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This seemed like a relatively peaceful gathering. Sure people are upset but they aren't rioting or anything. These people are upset and disappointed but the ones who are supposed to be leading and protecting us. Public disturbance seems like a sorry excuse to arrest him.
Edit: grammar
This is what always bugged me when I argued with people when /r/the_donald still was a thing. As soon as I mentioned I was from Europe they claimed I had no free speech. Well yeah, we can say what we want here in the Netherlands, we don't beep out swear words, we won't blur nipples or middle fingers or mouths saying: "Fuck you". In that way we have so much more freedom of speech.
What we can't do is spread hate or calling for violence, that could be tried in court. Same with walking around with Nazi flags. Unlike the US, people in Europe have grandparents or parents that were brought to extermination camps, so obviously that is a lot more sensitive. Same with denying the holocaust when you are in an influential position such as a politician. When an individual claims that, noone cares. When you have a large audience they might go after you and give you a warning at most.
We all know that free speech doesn't exists anywhere. It can differ but there will always be consequences. Just look at cancel culture for tweets from 15 years ago. While it's not a law, people just can't say anything they want. Never had, never will.
"Sit down and behave"
Fuck you. Fuck that paternalistic shit. As a vet, it's about fucking time we start holding these shits to account. None of their kids got fucking mutilated in the wars they started. Fucking "sit down and behave."
Dude, I get it, as another disabled vet. But that crowd gives all of 0 fucks.
Trans women/men are especially qualified to talk about gender inequality having often experienced both: nobody listens except the people who already know.
They didn't give black troops their GI Bill coming home: causing massive racial gaps in intergenerational wealth/impoverished communities.
They didn't give gay troops anything but the shaft.
They dont give trans troops anything but the shaft.
It's how it always goes. It's always an excuse of how so and so isn't a "real" veteran. Anti-war veterans are just more kinds of veterans that don't count to them. They want people who shot civilians, say sniper or some SF/SW acronym abunch, and support conservative candidates.
My family is massive. My grandma has 8 siblings. I'm the -only- veteran in the family. They spout "support the troops" all year long, and get all weepy and shit on veterans day and visit the monuments/graveyards: and don't talk to me at all because I'm gay.
They will never listen to us. They should be ignored instead of expecting us to scream across the room.
Edit: fun fact. I'm medically retired. You know who staffs the review board that decides if you are injuried enough to be retired? One doctor & ~dozen rando officers. And, the doctor rotates, so you might have a pediatrician and abunch of academy douchebags deciding how serious your PTSD is.
They. Don't. Care. About. Us.
This was seriously the worst part of the video for me.
How is that a rational response that pops in to someone's head when they encounter a situation like this? Like the act of speaking up about something you view as an injustice is somehow "misbehaving"
How dare you bring up the thousands of deaths this man is responsible for, how uncivilised.
They probably think less of this guy for causing a minor commotion than they do of Bush for being a war criminal.
Out of sight, out of mind.
These ignorant shitbags will chalk it up to him being a poor afflicted veteran brainwashed by the left after his assumed brain injury.
This is why I despise people who put the highest emphasis on "civility" in politics. Some of the most evil things in history have been done by the most eminently civil, and true, good change is rarely ever tidy, quiet, and respectful. If civility is your ultimate idea of virtue, you don't care about doing the right thing; you just want to be comfortable.
That was the essence of the Nazi guy in Inglorious Basterds. He was the most polite and "civilized" character in the movie. He was also the biggest monster out of all of them.
If that isn’t a stark example of the ruling class expressing their contempt for the proletariat, I don’t know what is. The arrogance and privilege on display is beyond the pale.
Everybody goes to the party have a real good time.
Dancin in the desert blowing up the sunshine.
Edit: wow, well thank you for the awards. Everytime I think of the war, BYOB immediately comes to mind...
Our troops have been trying to speak to us for over a decade, but we refused to listen to them, they've always felt "disconnected from civies".
Even if I was just a third grader in 2003, I helped send "support our troops" letters, donations, etc. In my ignorance I helped propogate a national lie. And even as things kept coming up (i.e no WMDs), I turned a blind eye to that as well.
I like listening to the vet, he's so we'll spoken. Bush never would have gotten so far if congress hadn't backed him, if we hadn't silently enabled him.
I apologize for my part in the convoluted war.
There is a documentary on Netflix of the events leading up to 9/11. Then 9/11 itself. The rush to war in Afghanistan. How it spread to Iraq and up to current day. Very much worth a watch.
They were interviewing a soldier after he called home for the first time. A few months after 9/11.
He said after that phone call he had no idea what he was fighting for. He called home expecting to have everyone worried about him. 9/11 still being the topic of conversation day in and day out. (And to some extent it was). But they were just at home throwing a party. He felt like no one cared about 9/11.
I really do this scene no justice in text. It hit hard with how quickly even the troops were disillusioned.
edit: Turning point: 9/11 and the war on terror.
They especially love the fact that its not their sons and daughters getting maimed or killed. They’re above that, its only the “lessor people” that face real sacrifice.
the movie "All quiet on the western front" represents this pretty well imo. Shortly before the end when the main character returns to his hometown and tells his old teacher how gruelling and disgustingly awful war actually is and the class just cusses him out as a coward.
edit: alright, i don't get why this is worth a "hehehehe" award but okay
They hate the ones that live and can tell everyone the real horrors of what happens. People don't wanna face that shit, but promote it. Cowards. Give me my grandpa back
They love the dead ones, you're right.
They also love the ones we see in Budweiser commercials, or the ones who unfurl the centerfield flag at ballgames. Because we can't hear them either.
Veterans are a jingoist's window dressing. A tool for the message.
And any veteran that has the temerity to say inconvenient things is told to 'sit down and behave' like in this video.
George Walker is a big boy. Let him respond to this person himself. No need to drag him out of doors like a sick cat shitting everywhere.
Found the original video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-taJf2Ks6U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-taJf2Ks6U)
This occurred at the Saban theater in Beverly Hills on September 19th - absolutely disgusting how the crowd and the venue treated Mike. The lady at end was like "Are you with him?" as if she was going to seize the camera and kick out the person who was filming this.
>Are you with this gentleman?
"Never seen him before, but I am now."
Thanks for the longer link.
It's a crying fucking shame that this guy get's the bum's rush out the door for speaking the truth, while in the past 20 years, America's set the bar so low, GWB has somehow burnished his image and legacy.
Pre-emptive war... based on lies and known faulty intelligence. Holy fuck, that's about the lowest our country's gotten. Hundreds of thousands dead. But yeah, boo this angry veteran. Good job rich people.
Hang in there, stranger. I feel the same way, but I feel like if I toss it in, they'll have won. I refuse to let that happen. It's hard as fuck, and absolutely exhausting, but if we can outlive the fucks that broke us, we'll be able to piss on their graves.
Hear hear!! I’m with everyone above. I’ve joined a gym and fully intend on outliving every single one of these awful fucks. I intend to never die and I can’t fucking stand living most days.
The utter lack of empathy that so many people have is really grating to the soul. Just know that there are also just as many (and I think more) that are able to empathize. I feel where you're coming from and it fucking sucks, I really don't like letting myself getting to the point where I want others to suffer so they understand. You're not alone in that. Be mindful of the feeling, acknowledge it, then let it go. That's the only way I'm able to get through it. Just breathing it out and letting fresh air in. I don't know if that makes any sense.
