Fuck All Y'all, Joel Stein Has a Point

I don't buy it when people make the argument that because we're in a war, you either Support the Troops or you want them to die. That's horseshit, the kind of thing military people use as a trump in arguments with civilians, because honestly how can you respond? It's a really persuasive false dichotomy that just demolishes entire chains of otherwise sound logic.

The fact is that support of the troops, just like support of anything else, should always be conditional. I support the troops as long as they're doing things I support. It seems really condescending and dehumanizing to say "well, the actual foot soldiers had no say in what they'd be doing on the ground." That's horseshit. They ask you to do something wrong, you break your contract, quit, accept your dishonorable discharge or whatever. There are obviously societal consequences to that, but if our soldiers are as Brave and Strong and Honorable as retired Air Force colonels with blogs are constantly letting us know they are, then they should be able to handle it.