Newspaper Page Text
Page 5
Wednesday, August 31,2005
Support our troops for the right reason
Double Vision
DonpjG a!o
By Jake Earl and Luke Abel
lukeandjakearehott@yahoo.com
A common sight in
these days of patriotic
fervor is merchandise that
declares “Support our
troops!” Yellow ribbons,
bumper stickers, kitchen
appliances, perishable food
items, decorative urns and
even contraceptive devices
can all be seen bearing this
slogan or something like it
and we take them up and
display them eagerly.
Too eagerly. In our
enthusiasm, we often
forget that soldiering is one
of the morally conflicted
professions out there. It is,
after all, a job that centers
around killing other human
beings. We homebodies
may deal with abortion
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and stem-cell research,
but soldiers don’t have the
mysteries of science on
their side: everyone around
them is living and human,
with hopes, dreams, and
desires, and soldiers have
power over those people's
existence.
One response to this
could be that the soldier
is a necessary profession,
that somebody has to do
it, and we should applaud
and support soldiers for
taking on a difficult task in
service of our nation. This
answer isn’t resolving the
moral difficulty of the
soldier, though.
It’s distracting us
from the moral question
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by placing the veil of
patriotism in front of it.
The question is still there,
but we just dismiss it for
what we think is a greater
cause. We must be wary of
people who put a devotion
to a cause over the morality
of their actions.
Take, for example,
Islamic terrorists. They
are so devoted to a cause,
they don’t just overlook
morality, but actually twist
it into something horrible
and unreal to justify their
actions.
Another response is
that soldiers should be
applauded and supported
for bearing the burden
of such grave moral
consideration. They need
our help, after all.
I agree; they should
be helped, but we have to
keep in mind that soldiers
succeed and fail in carrying
this burden. Just as a
soldier may save a dozen
innocent civilians, soldiers
also tortured and killed
%
prisoners in Abu Grahib.
If you met a soldier
who tortured those
prisoners, would you give
him the same respect and
adoration that you would
(f (f.
(Supporting
our troops!
Yes, but not
because they
are American
soldiers. We
support them
lhey\
are people. JJ
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any other American
soldier? Certainly not,
but they’re both soldiers
serving under the
American banner, right?
Remember, that’s no
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excuse, because they are
both responsible for their
actions as individuals.
There is one last very
important thing to consider
that can be an exception
to this rule of individual
responsibility. That is, part
of being a soldier is taking
orders. The line is difficult
to draw here, especially
since 1 am no soldier.
The chain of
command is necessary
to run the army, because
the individual has to
submit him or herself to
the “team” in order to
succeed in their massive,
planned efforts. So, we
must be forgiving for the
soldier who is forced by
a commanding officer to
do something morally
questionable.
The soldier should
not, however, surrender
his sense of right and
wrong. Regardless of the
actions he takes, he should
be aware of their moral
weight, and, if left to
(life Itleat (fWnryian
decide for himself, should
do so. A painful approach
to a painful job, but the
soldier should not blind
himself morally to make
things easier.
So, back to the original
question: how should we
go about supporting our
troops? The point I have
been trying to convey in
this column is that we
should not blindly and
zealously support our
troops, using that veil of
patriotism to ignore the
reality of being a soldier.
A soldier’s job is to
kill or aid in killing (cooks
and computer technicians
are by no means excused).
It is necessary to have a
military and it is necessary
to kill our enemies.
We need to
acknowledge these facts,
and we need to weigh the
morals of war. Supporting
our troops? Yes, but not
because they are American
soldiers. We support them
because they are people.