@Randem

For five years, now, there’s been an unspoken argument in this country, with “supporting the troops” as a trump card. When we first went into Iraq, a large number of Americans were against it — we knew it was wrong even then — but every time we said “I’m against the war,” we had to immediately qualify it with “but I support the troops.” And that same trump card is still influencing the discussion today.

This morning, I received this in my email.

Your alarm goes off, you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10 minutes.
He stays up for days on end.You take a warm shower to help you wake up.
He goes days or weeks without running water.

You complain of a “headache”, and call in sick.
He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.

You put on your anti war/don’t support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends.
He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.

Okay, up to this point it all sounds very heroic — and it IS! — but do you notice their equating “anti-war” with “don’t support the troops” here? Still, I can even let this one slide, since the author redeems himself by pointing out that the soldier is fighting for your right to wear it. That negates the whole argument. Let’s move on.

You make sure your cell phone is in your pocket.
He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.You talk trash about your “buddies” that aren’t with you.
He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.

You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls.
He walks the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.

You complain about how hot it is.
He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong.
He doesn’t get to eat today.

Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes.
He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You go to the mall and get your hair redone.
He doesn’t have time to brush his teeth today.

You’re angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.
He’s told he will be held over an extra 2 months.

You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight.
He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home.

You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday.
He holds his letter close and smells his love’s perfume.

You roll your eyes as a baby cries.
He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they’ll ever meet.

All very heroic, and deserving of whatever support we can give them! But then…

You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.
He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting.

Note the changeover. It’s a subtle one, and now that the reader is worked into an emotional frenzy, they’re likely to miss it. But there it is… This statement was intended to justify a war, it has nothing to do with supporting a soldier.

You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him.
He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.

Wow, I’ve heard a lot of jokes about the war, but in the last five years I can’t say I remember a single joke that made fun of the men who risk their lives for their country. This just sounds like a lie to me… designed only to increase our emotional attachment to the point being made.

You see only what the media wants you to see.
He sees the broken bodies lying around him.

Really? So the media is controlling things? Wow, I had no idea. I remember when Bush’s government banned the media from showing bodies. I remember the journalists who lost their jobs for trying to show more. The media doesn’t control what we see, that’s our President’s doing, and his Secretary of Defense’s doing.

Still, this much is true. Those soldiers see a lot that most Americans do not. They’re still heroes, but it’s not in spite of “the media” holding them back. You know… I still haven’t seen a line in here like “You need new shoes for work so you go buy them, but the troops need armor and Rummsfeld refuses to give it to them.”

You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don’t.
He does exactly what he is told.

This, of course, assumes that we’re all assholes who never do what we’re told. Sure there are those who are rebellious, but there are also those who obey.

And either way, the real point being made here is that these soldiers are doing what they’re told. Think about that: that means they didn’t choose to invade Iraq… they were told to. That’s further reason why you can’t relate support for troops to support for a war. It’s bullshit.

You stay at home and watch TV.
He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and eat.You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable.
He crawls under a tank for shade and a 5 minute nap, only to be woken by gunfire.

Okay, I’ll allow the harmless generalizations because they help show a best-/worst-case scenario. But they are misleading. There are people right here in America who sleep under bridges and carry their lives on their back while they don’t eat… and likewise, there are plenty of us here who don’t have televisions or down pillows.

But this is where it gets good…

You sit there and judge him, saying the world is probably a worse place because of men like him.

This is the big emotional capper to the whole story, so we’ve got to really strike a nerve. Truth is, I don’t know of anyone dumb enough to say such a thing.

If only there were more men like him!If you support your troops, re-send this to everyone you know,

If it gets to another veteran who hasn’t received it yet, it will bring back memories.

Of course, the obligatory plea for you to forward this to everyone you know. To any thinking person, this phrase should flip a switch in your brain that causes you to block out everything you’ve just read.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
Jesus Christ and the American G. I.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom

Woo-hoo! We even found a way to work Jesus into it! Now that’s just good propaganda right there. So for those who can’t see through this, what just happened is the author just subtlely said “and if you’re against the war, you’re against the troops… but you’re also against Jesus.” Moreover, the author has just equated soldiers to Jesus! Now you can’t even argue, because he made it religious.

Who has offered to die for me? Soldiers, yes. Jesus, maybe — according to some story. But while I’m not an American of Jewish or Cuban descent (to name a two) there are plenty of AMERICANS who will read this, whose parent risked their lives, fleeing Nazi or Communist countries for the lives of their families. Soldiers are brave, but they’re not the only ones.

The bottom line is that this is just the latest example of a five-year-old propaganda campaign to bully people into supporting a war just by saying they should support the troops, and it’s bullshit.

