We just had Veterans Day in the US (honoring those who served in the US armed forces) which is not the same as Memorial Day (honoring those who died in the service of the US armed forces). That means we get to watch more lip service “Thank you for your service” statements performance theater.

You don’t see these people giving those thanks to visibly disabled former service personnel.

You don’t see these people giving condolences to families who lost family members in the service.

You don’t see those people voting to provide funding for medical treatment of those injured in the service of the US armed forces.

You don’t see those people having to explain to families why their child/father/brother/sister died for US economic interests (it certainly hasn’t been in defense of the country since WW2).

It’s just something they say to wrap themselves up in patriotism and check the box that they made the statement so they can feel good about themselves.

My father died in the Vietnam war, so this is admittedly a very sore subject.

Last night I saw someone follow up that statement with singing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”. When they came to line that says “I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free” I wanted to change the next line to “So I can hurt the ones I see, who aren’t the same as me”. At least that would reduce the hypocrisy.

As usual, feel free to disagree using this contact link. My world view is a hypothesis, not a belief.