Monday, June 09, 2008

Here's How The Left Supports The Troops

From the LA Times:

Troubled by military recruiting at Los Angeles high schools, activists are seeking equal access to students on campus to provide what they say is unvarnished information about the armed forces and information about nonmilitary careers.
The Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools , a Southern California group of educators, volunteers and veterans dedicated to promoting nonviolent alternatives to military service, is taking the proposal to the Los Angeles Board of Education, saying it is vital that students have the truth about military enlistment. That "truth," however, is subjective: Some view the group's literature as controversial itself.


Not all of the students succumb to their brainwashing:

Inouye told the wiry teen he would end up in Iraq "killing a lot of innocent people," or could be killed himself.

"I'm only going to kill people who shoot at me," Adrian replied.

Nope, nothing but absolute fact told to young Adrian there, no bias at all. And good for him for not accepting their tripe.

The Pentagon has issued a statement:

" . . . we are not confident that these groups' intentions are to provide students with opportunities, but rather to spend a great deal of time and effort to provide disinformation that advances their organizations' agenda with little regard to the individual student," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington, a Pentagon spokesman, in an e-mail.

You don't say, Colonel.

Three years ago I addressed the issue of so-called counter-recruiters. You can see that their story hasn't changed much, even though facts on the ground have changed immensely.
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4 comments:

  1. Unknown12:40 AM

    Or writing comprehensive GI bills that McCain and the current administration are against [response to the title]. I've seen the recruitment tactics our country has sunken to first hand, and I in principle support a third party providing information to students if recruitment is going to take place on campus. When you sit through a presentation by the Navy in which most of the conversation is about 7-Eleven's on the carriers, ice cream in the submarines, and xbox try to defend what passes for "recruitment" at schools these days. When you've seen a back of Hummer filled with 4 screens, a couple xboxs, and an eager recruiter tell me how it's so awful for someone to want to provide outside information. If recruitment meant accurately providing information and promoting service to one's country, I would fully support it and see no need for an independent informational group. Sadly that is not what we have in this country. When you see mottos like "No Bull, No Bias, No Pressure" and then see what really is happening in recruiting today, it's hard to stand up for the practice.

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  2. Anonymous8:31 AM

    Ronnie, you're assuming that people being targeted by this recruitment aren't smart enough to realize that the military's primary goal is to break things and kill people.

    Look at the Air Force, Navy, Marine, and even National Guard advertisements (I haven't seen an Army one in a while). They all present people in body armor, carrying weapons, and at least one shot of guys running around in tactical situations. Heck, that was the appeal for me! Fly fast planes, use big guns, sign me up!

    I really don't think at least the vast majority of people who sign up do it because there's a nice commissary on the ship.

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  3. Darren8:36 AM

    Hear hear. I'll agree with Ronnie that over-selling some of the good minor points is somewhat deceptive, and I would *never* tolerate outright lying. But anyone who's too dumb to know that joining the military right now, especially the Marines or the Army, might get you sent to Iraq, is probably too dumb to go into the military.

    In that case, maybe it's not so bad to play up the 7-11 onboard.

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  4. Anonymous5:10 AM

    I'd find it easier to generate some outrage at deceptive sales practices on the part of military recruiters if A) the result weren't a military that's capable of defending the nation and B) The Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools were even remotely honest in their sales tactics.

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