simply for their exercise of their Constitutional rights.

 

[Tgace]

Peaceful?? Since when is chasing out people you disagree with a long and glorious American tradition? Throwing things at people? If it was the Christian student group chasing out a pro-choice speaker I wonder what you would say???

We have some protesters here that picket with signs on the sidewalk in front of recruiting stations. While I personally find it distasteful (I have the right to think that dont I?) and directed at the wrong people, its miles away from this ****.

http://www.cato.org/dailys/03-23-00.html

 

[Marginal]

I can't say I've ever enjoyed talking with a recruiter. Never had a problem talking to someone in the millitary, but recruiters are another story entirely because they tend to combine the righteous indignation of a born again with the tenacity of a telemarketer.

 

[Tgace]

Theres a poster here (ill let him reveal himself) who can tell you a story about a college professor he had. He told a story in class about how back in the 60-70's he used to send letters to the families of war dead telling them that he was "happy their child was killed" in the unjust war in Vietnam...yadda yadda...American Imperialists...yadda yadda....

Nice.

Needless to say my friend dropped his class....

 

[Tgace]

I can't say I've ever enjoyed talking with a recruiter. Never had a problem talking to someone in the millitary, but recruiters are another story entirely because they tend to combine the righteous indignation of a born again with the tenacity of a telemarketer.

Oh yeah! Never believe a recruiter, and get any deal down in writing (just ask Loki who posts here)...every troop in basic/boot camp wants to go back and kick his recruiters ***. However, their job is to get people to sign on the dotted line......

 

[Flatlander]

I agree, this was not really an activity that reflects well on the message. Violence to protest violence. The question is, was it the execution of a planned tactic, or uncontrolled mobbishness?

 

[Tgace]

Either way, shouldnt be condoned by the college administration IMO.

 

[loki09789]

I agree, this was not really an activity that reflects well on the message. Violence to protest violence. The question is, was it the execution of a planned tactic, or uncontrolled mobbishness?

What 'message' was it?

"I don't have the stones to join the service and keep an oath."
(Deflected and unaddressed cowardice)

"I can't even target my frustration for the rechannelling of federal funds from Student Aid to Military funding at the right person....I'll attack the worker bee doing his job with permission from the institution I am paying to attend..."
(Innattentiveness or lack of ability to pay attention in class so I can think critically and form a reasonable and rational argument)

"Hey! There are a bunch of other people having fun at the expense of a public servant....COOL!"
(Stupidity and "Sheep" Mentallity at it's best. At its worst, the desensitisation to participation in pointless violence from over exposure to rehearsed dehumanization of human figures through video games)

Is the college taking any action against the students involved? This type of behavior creates an unsafe environment and constitutes harassment.

This was obnoxious.

 

[hardheadjarhead]

Since when is chasing out people you disagree with a long and glorious American tradition?

Glorious? No. Tradition? Yes.

Think of the events prior to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. I seem to recall a bit of unrest and violence leading up to the battles at Lexington and Concord.

Let's go a bit further and take a look at a partial list of government troops/police versus protesters in what you refer to as "chasing out people you disagree with"...just for comparison with the simply appalling event that led up to this thread:

Shays Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion. That was where George Washington, the richest man in America, had an army crush farmers who were protesting (among other things) their farmland being taken without compensation by rich easterners. A shot was fired...it was not heard round the world for some strange reason.

Chicago's railroad labor riots of 1877...that was a good one. The cops shot and killed about 30 people. This was actually part of The Great Strike, which was nationwide. The New York Sun had called for "a diet of lead for the hungry strikers." The superindtendant of the Pennsylvania Railroad had recommended giving strikers "a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread." Over a hundred men, women and children were killed by government troops and police.

One of the survivors said, "We were shot back to work."

The Lattimer Massacre of 1897. How dare those immigrants protest peacefully? Nineteen unarmed Slavic-Americans are shot...many in the back as they ran...and thirty-six are wounded. Kudos to the sheriff and his deputies for hitting a running target!

Then there were those ungrateful WWI veterans and their families demanding their promised bonus at a protest in Washington in 1932. The President called out the Army on them, of course. Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and Dwight Eisenhower led the toops in a charge. In the ensuing fracas a baby suffocated from tear gas.

Remember Kent State in May of 1970? I was thirteen at the time and recall it clearly. The National Guard shot and killed four college students at a war protest, wounding thirteen. But the students were throwing rocks, right? All but one of the victims was over a hundred feet away from the guardsmen. Honestly, anybody who can throw a rock that far ought to be shot, as they're a clear and present danger to the Republic.


Since when is chasing out people you disagree with a long and glorious American tradition?

You tell me.


Regards,


Steve

 

[Tgace]

Are any of these actions something we should condone or be proud of?

 

[Tgace]

How about this?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3494.htm

Now, there is a "bit" of difference here. I dont know how much I would have appreciated being "force fed" somebodies political opinion at my own graduation ceremony. There is a "captive audience" flavor to this example. If it was a classroom speech I would have just walked out. Here I can kind of see how people would boo. However I would never condone people rushing the stage, throwing things at the speaker etc.

If it was a guest speaker at a college political event, I wouldnt condone any of this examples behavior at all......

 

[Makalakumu]

Then there were those ungrateful WWI veterans and their families demanding their promised bonus at a protest in Washington in 1932. The President called out the Army on them, of course. Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and Dwight Eisenhower led the toops in a charge. In the ensuing fracas a baby suffocated from tear gas.

My great-grandfather brought his young family 1,500 miles in order to exercise his right as an American in 1932. He was a veteran of the railroad strikes (and WWI) so he knew that one had less of a chance of being shot if women and children were present.

Apparently, it didn't help. Shots were fired that were not recorded in any history book. One of them passed through my grandfather's leg. The irony of this is that my grandfather hit the beaches of Normandy and helped liberate Germany without a scratch.

His only bullet wound came at the behest of the orders from his commanding officers in the future...

This thread is provacative. I need to think carefully before I post anything more on topic.

upnorthkyosa

 

[Tgace]

His only bullet wound came at the behest of the orders from his commanding officers in the future...

Wow...:asian: what does that say about his generation? Why were people like him able to be shot by his own government yet still go to war for it? While some from the next generations protest and riot when the toughest treatment they ever got from the government was waiting in line at an IRS office? Or just get fumed over what they see on TV or the internet?

 

[Makalakumu]

Wow...:asian: what does that say about his generation? Why were people like him able to be shot by his own government yet still go to war for it? While some from the next generations protest and riot when the toughest treatment they ever got from the government was waiting in line at an IRS office? Or just get fumed over what they see on TV or the internet?

You know, I never thought of it that way. Thank you for the insight. :asian:

 

[Tgace]

A 2 war veteran too...I remember hearing stories about WWII soldiers running across trenches they were in , bunkers they attacked, and graffiti they themselves wrote when they were there during WWI.