It’s not. I spent from like 2003 to 2019 abroad, the constant ass kissing of the military is new to me. Also the fascism is more pure – the right wing anti establishment kooks were (seemed?) less authoritarian in the 90s.
These guys are anti-authority until they get into power, then it’s pure fascism. This country went full-on authoritarian right after 9/11, the Patriot Act and waterboarding immediately became our standard way of doing business. Ass-kissing the military has and always will be standard.
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One really common thread through a lot of today’s American absurdity is the natural incentives of a decaying empire. This includes military cheerleading. Since the US empire is failing on a bunch of fronts domestically and delivering increasingly unsatisfactory quality of life for so many people, there will be increasing pressure to find big shiny idols to point to and worship as “evidence” of American superiority. The military is a good candidate - political leaders and other authorities can point to the dominance of the US military and say “BEHOLD AMERICAN GREATNESS!” and alot of people will gladly stand and clap (who doesn’t like to be on the winning team?)
This is part of the reason for the instinctive reaction by the establishment to criticize Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal. Its all part of the culture war - a lot of people need to preserve the myth of America’s Undefeated World Champion status at war. What else about America is there to worship?
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I agree, but I think over time it is becoming more “Soviet” in style with its absurd pageantry and obvious lies that everyone is scared to oppose.
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The military fetishism certainly had a spike after 9-11, but I was under the impression it was on a downward trend over the last 10 years among centrist institutions.
I think the question is more cultural. Its downright shocking to me to see how overyly pro military the NFL is. Its pretty extreme.
The Department of Defense was literally paying NFL teams (and teams in other sports) for patriotic military displays.
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I think some of you guys forget just how batshit the country was in the 2000s. “If you’re not with us, you’re giving aid and comfort to the enemy” was a real talking point. Conservatives became anti-authority when Dems took the presidency, but they snapped back instantly to fascism when Trump got elected.
Part of my evidence for a declining trend is the word “was”.
Anti authority doesn’t solely mean anti party in power. Other examples are antivax shit and liberal cop hating.
I think you’re correct about a downward trend.
It is a very slow trend though.
Yes, I agree this started in the 2000s. I’m older than many of you guys so I’m thinking back to pre 9/11 times.
You have to be an abnormally independent thinker to see through the patriotism bullshit. A lot of very smart people cheerleaded us into Iraq. People forget, but they telegraphed that war for like 2-3 years before they actually did it, during which time Bush outed himself as an epic failure and complete nitwit, and the entire media STILL was explicitly pro war. Never once has there been any self reflection by any of them.
Everyone knew Bush was a moron, it was standard for talk show hosts to rag on him, right up until 9/11 when suddenly he became a Serious War President and his approval skyrocketed. You don’t disrespect a War President when we’re at War! Do you hate the troops or something?
But yeah, it was a solid 2+ years of constant pro-war propaganda from the MSM that helped get us into Iraq. They stared pitching that from day 1 .
In retrospect, America really dodged a bullet* that Trump was too lazy to really push for a Trophy War. People would have lined up behind him if he wanted to bomb some country, any country, full of brown people.
*literally!
But very much not Iran because they most assuredly would have fought back and hard. He really tried his ass off to start a war with Iran.
Didn’t he just impulsively bomb that one general and then forget all about it? To really start a war would require some attention span.
No the Iranians backed down. Honestly if our foreign policy was sane Biden’s first act would have been to sever all ties with the Saudi’s and instantly normalize relations with the Iranians and ally with them. They did more for us in January 2020 than any of our so called allies have ever that I can tell.
The Iranians could have had a war with us where the entire international community was on their side. Our navy was off their coast. They have a real military with real weapon systems. They had more than a punchers chance of winning massively and our chances of winning long term were basically zero.
I simply do not believe the US military is actually capable of winning at this point. It smells like the overrated overfunded army of a falling empire to me, and those guys have an incredible ability to suffer hugely ‘surprising’ military humiliations historically.
And it might have helped the Iranians domestically too.
Yeah so my point is that they’re the best ally we’ve ever had in the Middle East now. Meanwhile the Saudi’s pretty much directly did 9/11.
Trump literally had warplanes on their way to Iran when they shot down a drone of ours, then changed his mind at the last zecond.
it’s all right wing framing.
Look at this headline/picture:
I understand not naming the officer. But splashing her picture up there and making her the real subject of the headline/article is subtle right-wing framing at its worst. Oh, poor, sympathetic, “victim” Ashli Babbitt! It’s all calculated to rile up the right wing.
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