March 23, 2008...9:48 am
For the right, it’s never about the people that are actually alive
Hotair is making a big fuss about something that was said on TMZ:
Former “Bachelor” bachelor Andy Baldwin just got back from the island of Palau in the South Pacific — not on vacation, on a mission with the Navy. Now let’s talk about why we the taxpayers are footing the bill on such BS.
Baldwin was among 20 military types who were on a search mission in the middle of the ocean. What, you ask, were they looking for? A B-24J bomber that went down during the war. Not Iraq. Not Vietnam. No, not Korea. We’re talking WWII, as in more than 60 years ago.
Turns out, the military spends $52 million each year to find the remains of missing soldiers — it’s part of the POW/MIA program. That’s all well and good depending on the circumstances. But a crash that is ancient history, at a time when the economy sucks and the Federal government is sucking the life out of everyone with taxes??
A waste of time and money? Sure — if one doesn’t value the sacrifice of these men and their families for the nation. When we send our men and women abroad to fight, we make it clear that anyone captured or killed will get brought back for the proper recognition of their sacrifice for our nation. If that takes days, months, or years, or even decades, we will search until we account for the last missing member of our forces, dead or alive.
Of course Hotair responds with the ‘how dare you not value the military’, but the real problem is way more nuanced than what Hotair says. I think in general it’s good to make such an effort. On the other hand, this can’t go on forever. At one point, the amount of money spent has to be evaluated with respect to other priorities we might have.
And back to my title, those people are dead. We could be taking the same money and helping out veterans (the one that are fortunate to be alive). We could be taking the same money and help out kids of those soldiers. Etc. It’s not that it has to be an either or proposition, but then again to look for remains of WWII soldiers is maybe beyond the line we should draw. If you read Hotair’s post, they seem to imply that they would do this forever, which just doesn’t seem right.
Of course, there is some good sections in the Hotair post:
Those who serve in our forces deserve that kind of commitment, since they give us their ultimate commitment in return, and don’t ask whether it’s inconvenient or financially burdensome to do so.
I read this as a strong commitment to really helping out the military, whether they are in or out of it. So that includes the body armors, the VA hospitals, etc.
But of course they couldn’t stop without a parting shot at TMZ:
TMZ has a poll up at the site asking whether its readers consider searching for the remains of Americans who gave their lives to fight the Japanese is “ridiculous”. I’m certain Hot Air readers will want to cast a vote for that, as well as leave a few comments. Perhaps the staff at TMZ should concern itself with its usual oeuvre of celebrity crotch shots and the latest rumors of who slept with whom in Hollywood. (via Cyber Sherpa)
Perhaps the staff at TMZ have the right to concern itself with any topic, whether it’s this or celebrity shots. Perhaps we should judge the merit of their point and not tack on an ad hominem attack to something that is quite serious.
3 Comments
March 24, 2008 at 5:31 am
And the title of this post doesn’t count as an ad hominem attack, rather than a judgement on the merit of Hot Air’s point?
The search for dead servicemen and women isn’t about the dead, it’s about the living. That’s why humans have funerals, wakes, cemeteries and memorials. The dead are beyond caring, but how we treat them is about us and how we would like to be treated. The never-ending search for dead and missing servicemen and women is part of society’s commitment to a group of people who offer the ultimate commitment to that society, that is, a willingness to defend it with their lives. If you like, it’s an investment in their morale, and in our own self-respect.
March 24, 2008 at 7:05 am
It might look like such an attack, but I think it’s different. I criticize the outcome of the logic. I didn’t say that Hot Air was wrong in attacking the post, my problem was with the gratuitous attack at the end.
Maybe Ad Hominem isn’t the best or only word to describe that. How about patronizing, or belittleling?
As for the living, even those ultimately are not alive anymore. I am not saying that we shouldn’t search for dead servicemen and servicewomen, I am saying that at one point, the benefit outweight the costs. TMZ chose WWII as their point where this happens. Maybe a better limit would be WWI or some other war. I am saying that this shouldn’t be a limitless proposition. I think this was half of the point of TMZ (the other half being the limit they pick).
Finally I think the money being spent on WWII searches could be WAY better spent on living veterans or on the family of the dead. Yes, this is not an either/or proposition, but we don’t have limitless amounts of money either.
March 24, 2008 at 7:56 pm
“Finally I think the money being spent on WWII searches could be WAY better spent on living veterans or on the family of the dead”
That is exactly what they are doing.
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