Why did this man want to beat me up and cause me harm?

Question

I yelled to a Iraqi war veteran to go to **** and this 58 year old man in Mt Clemens ran up to me and told me I should be ashamed of myself. I said "Yea! Well, you taught me how and what to say. He looked puzzled...I said...In 1970 when I was in the military you ran up to me and cussed me out and called me a fxxx. ( He was 22 at the time) So I said Thanks for the time to show me how to treat the troops. I now treat the troops the way America taught me when I was in the military uniform.

Answer 1

Erhm. Ok. Good for you I guess.
How did you expect to be treated? You aren't virtuous simply because you wear a certain uniform. Quite a few atrocities have been committed by EVERY country in the world under every flag, in the name of every religion, and regardless of WHAT uniform was being worn. Even in the wars we like to glorify like World War 2. You want to tell me that no American solider ever raped any Japanese or European? That they all were perfectly moral and virtuous angels? Yeah right.
Typically people that are drafted are in the lower economic brackets or minorities. Vietnam exploited that quite a bit, but if you weren't smart enough to look into the situation (the foreign policy situation) and value your own life enough than to not stupidly throw it into harms way as a political pawn of Uncle Sam...then you deserve what you get before and after. Nobody is going to look out for you other than you and if you don't take the time. Vigilence is the cost of freedom, my friend. If you pissed yours away in Southeast Asia...that was your cost due to not being vigilient enough to tell a bull**** war from a legitimate one. That goes double for the volunteer army we have in Iraq that is basically an army of mercenaries that signed on the dotted line to get PAID like anyone else. I don't care if you are wearing a Burger King uniform or a military uniform.

The uniform only means something if you MAKE it mean something or if you have a legitimate mission.

The mission of the united states armed services is to protect America from threats...foreign and domestic. When Saigon fell to the North, American lives weren't any less free. When Iraq falls, America isn't going to magically be less free.
America was less free because the government kept tabs on student "subversives" (thanks to the FBI) in the 70's and then seized unprecedent executive power...ESPECIALLY in this administration. Iraq never took away my freedoms at home. George Bush's secret prisons, suspension of habeus corpus, datamining (asking Google, libraries, phone companies, etc to turn over information on patrons) and warrantless wiretapping with no oversight threatens my freedoms though.
Think about THAT. THAT is the government that used you as a pawn in Vietnam and is using the troops now. The troops are the right hand wielding the sword that attacks on behalf of a country. That is a serious burden to carry, so it should ONLY be undertaken in self-defense or in preservation of legitimate American interests. I believe in pre-emptive striking...but you had better make DAMN sure that your cause is just before becoming the aggressor. Who is wielding that sword now and what are the colors on that uniform?

At least a Burger King employee represents a legitimate enterprise that doesn't act in ways completely antithetical to the mission of the company. At least Burger King doesn't have a history of slavery, genocide (native americans + our dirty wars in Latin America that the CIA started...like Guatemala), etc. At least Burger King doesn't STILL deny rights to homosexuals or question a woman's right to decide what she does with her own body. The list goes on...and it is only WORSE outside the walls of America. Yet, just because these things are done under the banner of our great flag doesn't automatically whitwash them or make them magically disappear. A flag and a uniform are just pieces of cloth. They are only as good as what they represent and the degree to which they adhere to a legitimate cause. That cause exists outside of symbols. That cause was laid out in our Constitution, in the declaration of independence, and our Lockean traditions. I think we have been failing that mission pretty terribly for the last 60 years or so and the troops have just been symbolic of that failure. Until the body (the country) is cured of it's overall disease, the troop are just as infected and part of the problem because they are just the right hand of a government that has gotten fat through corruption and through the inattentiveness of an uneducated population.
People think I hate America. I don't. I love America and so many things about it. I hate what it has become though...especially when it had so much going for it right from the get go. Especially when it hit so many nails right on the head with it's Aristotelian and Lockean traditions embodied in our most important national documents. I think our founding fathers would be pretty ashamed to see that we went from one intrusive King George in the 1700's to another one in the year 2000. Is that what they fought for as soldiers with a TRUE mission who actually made the uniform respectable? Are Nixon, LBJ, Reagen, Clinton and George Bush 2 what they fought for? Really? Are Abu Graib and Guantanamo symbolic of the American spirit and traditions? How about racism, homophobia, and xenophobia?

Answer 2

Some things, difficult as it may be, we have to put behind us and look ahead. What happened then was totally wrong. As for the war, who can ever tell honestly if it was right?
But our soldiers are just that, our sodiers. Some have a hard time understanding they don't choose the battle. Just defend our country. All deserve the same respect.
If America looses this war, we loose America.
Thats quite a price to pay. But if we look at reality, what "is" the enemys goal? The past must be buried and forgiven by all. And today and tomorrow, for our country and children, This must become a nation truly united for its survival. olhip48

Answer 3

So...someone treated you wrongly 37 years ago and now you go and treat someone wrongly now...wow, that's really big of you. Maybe you should remember how you felt when you were treated that way.
Veterans should be treated with respect. They give their lives for this country.
Don't like it? Move somewhere else.
While you may disagree with politics and war, etc. that is no reason to yell profanity at those who decide (for whatever reason) to join the military and obey orders.

Answer 4

Firstly, that was a stupid thing to say. Just because you don't like the war doesn't mean you can't be respectful of the troops. Yelling at them and calling them names is so middle-school of you.
I'm not saying that whatever the other guy did was right, but I think that his intention was better than his delivery...

Answer 5

Wow its you again. You want people to feel sorry for you and yet you are worse then the people who did that to the Nam vets, because if you were really ever in then you would not do this to the ones coming home from Iraq. I think you are a sad lonely man who wants attention because he was never in the military and he wanted to be but they wouldn't take him. Just like the other questions you ask about is it wrong to go to a soldier's funeral and laugh and make jokes about the soldier who died for his country.

Answer 6

I know what you mean , and I can under stand how you feel as the same thing happened to some of our men when we came back from Viet Nam, but, before we got to the states a officer gave us a pep talk on how to respond ,, ( do nothing) however after he left our co , had his little spiel, ( I don't know about you men ,but if anyone spits in my damned face , he will lose his teeth) they must have got the message, no one bothered us in any way, how ever I don't agree with your tactics as the solider or? didn't do this to you but, maybe it was his dad who did,so maybe justice was served ???? and America sure knows how to treat the men who gave so much for our freedom,

Answer 7

you should really stop being so damn bitter, its people like you that will keep the hate alive...thanks alot!

i have tried to look past all your hateful questions and comments and see that you are a veteran but you cant let that happen, i think you are just afraid of people walking up to you and saying 'thank you, for everything that you tried to do in veitnam' but i will say that to you once and now and then ill forget that you did that you were told to do, because that seems like that is what you want everyone to do.....forget you again, either forget you or hate you.


so thank you sir for everything you did for your country in veitnam.
the end....now you are forgotten and hated once again like you wanted.

Answer 8

Emotions are running high just like they did in 1970. You need to let go of the past and stop taking your hostility out on others.

Answer 9

You are sick. You must have secretly enjoyed it when you were being yelled at 37 years ago...you need some counseling to get over your past, and not take it out on anyone in the future.

Answer 10

look man i sympathize greatly, I spit on both mine and ur generation. you had hippies, I have dumbass laguna beach crybabys. we both have the honor of serving our country in a positive way even if others fail to realize it and yes...we both wish jane fonda would just shut the hell up for once.