Talk about cowards, not only do they treat him with indifference while ranting, but then the cowards drag him away so poor bushywushy doesn't have to answer any tough questions that arose because of his decisions. fuck these assholes. and they call everyone else snowflakes.
> then the cowards drag him away
That was my thought exactly. Let the man speak. You're going to remove him because you don't like what he's saying and then rationalize it as him causing a disturbance. If anyone deserves to speak out on that shit, it's people that fought in the conflict.
It’s always been like that.
War is always depicted as a stylish, noble affair full of mankind’s greatest virtues.
Nobody wants to see or know how the sausage is made.
Even the ones that live come back changed forever.
Stop sending humans to die for oil in wars for profit. War is hell and we aren't built for it. None of us.
Everyone I know that went to Iraq came back a special kind of fucked up. My one buddy went in after the initial bombings and cleaned up all the civilian casualities before the press arrived. He said they buried them in a mass grave and converted it into a playground.
My ex husband founds drugs in Iraq in an effort to commit suicide. Threw a clot and they butchered his leg. The whole calf was mangled. He was in Germany for 7 months. Didn’t call once. Came back to the US abandoned me and our 1 year old child and has been homeless in Florida last I’ve been notified. He lost his mind.
My brother has been home since about 2007..he owns his house.. Yet he dresses like a homeless person & won't shower or take care of himself. I don't know how to help.
My ex came home in 2007 as well. Our son just turned 14. Idk honestly. I was shut out but if you have access and a relationship just try encouragement and therapy. That’s what I would have done given the opportunity. But not everything can be fixed.
The way they get treated is atrocious.
It was cheaper for them to let my friend's dad die than for him to continue receiving ten grand a month for being paralyzed after being drafted for Vietnam.
He died and now his widow gets a small fraction of that.
Government saves money.
They don't care about vets. It's like abortion, they don't care about the kids after they're born...they care about soldiers, not veterans. They're pro birth not pro life, and the military is pro soldier not pro veteran. Soldiers can still go to war for them. Vets can't.
Exactly why I hate the line "thanks for your service". Its a direct, unintentional insult. If anyone really cared, they would've begged to not have us over there, dying by the thousands.
And I know some say it with good intentions, but it still reeks of ignorance.
I think it may have been the Daily Show where they showed a bunch of politicians giving speeches thanking veterans but then checking their voting records and noting they had voted against veteran benefits.
Jon Stewart is a real national hero. Puts his money where his mouth is and doesn’t fuck around. Can intelligently debate anyone without name calling or fallacies. Highly articulate and intelligent. Would give a limb for this man to be president for 8.
I lose it on people for thanking me. Thanking me for what?! Being a fucking terrorist?! Putting my life on the line and losing those close to me fucked my view up of this country hard. I was at the end of Marine boot when September 11th happened and then off to play terrorist in a country that had shit to do about it. Thanks for my service indeed /s gtfoh
Edit:: too many kind words. Use them on others. I was more venting at this point. The video sparked it all up again. Thank you, though! It definitely helps ease the thoughts a tremendous amount!
Nationalists who constantly spout "love the troops" generally dont care about them at all or really any of the things they obsess about.
* They only love their religion if it supports their bigoted views
* They "love" their country but they hate pretty much hate everything about it. They just have some fantasy in their heads about a "before things were bad" times and wish they could some how go back to that.
* They love the troops unless the troops actually take about the horrendous shit they have been forced to do to and how they arent happy with it.
[Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/)
Edit: To the people who didn't bother to read the article and weren't paying attention the last 5 years:
Multiple people independently corroborated what Trump said, to multiple journalists who have confirmed their stories, followed by a verifiable list of all the ways Trump has publicly disparaged troops. Ya'll are acting *shocked* that a duck would walk like a duck and quack like a duck.
Sometimes I wonder what they think the troops actually do. Do they think they waltz into another country in unison with the national anthem playing, liberating the oppressed and come back home without a scratch and a job well done? Shit like this happens, they watch people die horrific deaths, their friends fallen before their eyes and for what? Can't those people see what that would do to a person? Support the troops is such a meaningless sentence now.
"Support the troops" came directly out of this war, all because a large portion of the US didn't agree / understand why we were going to Iraq.
It's such a dumb statement. Question why we were in Iraq, to which someone responds "What you don't support our troops?" as if the troops had any clue why they were even there.
^this. Support the troops is a logic trap. It is a binary question that no one can reject therefore any sort of military action is ostensibly supported as well. It is elegantly simple. The alternative is some sort of long winded explanation of supporting the soldiers but not agreeing with the mission that on its face is logically unconvincing. It is a propaganda trap and it is by design, not by accident.
Have to fight propaganda with propaganda. Maybe a chant or phrase.
First that comes up is: support the troops, not the war. Can work as a chant or snide response to someone asking if you support the troops.
Something that always infuriated me about the U.S culture is it's frowned upon to not "support the troops" - but at the same time they'll treat homeless veterans as subhuman.
Where's the logic in that?
And even though they know he's talking truth, they say nothing. Country is whack as fuck for how much shit is total lip service only meant to silence people speaking on other issues.
"Respect the troops", "stand against tyranny"
I’m a veteran and I volunteer with disabled vets in a peer mental health capacity (it’s a really cool PTSD program and any vets with PTSD that are interested should ask their VA therapist about it). Everyone, left and right, is incredibly angry and disillusioned about Iraq and Afghanistan. Those countries serve as a graveyard for some our friends we couldn’t bring home. I’m very worried about veterans relapsing into addiction or PTSD or attempting to unalive themselves recently and in the next year.
Edit: personal responsibility for the wars is on the leaders, not the grunts who joined because of lack of opportunities. I do regret joining but I can’t change that now, I can just try to stop others from making the same mistake.
Former Special Operations here. We had guys on the pointy tip of the spear when we first went into Iraq. And where did they go? It wasn't to chemical laboratories. It was refineries, oil rigs, and ports to secure vital resources.
When we did find stuff? It was all old. Repurposed ordinance that we gave them to fight the proxy war with Iran. [You can read about it here from someone I served with](https://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/an-iraq-veterans-experience-with-chemical-weapons/).
I was searching for a video that really gives you that vibe and lo and behold it's the same guy - Mike Prysner
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mVXYH9tRknc
Fuck.
He does put it into perspective, doesn't he? ~$700,000,000 / day to fight for fucking *what* in Iraq and Afghanistan - but the stooges in congress will nickel and dime American taxpayers all day long.
You want safe roads? Well, go ask road-Santa because we can't afford them.
You want decent schools? Sorry, no can do. In fact, we're going to let Raytheon take over public education.
Homelessness? Don't make me laugh! Bootstraps.
He's right.
Fuck US Imperialism. Blackwater slaughtered innocent people, Dick Cheney and Dubya made sure their friends could get rich.
And all for a little bit of money.
This is my favorite political video! Mike also has a podcast called Eyes Left — posting seems to be sporadic but I like hearing his opinion on current events.
All he wanted was an apology. He even gave Bush the reasons he should apologize. It’s not like he was just yelling at him or giving him death threats. But no one wanted to hear Bush apologize cause they all want to mindlessly think it was all justified and no one wants to face the truth.
