[thechat] Re: How do Americans feel about their wars

[Joe Crawford]

Erika Meyer wrote:
> >This is a common assumption. You should give a look at "Stolen Valor" -
> >a book about the incidence of people who claim to Vietnam Veteran's, but
> >actually are not.
> 
> The site you linked to for the review also includes these pages:
> http://www.vietnow.com/arthome.htm
> http://www.vietnow.com/arthome2.htm
> 
> >Stolen Valor is an amazing piece of scholarship - because so often
> >people *do* proclaim that they're Vets - the beauty is that such
> >claims can be verified or
> >disproved, and the number that get disproved is pretty appalling.
> 
>  From the review, it looks a bit slanted, as if the authors are
> setting off to prove something.

Well, yeah. Thesis, Evidence. The author's couldn't figure out why there
was a disconnect between the vets they knew, and the vets as portrayed
in the media.

I'd call that a kind of activism. Radicalized, if you will.

When they started investigating, they uncovered liars.

This does not negate the homeless man you know, or any of the Vets you
know or have met.

It also does not negate the fact that some Vets are indeed homeless.

But the assumption that all Vets are all destitute homeless men is
wrong, and I don't mind saying that.


> When you set off in research looking
> for something, you usually find it.  But I guess one would have to
> read the book to know...

Sure.

> What would be a huge shame is if in fact people's real experiences
> were discounted as a result of books like this, thus alienating them
> further.

The review I posted merely talks about a book which reveals the fakers,
with evidence.

And yes, alienating real people with real problems would be bad.

When I did clinical time (while in school becoming a respiratory
therapist) at the VA Hospital in Roanoke VA I met my share of Vets with
serious serious problems. 

The key is to strive for the truth though, right? Exposing fraud and
fighting for the rights of real Vets are not mutually exclusive. I
certainly hope you don't take my posting of Stolen Valor in that vein,
because if you did you would be grossly mistaken about how I see the
world.

> BTW just because someone is homeless and/or addicted, I don't
> automatically look down on them, or refer to them, as the reviewer
> does, as "bums."  Many of these people are actively working to help
> each other in ways a lot of us do not.

I would never homeless people were not human beings deserving of care
though. The use of the word "Bum" to refer to homelessness applies some
judgment, but it doesn't automatically make me discount the reviewers
point of view. 


> Speaking of 101st Airborne, I once dated a 101st Airborne (peacetime)
> vet who's greatest ambition was to win the World Series of Poker... I
> know he wasn't lying about being in the military because of how he
> shined his shoes and how he turned corners.  ;-)

Heh.

For those of you with HBO - check out the new series "Band of Brothers"
about the experiences of a unit in the 101st during the latter part of
WWII. Pretty good stuff.

> Jimi Hendrix also served in the 101st Airborne.  My 90 year old
> grandfather, who kicked him out of Garfield High, absolutely refuses
> to believe it.   But apparently Hendrix exchanged jail time for
> military service...
> 
> http://www.historylink.org/output.CFM?file_ID=2498

Pretty interesting. Thanks for that! I wonder if my dad knows about
that.

My father tells a story of seeing Jimi Hendrix play at a show here in
San Diego in the late 60's -- this was during the time when the "Clapton
is God" graffiti was about -- anyway, my father describes Hendrix going
into a "slow hand" type guitar lick, making fun of Clapton's technique
as "easy."

Which I guess, would be "easy" were you to be Jimi Hendrix. :-)

	- Joe