Memorial Day and The TeamLiquid Community

Memorial Day - A day of remembrance for those in the armed forces, who have died so that we may live free.

A guy named jackblack (starcraft user name) thought it appropriate to start a thread on Team Liquid - a "Thank you" to those in the U.S. military, who gave their lives. That's what Memorial Day is, after all.

The mods prefaced the thread with the following statement:

This is a thank you thread, not a debate thread or a thread to criticise soldiers or the regimes they fight for. If you do not heed this warning retribution will be swift and without mercy!

Needless to say, many did not heed that warning. They called our military, scumbags, murderers for money, rapist, torturers. "You're not a hero just because you've been or are currently in the military"

Of course there were the pacifists, who said things like "someone care to explain how you can make a better world with violence?" And the real idiots, "Personally I dont understand why so many people are praising/thanking these murders... If i were to praise Osama it would be basically the same thing... "

Several pages later an ex-serviceman, who goes by the name of JamesJohansen, piped in with his take:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=228016¤tpage=3

After he wrote a tribute and thank you, he made this edit:

Edit: Apparently its all the rage to criticize and hate the soldiers though. Jesus this thread scares me, this is the generation that will one day run the world too. One of the reasons I hate this forum is its full of dumbfuck kids who think they know everything from the internet and have an inflated sense of worth and intelligence from their sheltered worlds. Fuck you, show some respect for those that deserve it. I'm not worthy but I'll never sit on my ass and make blanket criticisms because too many have given up too much for my simple freedoms

It touched me and I quoted him, posting a picture of Arlington Cemetery, and a song from youtube entitled, "War! What is it good for?" Whilst many of you have probably heard the song, the video that accompanies it, is an eye-opener:

http://youtu.be/2pIqxuygWwM

Regrettably, the chart posted by the original poster, that shows the causalities of the Afghanistan and Iraq war, a couple videos, and words of those who have served, didn't deter the haters from having their say. After numerous bans in the nine pages, Manifesto closed the thread.

Of course this didn't stop the "war." A dude named Asjo, started a blog page on TL. "Debating Appreciation of War."

He ended his post: "I concede that humanity has still not evolved to a stage where we will be without voilent conflicts. I can understand why soldiers do what they do, even if I find it wrong, but I will never be able to thank them."

This is freedom. He had the right to post HIS thoughts, in HIS blog. (Yeah, someone died to give him that right - no thanks needed now) People read the title, "Debating" and obviously knew it was okay to air their opinions.

Why didn't the idiots, who weren't thankful to our military, stay out of the thread entitled, "Thank You Soldiers." Oh wait, right! Because they're idiots.

I am far from the most patriotic person on the face of this earth. Still, when I hear the National Anthem, or see our military, I get a lump in my throat. I have little faith in our government. I'm a die hard conspiracy theorist. But dammit, the dudes that start these wars, aren't the same people dying in them. They're young men and women most in their teens and early 20s that are learning all too quickly how unappreciated they are for their efforts.

Do I condone war? Hell no! "What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing!" But I do have the utmost respect for those honorable military men and women, who put their lives on the line each and every day; waiting to die; experiencing that fight or flight feeling in their gut every minute of every day; seeing their buds blow to bits and wondering if they'll be next.

Unfortunately, there will always be "evil" people, who make others look bad; however, I will continue to believe that most of those serving in our military are good in heart and cry at night when they have just killed another human being, albeit an enemy; an enemy with whom he or she has come face to face and who is probably as young or younger and has a family consisting of a mother and father and sister and brother and aunts and uncles, all of whom are hoping beyond hope that their child will return home safely.

We all suffer the ravages of war. We all pay. But those on the front lines have paid with their lives. So, am I going to honor the military men and women, who now sleep in peace at Arlington? You're damn right! And thank you, thank you, thank you.