Does the US gov't "Support the Troops"?
 

Do they?

Does putting ribbons on your car "Support the Troops"?

The term is passed around a lot. Trying to figure out why.

Overall, the public is supportive.

From personal experience, the government is only supportive until you are discharged. After you are released, and you start developing strange ailments, have some children with disabilities, etc. You are pretty much ignored.

NO.

They don't even supply( or repay parents for) body armor ...

Troops are a commodity to them, a manegeable number.

Do Canadians do anything besides talk about America all day?

The U.S. pioneered the public relations industry. Its committment was to "control the public mind," as its leaders put it. They learned a lot from the successes of the Creel Commission and the success in creating the Red Scare and its aftermath. The public relations industry underwent a huge expansion at that time. It succeeded for some time in creating almost total subordination of the public to business rule through the 1920s....

Public relations is a huge industry. They're spending by now something on the order of a billion dollars a year. All along its committment was to controlling the public mind....

...The corporate executive and the guy who cleans the floor all have the same interests. We can all work together and work for Americanism in harmony, liking each other. That was essentially the message. A huge amount of effort was put into presenting it. This is, after all, the business community, so they control the media and have massive resources... Mobilizing community opinion in favor of vapid, empty concepts like Americanism. Who can be against that? Or, to bring it up to date, "Support our troops." Who can be against that? Or yellow ribbons. Who can be against that?... The point of public relations slogans like "Support our troops" is that they don't mean anything. They mean as much as whether you support the people in Iowa. Of course, there was an issue. The issue was, Do you support our policy? But you don't want people to think about the issue. That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything, but its crucial value is that it diverts your attention....

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/91...a-control.html

So if the gov't doesn't support the troops... and ribbons don't really support the troops... are the troops really supported? What would truely be considered support?

Fletch... nice post.. I love Z-Mag. Gotta renew my subscription soon! :thumbsup

Public support would be (this isn't directed toward you), just shutting the fuck up rather than criticize somebody for having served. Hate the war all you want, not the people fighting it.

The term probably came to be because of the way the public treated servicemen during / after Viet Nam. Nobody is / was expecting glory nor a parade. In the end they just want to get back home to be with their family, friends, or maybe even just have a beer and get laid.

It honesty is a rather stupid slogan... and I'm sure whomever started it meant well, but it isn't like they forked out 2-3 a month and actually supported a service member.

great post

They used to support the troops.

I was at Benning in the early 80's and they had some hookers set up in the back of the NCO Club.

Free lap dances before they were popular. Something a little more private, if it was payday.

That is what I call Supporting the Troops.

Now, they inspect your bags upon deployment, and if you have a picture of your sister, you are charged with incest and sent to jail.

Has something to do with the war on Terrorism.