"Support the troops" as a cudgel to beat down on NFL players who take a knee, etc, but never to actually help them is something I've written plenty about. Most of the time, it's really about the power they represent rather than actually helping that individual or the problems facing them as a group.
That Onion article, which had a person claiming not to support the troops (or their son in the Army) but the military industrial complex that stands behind them.
This doesn't mean there aren't grassroots movements helping us, just that this is the discourse of the mainstream (media and a lot of people).
So color me surprised that a judge would rule against people suffering from being in a war zone and essentially being forced to stir burning shit for hours on end. I'm guessing we'll hear nothing from the usual suspects who will be the first to use the cudgel of support the troops to beat down "the other". Also note that KBR may now be able to counter sue these veterans.
This is part of the same attitude by the leaders who will pretend at all moments in front of the camera to support the troops but are now moving to privatize the VA. Note that the issue right now is that the VA needs more financial support, not to be leeched so that it fails (the ability to go to a private place is not being helped by the fact that it's not supplemental money).
As it was so shall it be.
Agent Orange, as you may have heard, had a similar issue where there were denials it was ever bad and after enough veterans died off, some payments were made.
Well that's my rant. As many here may know, I once wrote about Tyfys, and the ideas behind this otherwise forgettable "nice thing to say". The thing I found as odd was that people seemed to take my article as a rant against being nice. Maybe that's a function of my writing. Nevertheless, I sense this is what I'm saying, that people say TYFYS and support the troops with another idea of support in mind.
What I'm saying is that we'll hear words like TYFYS, or "I could never understand what they go through" we're dealing with odd and cliches in the form of some sort of symbolism that are simply social markers of acceptance, not of the individual veteran but of something else.
Another instructive instance is NFL players taking a knee and the reactions (mainly the negative ones) to it. The best article on the matter never gained the traction. [1] It should have, but go ahead and read it. It should be clear that even if there are well-intentioned people who want to support the troops, or who care about our nation, this is not the driving force behind all these actions happening around our country.
Some people know this implicit racism and are the loudest about it, while others act on it in a more subconscious way. If seen through the prism of the odd white-paranoia currently seizing our most dimwitted members of the public (and the grifters in charge taking advantage of them), all of this makes more sense. [2]
[1] Note again that also in cases like this (go ahead and read it, a Marine vet, born here, was almost deported because brown), it is skin color, not service that matters for the chattering right wing masses. So now, TYFYS, We could never understand and support your troops take a different hue, don't they? Same with stand your ground laws and other pro-gun (never for minorities) laws.
[2] don't come at me with "not all TYFYS people think like this because you need to read more then.
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