Ted Rall: Sacrifice For My Country? Hell, No
Ted Rall, the hard-left pundit that I once forced to publicly back down from his ridiculous assertion that the right was more hateful than the left (well, me, and others), is apparently an American only when everything goes exactly the way he wants it to:
“The absence of a call for broader national sacrifice in a time of war has become a near constant topic of discussion among officers and enlisted personnel,” [a brigadier] general claims.
Northwestern University professor Charles Moskos says: “The political leaders are afraid to ask the public for any real sacrifice, which doesn’t speak too highly of the citizenry.”
To which I say: Screw that. It’s not my duty to suffer for this pointless war. I’ve been against it all along, and you can stick your victory garden where the desert sun can’t penetrate.
Well, that’s certainly inspiring…you know, my property taxes are too high; screw that! I don’t even have any kids; why should I pay for those pointless (to me) schools?
Rall continues his stirring oration:
I’m already sacrificing too much for a war I always believed was stupid and wrong. I’m paying three dollars a gallon for buck-fifty gas and walking through gauntlets of over-armed National Guardboys at airports and bus stations. I’m in greater danger than ever before of getting blown up by a pissed-off fanatic. And I dread the giant tax hike we’ll eventually need to pay off Bush’s deficit. But these aren’t enough sacrifices for Bush and his vainglorious generals, who are planning “a Civilian Reserve, a sort of Peace Corps for professionals…a program to seek commitments from bankers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, electricians, plumbers and solid-waste disposal experts to deploy to conflict zones for months at a time on reconstruction assignments, to relieve pressure on the military.”
If you voted for Bush, here’s your chance to plant your butt where your ridiculous car magnet is, smack dab in the middle of the Sunni Triangle. Good luck.
The ridiculous car magnet, of course, is the yellow ‘Support Our Troops’ ribbon. Ridiculous, says Rall…draw your own conclusions..
I know that EVERYONE on the left supports the troops, so I guess I am just too unsophisticated to recognize Mr. Rall’s satire when apparently mocking Guardsmen by calling the “overarmed National Guardboys”. Stupid me. The only hope, I guess, is for the Democratic Party to get back into power so responsible people can tell me what to do and how to think.
And to get angry, as he clearly is, about “Support Our Troops” magnets!…
I sometimes think guys like that have a lot in common with cult leaders. They’ve got it all figured out and are furious the rest of the world hasn’t given them the praise they’re due.
So gas prices are too high? I thought the Ralls of the world told me the war was all about getting cheap oil. I guess Halliburton executives must be stocking the cheap oil in giant wave tanks and surfing on it for fun, kind of like Scrooge McDuck in his money vault.
What I’d love to know is: how did Ted Rall get so widely syndicated? I mean, his column is everywhere. What gives?
Beyond even his silly ideas, the thing that bothers me most is that he is just a lousy writer. He has all the style of 16-year-old diarist. That is what’s truly offensive to me about Ted Rall’s apparent success.
Greg, indeed, political leanings aside, it’s hard to fathom Rall’s appeal…