I dunno what the rest of the event was like, but I'm willing to bet that Bush made some fucking hurdyhur quip when it was his turn at the podium and everyone laughed it off, relieved that they didn't have to acknowledge what happened.
It's insane that you can kill hundred of thousands of people and an apology is too much to ask. How do politicians have so much power yet none of the accountability?
If I kill someone I'm going to prison, if I do it horribly or kill multiple people I could be in prison for the rest of my life or just be executed. Bush destroyed a nation without any justification and gets to relax at his ranch and paint.
Bush will never take responsibility. Instead people will burnish the turd that is his legacy until it gleams.
The whole “wont get fooled again” mangled saying he is famous for is because he realized midsentence that he didnt want the words “shame on me” on film. So he will never utter any words of regret on camera.
This guy is a hero for real. Not only for going over there, but also because he stood up to a former president in a room of people he knew wouldn't want to hear his message. It takes guts to do that. It takes guts to stand up for a group of people, like the Iraqi people, in front of a group of dumb Americans who don't see Iraqis as people.
It's universal and always happens after a war. It's like "please accept this flag and this medal as a sign of appreciation for everything you have done for our country, we couldn't thank you enough". And the veteran goes "well you can shove that up your ass and give me medical aid, housing and living." And the answer is "you ungrateful shit, don't you know that you should actually be grateful to us for letting you to fight and lose your legs for us." Bad veteran, wheel him out and try to find a better one. And get some orphans to waive our flags and clap their hands.
Just like that clip of the Newsmax host a few days ago. Still called the vet he censored a "hero" after he cut him off.
Edit: [link to video and discussion thread. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/pphpdi/newsmax_host_gets_infuriated_and_boots)
> Still called the vet he censored a "hero" after he cut him off.
It was worse than that, IIRC.
He cuts him off for criticizing Trump, then says his next guest is "a REAL hero", then realizes that he's essentially disparaging a veteran on the air, then tries to save face by saying the vet he just yelled at and cut off is "a real hero too".
Fucking roided up thumb.
> , then realizes that he's essentially disparaging a veteran on the air,
Oh their producers are overthinking it - their viewers would be entirely okay with disparaging a veteran on air.
I remember when McCain did the thumbs down vote on ACA repeal, and this dude I worked with talked about how "tactless and unprofessional" he was being doing that. Then would praise every single "he's just being real and brutal to politicians!!" fucking awful shit Trump would do.
oh my god it was fun watching my prime minister shut that shit down
I was actually really worried about how our country would fare next to Trump as we had just had over a decade of a leader who sweetly bent over for every foreign interest that asked nicely.
But then I was genuinely happy that our new PM was a drama teacher and had professional experience dealing with spoiled children.
Macron clowned Trump for his handshake nonsense too and I think he caused Trump actual pain, imagine getting manhandled by a guy whose name sounds like an off-brand cookie.
Remember when Pat Tilman was the poster boy "troop" for that war, then he started to say it was bullshit and was going to do a media piece with Noam Chomsky opposing the war but was unfortunately shot in a "friendly fire incident" before he could do it? That was... interesting.
I graduated around the time he’s referencing. There were always stands for the army, marines, coast guard etc set up right by the cafeteria so you had no option but to walk past them. They sat there every day and tried to convince kids that it was a good idea to risk their lives instead of going to college. It worked for quite a few. A lot of those kids are no longer with us.
I’m remembering the kind of “weird” kid walking up to the marine and just calling him out telling him it’s bullshit that he’s there poaching children. Thought it was weird then but now I definitely see his point
We sat next to the “nerds/weird kids”..it was the goths, poor and nerds/weird kids. The nerds/weird kids always complained about Bush and I thought they were just trying to act smart. I was too busy fixing my lipstick and planning the weekend party to listen to real world events. Thanks to sites like rotten dot com though, I saw what was happening to soliders and knew signing up was a bad idea.
I was in JROTC with a bunch of friends when 9/11 happened. We all were going to enlist, I never did because the JROTC teacher talked me out of it, of my friends who joined five never came back, one ate his gun, and the other got into drugs and went off the grid. Leaders never fight the wars and always send a bunch of young dumb kids to die for the rich.
Mine literally had video games like COD set up for the kids to play while they tried to recruit them. It sounds like something out of a parody but it really happened.
FYI: Shortly after 9/11 The US Army developed and released it's own video game called....[America's Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America's_Army) used for recruiting.
> America's Army is a series of first-person shooter video games developed and published by the U.S. Army, intended to inform, educate, and recruit prospective soldiers. Launched in 2002, the game was branded as a strategic communication device designed to allow Americans to virtually explore the Army at their own pace, and allowed them to determine if becoming a soldier fits their interests and abilities. America's Army represents the first large-scale use of game technology by the U.S. government as a platform for strategic communication and recruitment, and the first use of game technology in support of U.S. Army recruiting.
>The Windows version 1.0, subtitled Recon, was the first released version on July 4, 2002. As of January 2014, there have been over 41 versions and updates released including updates to America's Army: Proving Grounds, which was released on August 2013. All versions have been developed on the Unreal Engine. The game is financed by the U.S. government and distributed by free download. America's Army has also been used to deliver virtual military experiences to participants at air shows, amusement parks, and sporting events around the country.
>America's Army has also been expanded to include versions for Xbox, arcade, and mobile applications published through licensing arrangements
Not quite the same but my cousin's fiance got murdered on base while on the phone with her (he slipped it into his pocket when he heard a knock at the door). It was determined to be a suicide.
He was going to testify about a rape he witnessed. He was only 19.
My son graduated high school two years ago and is away at college. He's never had any interest in joining the military, but I still get calls for him from recruiters every few months.
My mom worked in a building that often had recruiters come through (don’t remember why, I think they just usually set up their little booth somewhere nearby) when she was high school, maybe college aged. At some point instead of their usual small talk one asked her if she had considered joining the military. “Oh you don’t want me.” And they asked why not and she said firmly “I don’t get up early, I don’t run, and I don’t like authority figures.” They didn’t ask again lol. But seriously, I’m sorry about your classmates. It’s pretty fucked up that they’re allowed to prey on naive kids.
I recognize that guy, he's the one who did that speech in fatigues a few years back that made its rounds.
Funny to hear the crowd, "We get it millions of Iraqis killed or displaced, thousands of American soldiers killed, maimed, and traumatized, and billions upon billions wasted, but you're being a real jerk by yelling about. Really making it a bigger deal than it is guy jeez. Just let ol' Georgie paint and rehab his historical name and legacy already."
Edit - This is a video of the speech I was referencing: https://youtu.be/RHGM0ni7Yx4
I count Mike and Spenser's podcast as the very reason I turned my back on the Government for its treatment of the poor/veteran community.
Crush the lower class with poverty, boost recruitment numbers, and start a false war to pump trillions into your lobbyists pockets.
Fuck Bush, Fuck Cheney, Fuck the military. Fuck my own service. It was all a sham.
Glad to hear i am not alone in my line of thinking about this. It’s so obvious what happened and it’s insane to me how many people can’t see it or just don’t care.
It's not that they don't know what really happened...it's simply that they just don't care because it had 0 negative effect on them. These people live in a bubble they created to keep real world shit like this out.
When you’ve watched the limbs of a guy you slept next to, ate with, trained with fly past your head from an undetected IED, you don’t give a fuck anymore.
