The Christian Science Monitor said the other day that the "Support our troops" yellow ribbons express a sentiment that is "in danger of losing its meaning."
The Monitor claims that "For many Americans, the phrase still evokes heartfelt compassion toward US soldiers... no matter what their views about Iraq. That generosity of spirit is more than a tailgate slogan."
Which is, of course, pure bullshit. It has always been nothing more than a "tailgate slogan."
Before the start of the first war on Iraq by the first King George, I wrote an essay for the Palm Beach Post entitled 'Yellow Ribbons a Cop Out', that said in part:
Yellow ribbons are everywhere now, symbols of our concern for our fellow citizens fighting a war halfway around the world.
That's the theory anyway.
In truth, the yellow ribbons are a cynical and sentimental sop to our conscience.
Don't know why we are fighting? Tie a yellow ribbon.
Wonder if pounding a nation that never attacked us into oblivion is the right thing to do? Tie a yellow ribbon.
Some people say that we 'have to support our troops.' By that, of course, they mean sending them into battle to kill and die. By a peculiar inversion of logic, then, those who want the war ended and the troops brought home unharmed are considered disloyal people who 'don't support our troops.' If the logic puzzles you, you can tie a yellow ribbon.
Far fewer people today support this murderous and outrageous war, but those few who do and show the yellow still espouse that peculiar logic.
Posted by Deck at March 22, 2007 03:48 PM