Non-Veterans For Logic

Doug Grow takes a big hit from a steamin' bong full of Nick Coleman Weed in this piece from today, about the "Veterans for Peace" rally against the Twins' "GI Joe" giveaway.

Just for kicks, let's count the strawmen.

Grow starts:

Now John Varone, a man of peace, has some peace again. The media, national and local, have moved on.

Varone, president of the local chapter of Veterans for Peace, was caught in the spotlight on the Fourth of July weekend when a newspaper reporter called him and asked about a promotion being sponsored by the Minnesota Twins. The Twins, as a so-called tribute to U.S. troops, were giving away a G.I. Joe doll to children attending the July 5th game.

Varone, a draftee who served in Vietnam for a year (1969-70), answered the question, but tried to add context about his organization's position. But context was stripped away from his answer.

What was left was this: "I think the Twins are way off base with this idea. For gosh sakes, the last place we need to promote war is at our national pastime."

The ink was barely dry on those few lines of type when Varone's phone started ringing. Fox, CNBC, ESPN were calling for comments. And Varone became a punching bag for conservatives who dominate American talk radio. He quickly was labeled everything from a crackpot to a threat to national security.

Wow - two strawmen already! Conservatives hardly dominate the airwaves in the Twin Cities. And as one of them, he was labelled a lot of things, most of them having to do with being trite, facile and PC.

What is it about peace lovers that so many find so threatening?

That's three. Nobody finds peace lovers threatening. We merely find some of them grossly illogical. A GI Joe doll doesn't make the world one jot less peaceful.

"What bothers most is the accusation we don't support the troops," Varone said. "It's a replay of the old 'Love it or Leave it' syndrome. The thing is, we are for the vets. We especially want to take care of the kids when they come home."

That's four.

"I support the troops, but I oppose the war" is the great canard of the left today. If you condemn the mission that the troops are on, your support for the troops themselves is hollow at best. What you support, in that case, is an "idealized" notion of troops; the PTSD-stricken anti-war activists of the future.

As a new generation of victims.

What if the new guys don't cooperate?

Varone said he understands how complex the scars of war can be. He came home from Vietnam and battled alcohol for 22 years, he said. There were other demons, too, which didn't reveal themselves for years after his service ended.

A lifelong hunter, Varone said he was hunting small game near Chaska seven years ago. Two helicopters flew over him. Suddenly, he said, he was sweating heavily and "stalking" the game.

"I sold the guns," he said. "Now I fish."

Perhaps the first non-strawman.

And perhaps not.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is far from uncommon. And yet (say psychologists I know and/or know of) the biggest contributing factor is the receipt of a mortifying trauma combined with a feeling of helplessness.

Most of our troops in Vietnam were draftees. For much of the war, they were poorly-trained for war in the jungle. They were hamstrung by stupid strategy, in an Army that was rudderless, decaying, and micromanaged. They were kept in country for a year while their officers rotated out. They usually flew into the country alone, and at the end of their year, they were flown directly from the war zone to their hometowns. Many have commented on feeling like poorly-trained cannon fodder.

Today's troops are volunteers, in a military that is at the top of the military art. They are much less commonly the "Hunted" than they were in Vietnam. The military has learned a lot about PTSD in the past thirty years. I'd never predict that it's a thing of the past - but given what we know about it, we should see less of it.

Call it a half.

At so many levels he lives in the mainstream. Varone, a finance specialist in the Scott County Social Services Department, also is president of the county public employees union. He and his spouse, Becky, a social worker, are collectors of antiques.

"I like to collect old fruit jars," he said. "I guess that really makes me a dangerous radical."

Strawman 4.5.

No, it doesn't. Your trite, silly crusade against GI Joes makes you...well, not so much dangerous and radical (I can't - and don't - believe anyone called him exactly that) as an overweening, victomology-mongering PC warrior.

But there are aspects of his life that separate him from most of us.

For example, there's a coffin in his garage. At one point, the coffin was simply used as a prop at antiwar demonstrations.

But when the administration blocked photographers from taking pictures of the coffins carrying home the remains of U.S. troops, Varone started writing the names of those killed on the surface of the coffin.

"At first, it was a task that I felt I had to do," Varone said. "We had to do something to show that these are not just numbers. I'd put down about 100 names, and then it became something more than a task. Now, it's something spiritual for me. It's very important. I put my hand on the coffin and think about each name. I say, 'We have to remember you. We can't ask anything more of you.' "

Sweet. Moving.

But it's far more than most of us do.

Strawman 5.5. Really gratuitously rotten assumption; many of us spend a lot of time condemning the likes of Doug Grow who, along with the rest of the media, have been working overtime to derogate and confuse people about the rationales for the war, acting as if WMDs were the only reason when there were in fact three others, equally valid and uncontested.

We are trying to keep their sacrifice from being rendered vain - like that of so many of Varone's conteporaries - by the meddling and diddling of chattering fools like Grow.

We proclaim our appreciation for sacrifice being made by troops, then, we go to a ballgame or go shopping.

Strawman 6.5. As if going on with life after proclaiming appreciation for sacrifice was inappropriate.

"Some people merely proclaim their appreciation for the sacrifice of the World War II and Korea generations - and then go back to their job, where they've spent a career carrying water for the people who ensured the sacrifices of the Vietnam Generation were reviled, scorned and held in vain for most of a generation.

What's wrong with Varone? Why does he go so much further?

Strawman 7.5. He's not "Going further", he's just doing stuff, value very much indeterminate.

He is frustrated by the presidential campaign to date because there's no real debate about the war.

"They only talk about who's more patriotic," Varone said.

Strawman 8.5. Many of us are debating the war, and the Administration has stated its case time and time again.

There's no campaign discussion of depleted uranium, another big issue of Vets for Peace and other organizations. (Depleted uranium is used by the military for such things as armor-piercing shells. The radiation from the depleted uranium lingers long after the fighting stops. Many believe this radiation will prove fatal, over time, to friend and foe.)

And many believe it's a made-up controversy. Strawman 9.5.

When the reporter called to ask about the G.I. Joe giveaway, Varone said he tried to talk about meaningful issues like depleted uranium and the Veterans for Peace freshwater project in Iraq.

He said he tried to talk about how his organization supports vets in ways far more meaningful than most Americans muster.

Strawman 10.5. Your water project might be worthwhile, but it's not the news. Your organization's trite, trivial, self-righteous demonstration at the Twins game was.

"When they do come home, our soldiers are going to need the support of all of us," he said. "And they're going to need our hugs."

Dangerous character, this Varone.

And that's 11.5. He's not dangerous, and I demand proof that anyone said he was.

No. Like so much of the anti-war movement, he's parlayed his Vietnam experience into a trite, superficial activism that ridicules veterans rather than honoring them.

Which goes double for Doug Grow.

Posted by Mitch at July 13, 2004 07:30 AM | TrackBack