I recently received an email from a good friend asking me to boycott a particular gasoline company. He read it and thought it made sense and was just passing it along, but when I read it I didn’t think it made so much sense to me.

Let’s begin.

GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work !

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It’s worth your consideration.

Okay, so if we toss out the names of a couple of large corporations people will think this is more legitimate. It’s called name-dropping.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down?

Of course you want gasoline prices to come down. You’re a consumer. Higher gas prices cost you money and lower gas prices save you money.

This is a simple sales technique… one used daily by used car salesmen everywhere. You get the target saying “yes” over and over, to the end that they start finding “yes” easy to say.

We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the “don’t buy gas on a certain day” campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn’t continue to “hurt” ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us!

It’s better, you say? Oh, then it must work! Say… am I the only person who noticed that the first sentence in this paragraph names Phillip Hollsworth as the source, and then the last sentence says whoever thought of this, as if they’d already forgotten? And if Phillip Hollsworth (or whoever) had the idea, why didn’t he send the email? Incidentally, a Google search for Phillip Hollsworth turns up hundreds of sites debunking this email, but no useful information about anyone by that name.

By now you’re probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $3.11 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

Once again, we get people saying yes so they feel like they can relate. We get you agreeing that there is a problem, and then associate turn that problem with oil companies and OPEC nations. The rub is that oil companies and OPEC nations do not set the prices. The price of petroleum is set by commodity traders, speculating on how much crude will be available, and how difficult it will be to obtain. The owners of the pumps we use at filling stations are already controlled by the consumer! Gas stations make more money by charging less, because if you’re charging less, more people will buy from you. And furthermore, when you boycott these stations, the only pocketbook you’re hitting is the owner of that station — the oil companies will just sell their products to someone else.

How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can’t just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here’s the idea: For the rest of this year, DON’T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It’s really simple to do!

Flawed logic, that is. If they are not selling any gas, why would they lower prices? It’s not as if it has a short shelf life. Eventually, it will sell — probably when the other stations have run out of gas to sell because of all the former Exxon-Mobil customers coming to them now.

Now, don’t wimp out on me at this point…keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

Oh, that’s good. First I make you my friend by getting you to agree with me, and using words like “we” to imply that we’re in this together. Then, I challenge you by saying “don’t wimp out on me”.

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) … and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)…and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.

But, since the population of the USA is more like three hundred million, you’re still only affecting 1% of the population, and that’s if we assume 100% effectiveness. A realist knows, however, that you’re going to have those who don’t send it to 10 people, those who just delete it, those who send it to people outside of the US, and let’s not forget about those who see through this bullshit! In other words, this is never going to make a difference.

If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it….. THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That’s all! (If you don’t understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people…. Well, let’s face it, you just aren’t a mathematician. But I am . so trust me on this one.) :-)

Certainly you see that this is a good idea… if not, then you’re just stupid. But if you’re stupid, you can trust me because I’m smart. Right, friend?

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I’ll bet you didn’t think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference.

That’s right! We can make a difference in the in boxes and spam filters of people everywhere!

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

That seems like a very arbitrary number to me. Why stop there? Why not do it until the price is practically free? Let’s just boycott everybody until they’re forced to give gasoline away? But wait, maybe that would work for other things too! Let’s boycott televisions, and DVDs, and movie theaters… they’re all too expensive in my opinion. And what about cell phones? I think iPods should only cost $40, and I don’t want to pay more than $300 for the latest laptop computer. Boycott everybody!

Now, how about a dose of reality? Rather than an impotent boycott of an insignificant business at the bottom of the food chain in the oil business, I suggest you beat the system. Don’t let rising gas prices cost you money… let them make you money!

I purchased stock in Exxon-Mobile (XOM) one month ago, and have already seen a 5.5% return on my money — more than I would have gotten after one year in today’s best CD or a high-yield savings account. That’s an awesome return, but wait! Why stop there? I invested in BP (BP) three weeks ago and have already realized a 9.6% return — more in three week than I could have earned after two years in any traditional savings method! At that rate, my money could double in one year. Imagine doing that with hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars!

My friends, this is just the beginning. If you took the time to read that spam, you’re probably as aware as I am that gas will only continue to get more expensive. So rather than complaining about the rising cost of fuel, why not give yourself a reason to rejoice about it? If you’re not putting every spare penny you have into energy stocks, you’re missing the boat. I recommend Exxon-Mobil, BP, Amerada-Hess (AHC), Neufield Exploration (NFX), Schlumberger (SLB), Halliburton (HAL), and Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM).

Drew O’Neill describes the mentality of the NeoCon.