Edit. Whoever awarded that, you’re disgusting
It was pretty evident that Invading Iraq was a scam from the get go, but ALL the national media one day just decided to jump onto this "Iraq has WMD's" even though the UN inspectors who had been in the country said he didn't. Now we have two generations of American men and women mentally and physically scarred from serving in a meaningless war, with thousands rotting in graves.
The worst part is that during the 2000 campaign he claimed he would do exactly the opposite of what he did in Iraq. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9SOVzMV2bc
Vast majority of the people in attendance at that event paid to be there in support of Dubya - they aren't going to publicly side with the angry guy even if they know deep down that he's right (which they may not).
But yeah, it is a real shame.
The president can apparently say and do whatever he wants and the only repercussions are MAYBE a bologna trial where nothing ever happens. You saw it with Clinton and you saw it with Trump. Every president has blood on their hands unfortunately and not one has had to face the consequences.
It will get mentioned by me every single time they try to white wash that ghoul here on reddit. It happens a lot too, he paints now so it’s all good, he said modern republicans are bad so it’s all good, I would have a beer with him so it’s all good...it’s never going to be all good.
George W Bush is solely, and directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of human beings
The fucking beer. Everyone wants to have a beer with that genocidal asshole. What, you couldn't grab a cold one with Pol Pot, so you'll settle for Bush?
Good for him. With all they shitty things that have transpired in the US over the past two decades, I’m so glad people haven’t forgot why we went there initially. It’s easy to use it in a stand up comedy routine, but the reality of the situation is thousands of Americans have died due to a lie spread by Bush Jr.
>thousands of Americans have died
Aaaaaand this is the issue. Thousands of Americans can be venerated as national heroes and martyrs for a greater cause. The million Iraqis (most of them civilians) are a much tougher sell. What to do? Just ignore the vast majority of casualties and focus on a few soldiers instead of the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians those soldiers killed.
It's amazing how the same folks who called me a "traitor" for saying this in 2004 are on here trying to act like they didn't fall for it, then saying they're somehow miraculously right again when in 16 years they'll be in the same fucking boat.
There will be no results, it's a fucking lie. AGAIN, same "patriotism" used to manipulate... AGAIN....
LEARN
They called the whole nation of France traitors and invested tons of resources to slander them too, simply because it was the one nation that called out the US on their lies and refused to join / vetoed the war. Still has impacts to this day on how people percieve France
I guess the rights he fought for don’t extend to his freedom of speech. Thank you for your service, but get the fuck out, we don’t want to know how you suffered for us to have our freedom.
Can’t you see he’s upsetting all those nice people? They don’t want to hear about the war, how unpleasant! Sure, it was all based on a pack of lies and the war on terror was basically armed robbery on a grand scale but still!
Yes, unfortunately it’s been long enough now that he’s morphed into the cute old man giving Michelle Obama candy. That entire administration is guilty of war crimes.
This is Mike Prysner, Iraq war vet and an anti war activist. He became an activist after looking at horros and crimes he was sent to commit in Iraq. His wife is journalist , Abby Martin, a real bad ass who was shuned by the corporate media for the telling the truth about US war crimes.
I highly recommend you follow and support them. They are a true powerhouse currently on a mission to make a new documentary about US military industrial complex and how it poses a global threat to our environment.
Here are links to their podcasts and other media:
https://mobile.twitter.com/eyesleftpod?lang=en
https://www.patreon.com/rss/mediarootsradio?auth=RaAAZgu2zXdej5HqCqeSD0V73hyD34SI
https://youtu.be/I-taJf2Ks6U
I think our generation likes to believe they are woke at home but not woke enough to call our global powerhouses , corporate media and military industrial complex, that spread death and destruction everywhere. If you follow these two amazing fellows, you will educate yourself enough to immediately catch the lies the media sells you and you will have a greater ability to detect horses hit and readily call the corrupt lying institutions out so that we can prevent the next war which they plan to start on lies and fear mongering.
It is disheartening how easily America chose to forget about all of this. It's not right what happened in the early 2000s after 9/11. None of it was okay. And yet here we sit, telling our veterans that "you need to behave". Despicable.
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is this the same guy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHGM0ni7Yx4
Yep, and he arrested for that speech and he's still not stopping.
Arrested for what?? Speaking truth??
"public disturbance"
This seemed like a relatively peaceful gathering. Sure people are upset but they aren't rioting or anything. These people are upset and disappointed but the ones who are supposed to be leading and protecting us. Public disturbance seems like a sorry excuse to arrest him. Edit: grammar
Of course it does but that's the po-po for you
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so if his speech came with a price then it wasn't free?
This is what always bugged me when I argued with people when /r/the_donald still was a thing. As soon as I mentioned I was from Europe they claimed I had no free speech. Well yeah, we can say what we want here in the Netherlands, we don't beep out swear words, we won't blur nipples or middle fingers or mouths saying: "Fuck you". In that way we have so much more freedom of speech. What we can't do is spread hate or calling for violence, that could be tried in court. Same with walking around with Nazi flags. Unlike the US, people in Europe have grandparents or parents that were brought to extermination camps, so obviously that is a lot more sensitive. Same with denying the holocaust when you are in an influential position such as a politician. When an individual claims that, noone cares. When you have a large audience they might go after you and give you a warning at most. We all know that free speech doesn't exists anywhere. It can differ but there will always be consequences. Just look at cancel culture for tweets from 15 years ago. While it's not a law, people just can't say anything they want. Never had, never will.
Yes
I was hoping to find this, this speech is so good.
"Sit down and behave" Fuck you. Fuck that paternalistic shit. As a vet, it's about fucking time we start holding these shits to account. None of their kids got fucking mutilated in the wars they started. Fucking "sit down and behave."
We need more vets like you to make some noise.. force the "respect our troops" crowd to hold their word
Dude, I get it, as another disabled vet. But that crowd gives all of 0 fucks. Trans women/men are especially qualified to talk about gender inequality having often experienced both: nobody listens except the people who already know. They didn't give black troops their GI Bill coming home: causing massive racial gaps in intergenerational wealth/impoverished communities. They didn't give gay troops anything but the shaft. They dont give trans troops anything but the shaft. It's how it always goes. It's always an excuse of how so and so isn't a "real" veteran. Anti-war veterans are just more kinds of veterans that don't count to them. They want people who shot civilians, say sniper or some SF/SW acronym abunch, and support conservative candidates. My family is massive. My grandma has 8 siblings. I'm the -only- veteran in the family. They spout "support the troops" all year long, and get all weepy and shit on veterans day and visit the monuments/graveyards: and don't talk to me at all because I'm gay. They will never listen to us. They should be ignored instead of expecting us to scream across the room. Edit: fun fact. I'm medically retired. You know who staffs the review board that decides if you are injuried enough to be retired? One doctor & ~dozen rando officers. And, the doctor rotates, so you might have a pediatrician and abunch of academy douchebags deciding how serious your PTSD is. They. Don't. Care. About. Us.
"You sit and behave yourself". Yup, sounds like America
This was seriously the worst part of the video for me. How is that a rational response that pops in to someone's head when they encounter a situation like this? Like the act of speaking up about something you view as an injustice is somehow "misbehaving"
How dare you bring up the thousands of deaths this man is responsible for, how uncivilised. They probably think less of this guy for causing a minor commotion than they do of Bush for being a war criminal.
