America’s Hero Worship Is Just As Bad As North Korea’s
Roughly two decades ago I spent 19 months working in the Asia-Pacific region. I literally slept in a hotel somewhere in the AP region every night for 19 months. I frequently could not believe how thin-skinned the China, Singapore, etc. governments were in response to commentary critical of their behavior. So I was not in the least bit surprised when North Korea went figuratively nuclear over the movie “The Interview“. Yet I agree with Ben Railton in his article at Talking Points Memo that America is no better in that regard.
Too many Americans are willing to unconditionally “support” our military, police, or politicians even when those groups commit heinous acts. Note that I deliberately quoted “support” in the preceding sentence. Because with respect to the US military that “support” involves little more than waving our flag. True support in terms of providing concrete assistance to military personnel and otherwise making a sacrifice (e.g., higher taxes) is wholly lacking from the chicken-hawks who claim to support our military.