Rating: MS
When I was a kid, we would often go to air shows. There was even one at the local airport. The worst part of these events were that they took place in the summer when the temperature topped 100 and, being at an airport, that meant absolutely no shade--unless one hunkered down under the wing of a bomber. Other than melting in the summer sun, I enjoyed the shows. I especially loved the Blue Angels. Once I even got to see an aircraft that was just out of being top-secret. It was flat and weird-looking. It was supposed to be undetectable by radar. Yeah, you know the one I'm talking about. Anyway, I didn't know I was being brainwashed by these displays of military might. I didn't know my father's boss was a horrible militant for having restored an old Sopwith Pup and flown it in the local airshow and demonstrating a dogfight between it and a tank on the ground. Ah, how naive I must have been, not knowing that these were merely a display of "how pervasive militarism is in American society."
According to MPR, there will be a group protesting at the airshow in Duluth, MN, this weekend. They are protesting the military bent of the airshow, saying it is no longer a celebration of aviation, but a show of military might.
The woman quoted said, "It's part of our schools. It's part of our education. It's part of our leisure. It's television. It just seems to be everywhere. We became a military industrial society a long time ago. And when you become that it becomes your identity. And so, many us are questioning, 'is that how we want to be known in the world, as a militaristic society?'"
If she is asserting that it is part of our schools and education, why are the schools also leaning toward teaching that our policy on Iraq is wrong? Sounds like we'd rather confuse our kids.
It seems to me that if people want to truly fix what is wrong in our country and world, they would aim their efforts elsewhere. Protest teaching our children that sex outside of the context of marriage is wrong. Promote peace by not destroying someone's character on My Space. Encourage racial harmony not through tolerance but through recognizing that we are all God's beloved children and that should be the basis, not which holiday one celebrates at Hanaramakwaansmas.
Maybe I sound like an idealist. Maybe I sound like a raving lunatic, but I think that many people who are working for change are actually making the division worse by creating problems where no one would think to look for one. It's one thing to protest (PEACEFULLY) outside an abortion clinic. It's another thing to protest outside an air show. One has the clear and present danger. The other is just a place for families to go and enjoy seeing loud aircraft, and the largest dangers are sunburn and hearing loss.
I guess the peace activists don't remember that is wasn't the pacifists who won them their rights of freedom of speech and assembly.
When I was a kid, we would often go to air shows. There was even one at the local airport. The worst part of these events were that they took place in the summer when the temperature topped 100 and, being at an airport, that meant absolutely no shade--unless one hunkered down under the wing of a bomber. Other than melting in the summer sun, I enjoyed the shows. I especially loved the Blue Angels. Once I even got to see an aircraft that was just out of being top-secret. It was flat and weird-looking. It was supposed to be undetectable by radar. Yeah, you know the one I'm talking about. Anyway, I didn't know I was being brainwashed by these displays of military might. I didn't know my father's boss was a horrible militant for having restored an old Sopwith Pup and flown it in the local airshow and demonstrating a dogfight between it and a tank on the ground. Ah, how naive I must have been, not knowing that these were merely a display of "how pervasive militarism is in American society."
According to MPR, there will be a group protesting at the airshow in Duluth, MN, this weekend. They are protesting the military bent of the airshow, saying it is no longer a celebration of aviation, but a show of military might.
The woman quoted said, "It's part of our schools. It's part of our education. It's part of our leisure. It's television. It just seems to be everywhere. We became a military industrial society a long time ago. And when you become that it becomes your identity. And so, many us are questioning, 'is that how we want to be known in the world, as a militaristic society?'"
If she is asserting that it is part of our schools and education, why are the schools also leaning toward teaching that our policy on Iraq is wrong? Sounds like we'd rather confuse our kids.
It seems to me that if people want to truly fix what is wrong in our country and world, they would aim their efforts elsewhere. Protest teaching our children that sex outside of the context of marriage is wrong. Promote peace by not destroying someone's character on My Space. Encourage racial harmony not through tolerance but through recognizing that we are all God's beloved children and that should be the basis, not which holiday one celebrates at Hanaramakwaansmas.
Maybe I sound like an idealist. Maybe I sound like a raving lunatic, but I think that many people who are working for change are actually making the division worse by creating problems where no one would think to look for one. It's one thing to protest (PEACEFULLY) outside an abortion clinic. It's another thing to protest outside an air show. One has the clear and present danger. The other is just a place for families to go and enjoy seeing loud aircraft, and the largest dangers are sunburn and hearing loss.
I guess the peace activists don't remember that is wasn't the pacifists who won them their rights of freedom of speech and assembly.
2 comments:
the picture in this post is the "Taj Mahal" at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX. It is the headquarters building for the 12th Flying Training Wing, which was the organization that "re-qualified" POW pilots after the Vietnam war. I was stationed there for a couple of years in the mid-70's. Nice base.
It was in my picture files, and I found it fitting.
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