Monday, May 24, 2010

Quips and Quotations

The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war.

— E.B. White

6 comments:

  1. Oh, you touched a nerve with that one. Remember that I was a young upstart in the Viet Name era. All the young men I knew were either philosophically planning to go off, or digging their heels in to resist. Some people might be surprised at the ones I admire the most. I would not have sent a son or daughter to war. No matter what I would have to have done to prevent it. I'm not so very different from the way I was back then.

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  2. I almost didn't post that quote, because it occured to me that we don't have a draft, so any young man (or young woman) who ends up in a war is there by their own free choice. But the combination of drummed up fear, drummed up patriotism, and a drummed down economy makes me wonder just how free that choice actually is.

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  3. Oh, yeah, Kirk. I'm sure all of that drumming has driven many young people to the service. And for some of them, that will have been a good decision. It's just not for me or anyone I love. And particularly not in war time.

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  4. I was so completely freaked out in 2001 when my son was a teenager and I was sure a draft would be revived. Thank god he didn't go to war. I'm not sure I could have stopped him, but I sure would have tried my heart out.

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  5. There have been times I thought of moving to Canada with my 3 boys.

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  6. @Dreamfarm and Kass--Politically, the best time to bring back the draft would have been immediately following 9/11, when both fear and patriotism would have been at their apex. Why didn't they? I think because the powers that be already had Iraq in their sights, and was afraid a draft might cause too many people asking questions.

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In order to keep the hucksters, humbugs, scoundrels, psychos, morons, and last but not least, artificial intelligentsia at bay, I have decided to turn on comment moderation. On the plus side, I've gotten rid of the word verification.