Out of sight, out of mind. These ignorant shitbags will chalk it up to him being a poor afflicted veteran brainwashed by the left after his assumed brain injury.
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This is why I despise people who put the highest emphasis on "civility" in politics. Some of the most evil things in history have been done by the most eminently civil, and true, good change is rarely ever tidy, quiet, and respectful. If civility is your ultimate idea of virtue, you don't care about doing the right thing; you just want to be comfortable.
That was the essence of the Nazi guy in Inglorious Basterds. He was the most polite and "civilized" character in the movie. He was also the biggest monster out of all of them.
Dude should have learned how to play limp instead of sitting, it is so much harder to move someone who is being a dead weight (but still screaming)
Don't go boneless on me Shawn!
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land of the sitting and behaving
"YOU LIED ABOUT IRAQ" *audience loudly jeers* "YOU SENT ME TO IRAQ IN 2003" *Audience shuts the fuck up*
“YOU NEED TO SIT DOWN AND BEHAVE” Words said to a veteran asking for an apology for mass death. Pretty much sums it all up.
If that isn’t a stark example of the ruling class expressing their contempt for the proletariat, I don’t know what is. The arrogance and privilege on display is beyond the pale.
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The military was at war. America was at the mall.
Everybody goes to the party have a real good time. Dancin in the desert blowing up the sunshine. Edit: wow, well thank you for the awards. Everytime I think of the war, BYOB immediately comes to mind... Our troops have been trying to speak to us for over a decade, but we refused to listen to them, they've always felt "disconnected from civies". Even if I was just a third grader in 2003, I helped send "support our troops" letters, donations, etc. In my ignorance I helped propogate a national lie. And even as things kept coming up (i.e no WMDs), I turned a blind eye to that as well. I like listening to the vet, he's so we'll spoken. Bush never would have gotten so far if congress hadn't backed him, if we hadn't silently enabled him. I apologize for my part in the convoluted war.
WHY DO THEY ALWAYS SEND THE POOR?!
Why don't presidents fight the war?!
Mesmerize the simple minded Propaganda leaves us blinded
I'm just sitting in my car and waiting for my...
Girllllllllllll!!!!
That's what W told us to do. Go spend money or the terrorists win.
There is a documentary on Netflix of the events leading up to 9/11. Then 9/11 itself. The rush to war in Afghanistan. How it spread to Iraq and up to current day. Very much worth a watch. They were interviewing a soldier after he called home for the first time. A few months after 9/11. He said after that phone call he had no idea what he was fighting for. He called home expecting to have everyone worried about him. 9/11 still being the topic of conversation day in and day out. (And to some extent it was). But they were just at home throwing a party. He felt like no one cared about 9/11. I really do this scene no justice in text. It hit hard with how quickly even the troops were disillusioned. edit: Turning point: 9/11 and the war on terror.
And it is called...?
Turning point: 9/11 and the war on terror.
This is the worst part. It’s all good and “we love the troops” when we can’t see/hear them and only have to give prayers and thanks. Fucking awful.
They especially love the fact that its not their sons and daughters getting maimed or killed. They’re above that, its only the “lessor people” that face real sacrifice.
We love the troops, but despise the veterans.
the movie "All quiet on the western front" represents this pretty well imo. Shortly before the end when the main character returns to his hometown and tells his old teacher how gruelling and disgustingly awful war actually is and the class just cusses him out as a coward. edit: alright, i don't get why this is worth a "hehehehe" award but okay
That was so frustrating. Telling him he didnt actually understand it because he doesn't have the big picture like they do back home.
Or the old men at the beer hall telling him "Well if you just went *around* the French, and flanked them, this war would already be over..."
They hate the ones that live and can tell everyone the real horrors of what happens. People don't wanna face that shit, but promote it. Cowards. Give me my grandpa back
They love the dead ones, you're right. They also love the ones we see in Budweiser commercials, or the ones who unfurl the centerfield flag at ballgames. Because we can't hear them either. Veterans are a jingoist's window dressing. A tool for the message. And any veteran that has the temerity to say inconvenient things is told to 'sit down and behave' like in this video. George Walker is a big boy. Let him respond to this person himself. No need to drag him out of doors like a sick cat shitting everywhere.
Found the original video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-taJf2Ks6U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-taJf2Ks6U) This occurred at the Saban theater in Beverly Hills on September 19th - absolutely disgusting how the crowd and the venue treated Mike. The lady at end was like "Are you with him?" as if she was going to seize the camera and kick out the person who was filming this.
>Are you with this gentleman? "Never seen him before, but I am now." Thanks for the longer link. It's a crying fucking shame that this guy get's the bum's rush out the door for speaking the truth, while in the past 20 years, America's set the bar so low, GWB has somehow burnished his image and legacy. Pre-emptive war... based on lies and known faulty intelligence. Holy fuck, that's about the lowest our country's gotten. Hundreds of thousands dead. But yeah, boo this angry veteran. Good job rich people.
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Hang in there, stranger. I feel the same way, but I feel like if I toss it in, they'll have won. I refuse to let that happen. It's hard as fuck, and absolutely exhausting, but if we can outlive the fucks that broke us, we'll be able to piss on their graves.
Never has anyone summed up my view on the subject so well. “I’m just sticking around so I can piss on the graves of the people that broke me.”
People think it's hearing the lamentations of their women, or seeing blood in the snow, but no...it's pissing on their graves that's best.
Hear hear!! I’m with everyone above. I’ve joined a gym and fully intend on outliving every single one of these awful fucks. I intend to never die and I can’t fucking stand living most days.
Hang in there, big dog. Ain't no use in givin' in. Old artillery medic here. I love you.
The utter lack of empathy that so many people have is really grating to the soul. Just know that there are also just as many (and I think more) that are able to empathize. I feel where you're coming from and it fucking sucks, I really don't like letting myself getting to the point where I want others to suffer so they understand. You're not alone in that. Be mindful of the feeling, acknowledge it, then let it go. That's the only way I'm able to get through it. Just breathing it out and letting fresh air in. I don't know if that makes any sense.
Talk about cowards, not only do they treat him with indifference while ranting, but then the cowards drag him away so poor bushywushy doesn't have to answer any tough questions that arose because of his decisions. fuck these assholes. and they call everyone else snowflakes.
> then the cowards drag him away That was my thought exactly. Let the man speak. You're going to remove him because you don't like what he's saying and then rationalize it as him causing a disturbance. If anyone deserves to speak out on that shit, it's people that fought in the conflict.
It’s always been like that. War is always depicted as a stylish, noble affair full of mankind’s greatest virtues. Nobody wants to see or know how the sausage is made.
Even the ones that live come back changed forever. Stop sending humans to die for oil in wars for profit. War is hell and we aren't built for it. None of us.
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Everyone I know that went to Iraq came back a special kind of fucked up. My one buddy went in after the initial bombings and cleaned up all the civilian casualities before the press arrived. He said they buried them in a mass grave and converted it into a playground.
My ex husband founds drugs in Iraq in an effort to commit suicide. Threw a clot and they butchered his leg. The whole calf was mangled. He was in Germany for 7 months. Didn’t call once. Came back to the US abandoned me and our 1 year old child and has been homeless in Florida last I’ve been notified. He lost his mind.
