There's a kerfuffle over some guy on MSNBC voicing reservations over calling people "heroes", thinks it encourages war.. And Mitt Romney has a video in which he says: " “But every woman and every man who has or now defends American liberty
share in their heritage of greatness. Every veteran is the greatest of
his generation.”
To all of which, I say b.s. We're now living in Lake Woebegon, where all the women are good-looking, all the children above average, and all the veterans/military are heroes and the greatest. It's also the country where the "gentleman's C" has become everyone's B.
In fact, some served, some did not. Some did their jobs, some did not. Some were very brave on some days, some were not. Some received medals, some did not. Some were Americans, some were not. Some were Germans, Japanese, Russians, Vietnamese, some were not. Draw a Venn diagram and the sets will overlap. All were human. Read "The Red Badge of Courage", then read Audie Murphy's memoir.
[Update: Tom Ricks provides some backup to my position here. Conor Friedersdorf has a long post on the original MSNBC program and the reaction thereto.]
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