The above meme appeared in my Facebook feed last week, and I must say that I was somewhat appalled. As a liberal and a veteran, I did not agree with either statement in the meme. I will start with Chris Kyle: I have no opinion on him, or what he did while serving. He is a vet, he wrote a book about what he did when he served, it was made into a movie. I have not read the book, nor have I seen the movie and I have no plans to do either one.
Bowe Bergdahl has been charged with one count of Article 85, desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty, and one count of Article 99, misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit, or place. At this time, while I am leaning towards Bergdahl being a deserter, I am withholding judgement until he is court martialed and a verdict is handed down.
Some of you here will disagree with me on both issues presented by this meme, some of you will agree with me on one or the other point presented, others will agree with me on both issues presented. Which disproves this meme.
More below the fold.
What this meme is is a demonstration of absolutism, which, according to Merriam-Webster is "advocacy of a rule by absolute standards or principles." The Facebook comments on the meme are even more telling:
Because many vets suffer from PTSD, while all liberals suffer from SFB(Shit For Brains).
and
Liberals hate this country and anything that even remotely resembling Patriotism or Pro-American values
There is a fine line between patriotism and nationalism—and as I recall, a bunch of guys in powdered wigs back in 1776 were pretty damned liberal.
Because its easy for those who have never served their country to talk from their asses. Bunch of f**k faces.
I served my country. Does this person seem to think that only conservatives serve in the military?
They're liberals.. they believe in unicorns. My 2 yr old grandson has more common sense than a bus load of them.
Show of hands, who believes in unicorns?
Because Chris Kyle scared them and someone like Bowe Bergdahl can be controlled....with liberals it's all about control!
Chris Kyle does not scare me, and if Bowe Bergdahl could be controlled, how was he able to walk away? That seems like something someone who
cannot be be controlled would do. As for liberals being all about control? Ahem ... we are not the ones getting into
people's bedrooms.
Liberals all being yellow backed, spineless cowards, not real surprising that's who they support.
Again, as a veteran, I can say that I was not, nor am I now, a yellow backed, spineless coward.
If you are a Liberal, then you have to be the most stupid on the face of the planet. Of course ANY liberal has had full lobotomies done and therefore has no sense of what is right or what is wrong. Liberals need to just exit life.
Now, that one is my favorite. I think it speaks for itself.
Each and every comment—and a couple of the worst ones out were left out—is absolute in the belief that liberals are cowards, yellow, homosexual, mentally deficient, and that no liberal could ever have served in the military.
The right-wing noise machine—Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.—has done a wonderful job with promoting absolutest propaganda, in which if you are not a good conservative American, you are the enemy. While I disagree with much of the right's agenda, I don't consider them my enemy, nor would I ever consider them the enemy. We see many examples of absolutism from the right, whether it be on climate change and healthcare reform, or civil rights under the guise of religious freedom and gun rights.
How did we get here? How did we get to this point where conservatives consider liberals to be the enemy? In large part, it's due to the monetization and the changing face of the news media, and the loss of the fairness doctrine. There was a time in this country when Walter Cronkite would say something on the evening news and you could believe him. Today we have Brian Williams and Bill O'Reilly lying about their "combat experience," nightly news shows that trip over themselves with breaking celebrity news, and the 24-hour news cycle that drives something from nothing.
This leaves a void, a void that Fox News and other conservative broadcasters have been happy to fill. Hours of programming that amounts to meaningless propaganda, an echo chamber that is further reinforced by the likes of online conservative media sources such as Breitbart, Red State, and the online arm of Fox News.
All of this leads to the conservative absolutist view, a worldview that sees anyone who disagrees with them as the enemy. I do not believe all conservatives follow this absolutist worldview; however, the most vocal members of the conservative movement appear to follow this philosophy. Absolutism is a dangerous path to go down, when you stop seeing people as people, and start seeing them as a caricature, you rob yourself and your opponent of humanity. And without our humanity, we are nothing.