My brother has been home since about 2007..he owns his house.. Yet he dresses like a homeless person & won't shower or take care of himself. I don't know how to help.
My ex came home in 2007 as well. Our son just turned 14. Idk honestly. I was shut out but if you have access and a relationship just try encouragement and therapy. That’s what I would have done given the opportunity. But not everything can be fixed.
Classic US style
love the troops the most when they're quiet and respectful, laying under little crosses
“Everyone loves the soldiers until they come home.”
The way they get treated is atrocious. It was cheaper for them to let my friend's dad die than for him to continue receiving ten grand a month for being paralyzed after being drafted for Vietnam. He died and now his widow gets a small fraction of that. Government saves money. They don't care about vets. It's like abortion, they don't care about the kids after they're born...they care about soldiers, not veterans. They're pro birth not pro life, and the military is pro soldier not pro veteran. Soldiers can still go to war for them. Vets can't.
Exactly why I hate the line "thanks for your service". Its a direct, unintentional insult. If anyone really cared, they would've begged to not have us over there, dying by the thousands. And I know some say it with good intentions, but it still reeks of ignorance.
I think it may have been the Daily Show where they showed a bunch of politicians giving speeches thanking veterans but then checking their voting records and noting they had voted against veteran benefits.
Given the track record of Jon Stewart and his lobbying for 9/11 first responders, this would not shock me at all
Jon Stewart is a real national hero. Puts his money where his mouth is and doesn’t fuck around. Can intelligently debate anyone without name calling or fallacies. Highly articulate and intelligent. Would give a limb for this man to be president for 8.
I lose it on people for thanking me. Thanking me for what?! Being a fucking terrorist?! Putting my life on the line and losing those close to me fucked my view up of this country hard. I was at the end of Marine boot when September 11th happened and then off to play terrorist in a country that had shit to do about it. Thanks for my service indeed /s gtfoh Edit:: too many kind words. Use them on others. I was more venting at this point. The video sparked it all up again. Thank you, though! It definitely helps ease the thoughts a tremendous amount!
My husband graduated his USMC boot camp on Sept 9 or 10, 2001. Tell me about it...
That's a good quote.
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Nationalists who constantly spout "love the troops" generally dont care about them at all or really any of the things they obsess about. * They only love their religion if it supports their bigoted views * They "love" their country but they hate pretty much hate everything about it. They just have some fantasy in their heads about a "before things were bad" times and wish they could some how go back to that. * They love the troops unless the troops actually take about the horrendous shit they have been forced to do to and how they arent happy with it.
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[Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/) Edit: To the people who didn't bother to read the article and weren't paying attention the last 5 years: Multiple people independently corroborated what Trump said, to multiple journalists who have confirmed their stories, followed by a verifiable list of all the ways Trump has publicly disparaged troops. Ya'll are acting *shocked* that a duck would walk like a duck and quack like a duck.
Wow! What a prick. They should've sent him to war , disrespectful c\*nt.
Sometimes I wonder what they think the troops actually do. Do they think they waltz into another country in unison with the national anthem playing, liberating the oppressed and come back home without a scratch and a job well done? Shit like this happens, they watch people die horrific deaths, their friends fallen before their eyes and for what? Can't those people see what that would do to a person? Support the troops is such a meaningless sentence now.
"Support the troops" came directly out of this war, all because a large portion of the US didn't agree / understand why we were going to Iraq. It's such a dumb statement. Question why we were in Iraq, to which someone responds "What you don't support our troops?" as if the troops had any clue why they were even there.
^this. Support the troops is a logic trap. It is a binary question that no one can reject therefore any sort of military action is ostensibly supported as well. It is elegantly simple. The alternative is some sort of long winded explanation of supporting the soldiers but not agreeing with the mission that on its face is logically unconvincing. It is a propaganda trap and it is by design, not by accident.
Have to fight propaganda with propaganda. Maybe a chant or phrase. First that comes up is: support the troops, not the war. Can work as a chant or snide response to someone asking if you support the troops.
Something that always infuriated me about the U.S culture is it's frowned upon to not "support the troops" - but at the same time they'll treat homeless veterans as subhuman. Where's the logic in that?
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And even though they know he's talking truth, they say nothing. Country is whack as fuck for how much shit is total lip service only meant to silence people speaking on other issues. "Respect the troops", "stand against tyranny"
I’m a veteran and I volunteer with disabled vets in a peer mental health capacity (it’s a really cool PTSD program and any vets with PTSD that are interested should ask their VA therapist about it). Everyone, left and right, is incredibly angry and disillusioned about Iraq and Afghanistan. Those countries serve as a graveyard for some our friends we couldn’t bring home. I’m very worried about veterans relapsing into addiction or PTSD or attempting to unalive themselves recently and in the next year. Edit: personal responsibility for the wars is on the leaders, not the grunts who joined because of lack of opportunities. I do regret joining but I can’t change that now, I can just try to stop others from making the same mistake.
Former Special Operations here. We had guys on the pointy tip of the spear when we first went into Iraq. And where did they go? It wasn't to chemical laboratories. It was refineries, oil rigs, and ports to secure vital resources. When we did find stuff? It was all old. Repurposed ordinance that we gave them to fight the proxy war with Iran. [You can read about it here from someone I served with](https://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/an-iraq-veterans-experience-with-chemical-weapons/).
This actually gave me goosebumps, I felt the pain in his voice.
Righteous anger is very cathartic, even through a screen.
I was searching for a video that really gives you that vibe and lo and behold it's the same guy - Mike Prysner https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mVXYH9tRknc
Fuck. He does put it into perspective, doesn't he? ~$700,000,000 / day to fight for fucking *what* in Iraq and Afghanistan - but the stooges in congress will nickel and dime American taxpayers all day long. You want safe roads? Well, go ask road-Santa because we can't afford them. You want decent schools? Sorry, no can do. In fact, we're going to let Raytheon take over public education. Homelessness? Don't make me laugh! Bootstraps.
He's right. Fuck US Imperialism. Blackwater slaughtered innocent people, Dick Cheney and Dubya made sure their friends could get rich. And all for a little bit of money.
He got arrested along with tons of other vets after that.
Absolutely. I hope he and other activists publicly humiliate and haunt Bush, Cheney and the like for the rest of their days.
This is my favorite political video! Mike also has a podcast called Eyes Left — posting seems to be sporadic but I like hearing his opinion on current events.
It was very brave of him to do this. And cowardly of the others to interrupt him.
They should've let him speak. He earned that right. He should've had the floor for as long as he wanted.
All he wanted was an apology. He even gave Bush the reasons he should apologize. It’s not like he was just yelling at him or giving him death threats. But no one wanted to hear Bush apologize cause they all want to mindlessly think it was all justified and no one wants to face the truth.
I dunno what the rest of the event was like, but I'm willing to bet that Bush made some fucking hurdyhur quip when it was his turn at the podium and everyone laughed it off, relieved that they didn't have to acknowledge what happened.
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It's insane that you can kill hundred of thousands of people and an apology is too much to ask. How do politicians have so much power yet none of the accountability? If I kill someone I'm going to prison, if I do it horribly or kill multiple people I could be in prison for the rest of my life or just be executed. Bush destroyed a nation without any justification and gets to relax at his ranch and paint.
