Did you?

Sorry, Leatherneck, but I gotta.

Okay, so this here’s my very first political blog ever, and I am seriously riled up. I don’t think I’ve been this irritated with something I’ve read in a long, long time.

So Leatherneck wrote a blog on Monday (last Monday) about voting. He mentioned, which I quite agree with, that you don’t need to love Bush to love this country. He was encouraging people to vote. His personal politics aside, I agreed with most of the things he was writing.

I then perused the comments.

Holy hell on a stick.

At first it started out okay, everyone was expressing their own personal opinions and so forth, and then someone (of course) brought up the war. Two military wives joined forces and it was then, as they say, “ON!”.

I read four or five comments from the same two women, in response to other commenters, saying things like, “Until you are behind the desk in the oval office…You have no right to judge!” and “Until you are sitting behind the desk in the oval office…or until you yourself have so unselfishly served your country…KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!” and “until you have either served your country, or have walked a mile IN A MILITARY WIFE’S shoes…you really have nothing to say!” One of these women had had a fiancee who was killed in Iraq, and was now married to another man currently serving there, and the other is also a military wife.

Go read it. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Okay.

Okay.

So by this time, I’m thinking, you know, I shouldn’t say anything because I don’t really know anything about the war or what I’m talking about, but DAMMIT! How can people be so close minded?

When I was a kid, my stepdad used to make me write sentences: “I will not question. I will not talk back. I will not question. I will not talk back.” I don’t like it any more now than I did then. Not questioning things is called being a goddamned sheep. Sorry. There’s no getting around it. If you’re a leader, and you’re doing what you should be doing, and you have faith in your decisions, then being questioned should just strengthen your faith in your decisions. You should WELCOME being questioned. Sure, it’s inconvenient. Sure, the American people can’t know everything about everything that’s going on over there. Everyone has guesses and speculations about what it’s REALLY about. But that’s not the point. The point is, that we have the RIGHT to question, and the DUTY to question. Voting is called having an opinion. We have a constitutional right to question. DAMN that pissed me off.

So I responded to one of the women’s comments. You can read it there, if you like, but basically what I said was:

“I’m not looking to get into an argument with you on here, because it’s obvious you have plenty to say and are not shy about sharing it…but I have heard you mention several times that unless you are a military wife, in the military, or in the government, that you have no right to say anything.

You’re wrong.

It is the American peoples’ duty as well as their right to speak out and question their leadership. To mandate leadership without the right to question is called living under a dictator. It’s understandable that having suffered the unspeakable tragedy that you suffered in not only losing your fiancee but also witnessing it in such a public fashion that you would have strong feelings on the subject, and it is certainly your right to express it…but to shut other people up because their opinion differs from yours is in direct conflict with what your current husband and fiancee are/were over there fighting for.

I’m not arguing the war, or whether we should be there, or what it’s about. I’m arguing that people have the RIGHT to argue and the RIGHT to question, even if you disagree, and to do anything else is to deny what being an American is all about.”

To which the one that I wasn’t even responding to replied:

“See this is EXACTLY how ignorant people think. Some people need to just stop thinking. I think you need to question yourself before you start questioning others. How can you possibly say that you would be able to make an educated dession on millitary affrairs if you are not educated in this matter. People can question all they want, but instead of speaking out in an uneducated manner, or discussing things that are beyond your comprehension do to lack of militant knowledge. You would be better off as a woman telling a man what it’s really like having a penis. The truth is YOU DON’T know, and unless you had had the experience you won’t know. In my personal opinion if you do nothing to support our country, or contribute in a possitive manner then you are not an American…. you are a free loader, and by all rights, you don’t deserve to have any rights. If you want to be Canadian .. go to Canada. You have SOME rights. But so does everyone else … and no ones wrongs make anything right, no matter what you ‘think’ you are entitled to. Because no one has to accept, or warrant stupidity. This is why YOU are not in office.”

Did she just call me ignorant?

Are the thoughts “I don’t necessarily agree with the war and I don’t support the current administration” and “I support our troops” mutually exclusive? Is it true that I’m NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE AN OPINION on how the COUNTRY THAT I LIVE IN, to which I PAY TAXES and support with my labor and my commerce on a daily basis? Because I never served in the military? Are we a military-run country? I didn’t realize that in order to have thoughts or opinions that we actually had to have been in the military at some point or had to be married to someone over in Iraq.

Interesting.

In my second comment, I called her a sheep. Yes, I said it. To me, that is EXACTLY what “You shouldn’t question our government” says. It’s another way of saying, “I will not question, I will not talk back.”

Well, bullshit, I say. It didn’t work then, and it sure as hell won’t work now. I am SO voting next year.

***************Update***************

What a pleasant woman.

“Once again Ms Heather AMEN! Thank you for telling it like it is. Now …. little ms n2 Let me tell you a few things, not like you’ll understand it anyhow, but I’m going to give it a shot in complete lamens terms, just for you. I too have the right to free speach, this right is not soley reserved for an ignoramous. Number one I do know things, because I am psychic, but it doesn’t take a psychic to see stupid. When I see a stupid person who has not taken the time to research the facts, or educate themselves I feel it’s my duty as an American to educate them. “No one gets left behind”. If you find that being “stupid”, or “ignorant” is offensive then I suggest you do something about it. I don’t want to see you saying “Waaaahhh… she called me a name”, like the saying goes… “If the shoe fits”. Grow up! and take care of yourself, stop deppending on others to do it for you, and then complain about it like the ingrate that you are. Go join the military or something, and put your mouth to use. There is no rule in America that says I have to be nice. Again, one of my rights. One of my peeves are stupid people who have brains, but choose not to use them. Perhaps thinking before you speak would be a good start, but this is exactly what happens when stupid people try to think. They think without knowledge. Now, instead of getting all butt hurt by those who have proper knowledge, perhaps you should take this opportunity n2 to learn from it. You trying to tell military people how the military works, is like you trying to tell me how to manage my estate, or negotiate with terrorists, or you telling a director how to make a movie. YOU do NOT have the knowledge, or the experience to offer sound advice, or pretend that you have any know how in the matter. Perhaps if you did, then your opinions might matter. The facts are that right now an uneducated opinion means jack shit. All you are doing is babbling… why? What is your point. You want to be heard even if you don’t know what the hell you are talking about? again, why? Geesh.. damn stupid people *Shakes my head. (I suggest you move to Canada)”

The shitty thing is that I can’t respond to her comment because the thread has been run out. Which is probably for the best, because I would no longer be defending my point of view, I would be defending myself. And ultimately, who gives a shit if she thinks I should move to Canada or that I am stupid, or ignorant, or that she keeps calling me n2 (wtf?). I just can’t believe how my one point about free speech got interpreted as trying to advise the military on what to do. Is it just me? Did that come out of my mouth (or keyboard, as it were) AT ALL? Did I ONCE slam President Bush or make ANY statements about how I would run the country differently? Did I even attempt to offer any kind of sound advice to ANYONE other than to say that people have the right to be heard and question authority? GAH!

This comment scares me because of the statement: “…this is exactly what happens when stupid people try to think. They think without knowledge.”

Of course people think without knowledge. Of course they have opinions without knowing the whole story. Of course they do. To think otherwise is ridiculous. I am just so aggravated that I keep being told that unless I have military experience I don’t get to speak my piece. What a load of shit.