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This is my ribbon rant
By Tom Paine | June 11, 2006 | 
This is my ribbon rant.
You know, those yellow “support our troops” ribbons plastered on the ass-end of just about every SUV you drive behind.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with the sentiment of the ribbons: “Support our troops”. What makes me mad about the ribbons is that most people who decorate their SUVs with those ribbons have given little, if any thought to what “supporting the troops” means.
Ribbons on the back of an SUV illustrate graphically why our young men and women are getting blown to smithereens and being shot at. You see, those SUVs are gas guzzlers — they really suck up the petrol. And when all is said and done, the oil is why our troops are in Iraq. Not WMDs (none found). And certainly not “to bring democracy to Iraq” (you don’t destroy a country and kill its people to bring them democracy). No, it’s really the oil.
If we really cared about the troops, we’d be making sacrifices so they wouldn’t have to get blown up and shot at, things like not driving gas-hogs, or pressuring congress to pass higher fuel efficiency standards for cars, or pushing for mass transit — all things that would lower our dependence on foreign oil. And we would be agitating to bring our troops home, where they will be really safe. And we would be pushing congress to spend whatever money it takes to help make them whole again, instead of nickeling and diming them to death.
But maybe it’s just me. Maybe I should buy an SUV and slap a half-dozen yellow “support our troops” ribbons on the back of it and drive down the road to show my support for the troops. I’d be in good company.
About Tom Paine 
-
Systems Administrator for ASP for hospitals/med surg facilities.
Politics mostly socialist/populist. Anti-corporate, pro working class.
Student of history who fervently believes that "those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it".
Sections: Opinion, Politics
Topics: Iraq War, Rants, Support Our Troops
One Response to “This is my ribbon rant”
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June 11th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
This is so true. Supporting our troops means a lot more than a yellow ribbon magnet. Whether they’re on SUVs or hybrid cars, the vanity of the message is clear.
These men and women are living and dying in conditions that most of us would consider to be brutal. How can we support them or their families? Thankfully, most of their families have FRG (family readiness groups) that help them with direct needs.
How about if we continue to write and speak out against this completely unjust war… and bring our troops home? There’s a thought.