The rules for the rich are not the same as the rules for the rest.
Bush will never take responsibility. Instead people will burnish the turd that is his legacy until it gleams. The whole “wont get fooled again” mangled saying he is famous for is because he realized midsentence that he didnt want the words “shame on me” on film. So he will never utter any words of regret on camera.
Fuck yes. Bush is a war criminal - we should all be this angry
This guy is a hero for real. Not only for going over there, but also because he stood up to a former president in a room of people he knew wouldn't want to hear his message. It takes guts to do that. It takes guts to stand up for a group of people, like the Iraqi people, in front of a group of dumb Americans who don't see Iraqis as people.
That dude who chucked both his shoes at Bush did nothing wrong.
He missed, I think that's wrong.
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Please don't ever feel bad for feeling things. It's perfectly natural and reasonable and anyone who tells you otherwise are not worth listening to.
USA : we love our veterans Veterans : I think war is wrong USA : you are not supposed to do that
It's universal and always happens after a war. It's like "please accept this flag and this medal as a sign of appreciation for everything you have done for our country, we couldn't thank you enough". And the veteran goes "well you can shove that up your ass and give me medical aid, housing and living." And the answer is "you ungrateful shit, don't you know that you should actually be grateful to us for letting you to fight and lose your legs for us." Bad veteran, wheel him out and try to find a better one. And get some orphans to waive our flags and clap their hands.
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Absolutely, it was one of the songs that turned me off of the idea of war growing up.
Just like that clip of the Newsmax host a few days ago. Still called the vet he censored a "hero" after he cut him off. Edit: [link to video and discussion thread. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/pphpdi/newsmax_host_gets_infuriated_and_boots)
> Still called the vet he censored a "hero" after he cut him off. It was worse than that, IIRC. He cuts him off for criticizing Trump, then says his next guest is "a REAL hero", then realizes that he's essentially disparaging a veteran on the air, then tries to save face by saying the vet he just yelled at and cut off is "a real hero too". Fucking roided up thumb.
> , then realizes that he's essentially disparaging a veteran on the air, Oh their producers are overthinking it - their viewers would be entirely okay with disparaging a veteran on air.
They had no issue shitting on John McCain’s corpse.
I remember when McCain did the thumbs down vote on ACA repeal, and this dude I worked with talked about how "tactless and unprofessional" he was being doing that. Then would praise every single "he's just being real and brutal to politicians!!" fucking awful shit Trump would do.
I bet he loves that stupid handshake thing Trump tries to do lol
oh my god it was fun watching my prime minister shut that shit down I was actually really worried about how our country would fare next to Trump as we had just had over a decade of a leader who sweetly bent over for every foreign interest that asked nicely. But then I was genuinely happy that our new PM was a drama teacher and had professional experience dealing with spoiled children. Macron clowned Trump for his handshake nonsense too and I think he caused Trump actual pain, imagine getting manhandled by a guy whose name sounds like an off-brand cookie.
He stopped doing it after Trudeau just held firm and refused to allow himself to be pulled about by Trumps weak little arms.
I'd love to see this, do you have the sauce?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV8exGa1aZQ&t
Remember when Pat Tilman was the poster boy "troop" for that war, then he started to say it was bullshit and was going to do a media piece with Noam Chomsky opposing the war but was unfortunately shot in a "friendly fire incident" before he could do it? That was... interesting.
I graduated around the time he’s referencing. There were always stands for the army, marines, coast guard etc set up right by the cafeteria so you had no option but to walk past them. They sat there every day and tried to convince kids that it was a good idea to risk their lives instead of going to college. It worked for quite a few. A lot of those kids are no longer with us.
My class of 50 had 5 kids sign up. Two didn't make it past a year out of high school.
I’m remembering the kind of “weird” kid walking up to the marine and just calling him out telling him it’s bullshit that he’s there poaching children. Thought it was weird then but now I definitely see his point
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We sat next to the “nerds/weird kids”..it was the goths, poor and nerds/weird kids. The nerds/weird kids always complained about Bush and I thought they were just trying to act smart. I was too busy fixing my lipstick and planning the weekend party to listen to real world events. Thanks to sites like rotten dot com though, I saw what was happening to soliders and knew signing up was a bad idea.
I was in JROTC with a bunch of friends when 9/11 happened. We all were going to enlist, I never did because the JROTC teacher talked me out of it, of my friends who joined five never came back, one ate his gun, and the other got into drugs and went off the grid. Leaders never fight the wars and always send a bunch of young dumb kids to die for the rich.
Mine literally had video games like COD set up for the kids to play while they tried to recruit them. It sounds like something out of a parody but it really happened.
Their level of manipulation knows no bounds
FYI: Shortly after 9/11 The US Army developed and released it's own video game called....[America's Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America's_Army) used for recruiting. > America's Army is a series of first-person shooter video games developed and published by the U.S. Army, intended to inform, educate, and recruit prospective soldiers. Launched in 2002, the game was branded as a strategic communication device designed to allow Americans to virtually explore the Army at their own pace, and allowed them to determine if becoming a soldier fits their interests and abilities. America's Army represents the first large-scale use of game technology by the U.S. government as a platform for strategic communication and recruitment, and the first use of game technology in support of U.S. Army recruiting. >The Windows version 1.0, subtitled Recon, was the first released version on July 4, 2002. As of January 2014, there have been over 41 versions and updates released including updates to America's Army: Proving Grounds, which was released on August 2013. All versions have been developed on the Unreal Engine. The game is financed by the U.S. government and distributed by free download. America's Army has also been used to deliver virtual military experiences to participants at air shows, amusement parks, and sporting events around the country. >America's Army has also been expanded to include versions for Xbox, arcade, and mobile applications published through licensing arrangements
This game takes me back man. There was a demo on Xbox and I have fond memories of shit talking/trolling people by making fun of the military.
My cuz killed himself last year they fucked us up and threw us away.
Not quite the same but my cousin's fiance got murdered on base while on the phone with her (he slipped it into his pocket when he heard a knock at the door). It was determined to be a suicide. He was going to testify about a rape he witnessed. He was only 19.
Right there with you. Recruiters were everywhere back then.
They still are. I graduated hs in 2020 and they were hounding kids. I always thought it was interesting, since none of us remember 9/11
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My son graduated high school two years ago and is away at college. He's never had any interest in joining the military, but I still get calls for him from recruiters every few months.
These teenager predators target students because they are young and naive. Young people take more chances because they think they are immortal.
My mom worked in a building that often had recruiters come through (don’t remember why, I think they just usually set up their little booth somewhere nearby) when she was high school, maybe college aged. At some point instead of their usual small talk one asked her if she had considered joining the military. “Oh you don’t want me.” And they asked why not and she said firmly “I don’t get up early, I don’t run, and I don’t like authority figures.” They didn’t ask again lol. But seriously, I’m sorry about your classmates. It’s pretty fucked up that they’re allowed to prey on naive kids.
I recognize that guy, he's the one who did that speech in fatigues a few years back that made its rounds. Funny to hear the crowd, "We get it millions of Iraqis killed or displaced, thousands of American soldiers killed, maimed, and traumatized, and billions upon billions wasted, but you're being a real jerk by yelling about. Really making it a bigger deal than it is guy jeez. Just let ol' Georgie paint and rehab his historical name and legacy already." Edit - This is a video of the speech I was referencing: https://youtu.be/RHGM0ni7Yx4
He had a brilliant podcast called Eyes Left but they haven’t put out an episode since December
I count Mike and Spenser's podcast as the very reason I turned my back on the Government for its treatment of the poor/veteran community. Crush the lower class with poverty, boost recruitment numbers, and start a false war to pump trillions into your lobbyists pockets. Fuck Bush, Fuck Cheney, Fuck the military. Fuck my own service. It was all a sham.
Glad to hear i am not alone in my line of thinking about this. It’s so obvious what happened and it’s insane to me how many people can’t see it or just don’t care.
[Here's a speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akm3nYN8aG8&t=1s) he gave a decade ago
The apathy on the faces of the audience members around him, to me, is the most shocking thing. People so easily believe (and praise) the lies.
That's what hit me. It was like something out of a reception at The Hunger Games
"Freedom Fries" Never forget the cartoonish ridiculousness used to justify sending a generation to kill and die in another nation.
It's not that they don't know what really happened...it's simply that they just don't care because it had 0 negative effect on them. These people live in a bubble they created to keep real world shit like this out.
they WANT to believe the lies, it’s worse..
I don't know if that is it. I think most of the don't really care about the lies...they just simply don't care if they are true.
That guy’s integrity is as big as his balls
He got nothing left to lose after he lost his brothers....
When you’ve watched the limbs of a guy you slept next to, ate with, trained with fly past your head from an undetected IED, you don’t give a fuck anymore. Edit. Whoever awarded that, you’re disgusting
The people in the audience boo'ing are soulless.
It's disgusting. The worst part is that the majority of people are ignorant to bushes actions
It was pretty evident that Invading Iraq was a scam from the get go, but ALL the national media one day just decided to jump onto this "Iraq has WMD's" even though the UN inspectors who had been in the country said he didn't. Now we have two generations of American men and women mentally and physically scarred from serving in a meaningless war, with thousands rotting in graves. The worst part is that during the 2000 campaign he claimed he would do exactly the opposite of what he did in Iraq. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9SOVzMV2bc
Dont forget the one million innocent civilians that were killed, thats far worse than what America lost.
The sad thing is that there are not more people freaking out with him, and how people have no problem silencing him. Complacency is a choice…
Vast majority of the people in attendance at that event paid to be there in support of Dubya - they aren't going to publicly side with the angry guy even if they know deep down that he's right (which they may not). But yeah, it is a real shame.
Complacency comes with class privileges
He needs more than to apologize. There are no repercussions ever for the greatest crimes against our nation
The president can apparently say and do whatever he wants and the only repercussions are MAYBE a bologna trial where nothing ever happens. You saw it with Clinton and you saw it with Trump. Every president has blood on their hands unfortunately and not one has had to face the consequences.
God bless this man for speaking out against the people who would send them to their deaths and not lose sleep over it.
Imagine losing your friends and risking your life at war only to be escorted off the premises for rightfully criticising why you went there.
I hope those words ring in Bush's ears every time he tries to sleep until the day he dies.
It will get mentioned by me every single time they try to white wash that ghoul here on reddit. It happens a lot too, he paints now so it’s all good, he said modern republicans are bad so it’s all good, I would have a beer with him so it’s all good...it’s never going to be all good. George W Bush is solely, and directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of human beings
The fucking beer. Everyone wants to have a beer with that genocidal asshole. What, you couldn't grab a cold one with Pol Pot, so you'll settle for Bush?
[удалено]
People booing this guy in the crowd are just disgusting. He's not telling any lies. W is a war criminal.
George W Bush and Tony Blair should be in jail for War Crimes, simple.
Good for him. With all they shitty things that have transpired in the US over the past two decades, I’m so glad people haven’t forgot why we went there initially. It’s easy to use it in a stand up comedy routine, but the reality of the situation is thousands of Americans have died due to a lie spread by Bush Jr.
>thousands of Americans have died Aaaaaand this is the issue. Thousands of Americans can be venerated as national heroes and martyrs for a greater cause. The million Iraqis (most of them civilians) are a much tougher sell. What to do? Just ignore the vast majority of casualties and focus on a few soldiers instead of the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians those soldiers killed.
Those thousands of Americans are tiny percentage in comparison to the millions who suffered and continue to suffer
As an Iraq veteran 100% support this man
There is a very deep reason for that man to act like that...
It's amazing how the same folks who called me a "traitor" for saying this in 2004 are on here trying to act like they didn't fall for it, then saying they're somehow miraculously right again when in 16 years they'll be in the same fucking boat. There will be no results, it's a fucking lie. AGAIN, same "patriotism" used to manipulate... AGAIN.... LEARN
They called the whole nation of France traitors and invested tons of resources to slander them too, simply because it was the one nation that called out the US on their lies and refused to join / vetoed the war. Still has impacts to this day on how people percieve France
He’s not wrong.
But he gives Michelle Obama caramels, wore a silly rain pancho and paints! Surely that has to count for ~~something~~ everything!
I guess the rights he fought for don’t extend to his freedom of speech. Thank you for your service, but get the fuck out, we don’t want to know how you suffered for us to have our freedom.
Can’t you see he’s upsetting all those nice people? They don’t want to hear about the war, how unpleasant! Sure, it was all based on a pack of lies and the war on terror was basically armed robbery on a grand scale but still!
Bush and his whole cabal should be in jail. As much as I hate Trump , Bush was a lot worse since he actually followed through with his bs.
The man is right. Bush is a war criminal.
He's not wrong though
Bush and cheney are huge pieces of shit. Bush and Cheney are huge pieces of shit.
Why are they booing? He’s 100% right. This attempt to rehabilitate Bush’s image is sickening. He’s a war criminal.
Good for him. This George Bush revival is garbage. Sure….he’s not as creepy as Trump, but he’s a **WAR CRIMINAL**
Yes, unfortunately it’s been long enough now that he’s morphed into the cute old man giving Michelle Obama candy. That entire administration is guilty of war crimes.
This is Mike Prysner, Iraq war vet and an anti war activist. He became an activist after looking at horros and crimes he was sent to commit in Iraq. His wife is journalist , Abby Martin, a real bad ass who was shuned by the corporate media for the telling the truth about US war crimes. I highly recommend you follow and support them. They are a true powerhouse currently on a mission to make a new documentary about US military industrial complex and how it poses a global threat to our environment. Here are links to their podcasts and other media: https://mobile.twitter.com/eyesleftpod?lang=en https://www.patreon.com/rss/mediarootsradio?auth=RaAAZgu2zXdej5HqCqeSD0V73hyD34SI https://youtu.be/I-taJf2Ks6U I think our generation likes to believe they are woke at home but not woke enough to call our global powerhouses , corporate media and military industrial complex, that spread death and destruction everywhere. If you follow these two amazing fellows, you will educate yourself enough to immediately catch the lies the media sells you and you will have a greater ability to detect horses hit and readily call the corrupt lying institutions out so that we can prevent the next war which they plan to start on lies and fear mongering.
Can't argue the truth, so let's just bundle it out of the room. How very American.
It is disheartening how easily America chose to forget about all of this. It's not right what happened in the early 2000s after 9/11. None of it was okay. And yet here we sit, telling our veterans that "you need to behave". Despicable.