2005 Discussions on a listserve

Email from May 2005 – from a listserve about audiology:

Judy wrote:

I have a student right now who has tri-care insurance from the military. The family does not have the money for hearing aids, and supposedly tri-care won’t pay for the hearing aids. Even if they did, to find a dispenser in the area that takes this insurance is impossible. This little girl’s father is in the army and is currently serving in Iraq. What a system—someone leaves to fight for their country, and his wife and 3 kids are struggling to get hearing aids and make ends meet. It’s sad. -JUDY

My response:

I agree that it is pathetic that someone chooses to serve our country in the military and then their kids cannot get the simple help they need. I don't agree that the US military in Iraq is "fighting for our country" however, since this war is not helping, and has not helped, our country in any way that I can observe. It is not helping Iraq either.

MARY then wrote:

I really don't appreciate your political remarks on this listserve. It has nothing to do with helping the families that come to us for help in obtaining amplification. In fact, I found your remarks very upsetting. My son is putting his life on the line in Iraq (he is very tired as he has not had a day off since he got there 2 and a half months ago and no one in his squadron has either) serving his country. Yes, I said serving his country. Each of the military men and women over there would say the same thing. In the future, I would appreciate you keeping your negative remarks about the military to yourself. - Mary

(That’s right – this women who has a son in the military supposedly fighting for our freedom and safety, thinks I should keep my remarks to myself. Not much of a supporter of the US Constitution, is she? And she decides that I am making negative remarks about the military just because I claim they are not “fighting for our country” and that the invasion and occupation of Iraq has not helped our country in any way. This invasion and occupation of Iraq sure has made some people quite rich, however. Her son is not one of them. Now, over two years later - I still can see no evidence that this occupation is helping our country. Rather the opposite.)

I responded with:

I agree with you that each and every person who signed up to be in the military is serving our country, and I appreciate and respect them for doing that. I think the US troops are being abused when they are sent to Iraq, however, since what is happening there is not in "service to our country" nor is it "fighting for our country". So tell your son thanks for serving his country, and sorry he got sent to Iraq for terrible reasons that will not serve our country in the long or short haul. I hope he comes home safe. And I hope they all come home soon. And I should NOT have put this on the listserve! Not the right place for it. I am sorry for that. peace

MARY then wrote:

Thank you for your courtesy in personally responding to me. I appreciate your concern. Although I do not feel a professional listserve is the place to vent personal political viewpoints, I realize that Americans have very differing viewpoints about the war in Iraq. Having a son in the military makes me much more sensitive to that issue on a very personal level. He does not believe "he got sent to Iraq for terrible reasons that will not serve our country in the long or short haul". Thankfully, we have NOT had another terror attack on our country since 9-11. He would tell you that is mainly because we have gone on the offensive against the terrorists, rather than being on the defense against them. We have thwarted much damage and harm they had planned on doing to us by undertaking this War on Terror. I have NO doubt that another attack would have already happened if we had not taken the more offensive position that we have taken. I would agree with you that war is a terrible evil that should never be taken lightly. I am sure I do not have to remind you that we would not be in this war if we had not been attacked first on 9-11. The WAR on TERROR is not a pleasant undertaking for anyone. Thankfully there are people that are willing to risk their lives to protect us. I believe every person in the military would disagree with your statement that "since what is happening there is not in "service to our country" nor is it "fighting for our country". They are taking on the terrorists over there on their turf, so that we don't have to take them on over here on ours. I would hate to have to worry every time I got on a public bus that it might be blown up, or see suicide bombers attack cars and buildings over here like they do over in the middle east. Even worse, I would hate to see another 9-11 attack, or a dirty bomb go off in one of our cities. We have real enemies that constantly plan harm to us. We are fortunate to still have the peace of living without suicide bombers in our midst. Hopefully the war being fought over there will prevent such occurrences from ever happening over here.

I, too, hope that my son, as well as every other young man and woman serving overseas, will come home safely and soon. I appreciate so much their great sacrifices so that I can live in peace and freedom.

God bless and peace to you. Mary

I responded with:

Mary, there were 8 years between the first and the second attack on the WTC, but Iraqis were not behind either one. I hope it doesn't happen again either. peace

I did not bother to try and correct her many, many critical thinking errors or her misinformation - particularly on how "our military" feels about this war. Even in 2005, there were active military speaking out. I figured it might take me the rest of my life to correct all her errors. A great number of Americans are uninformed and very stupid (not all of them, however). I don’t know why they choose to be that way. They will be mighty surprised one day when the next terrorist attack happens. I am hoping I won't be around to see it. I don't want to live through a real crisis here in the USA with all these stupid people who cannot think, even if their lives depended on it.

And Katrina showed us all that our government will not be able to do a thing to help us. It still blows my mind that American babies died of dehydration at a major American landmark in a major American city - during peacetime!!! Just imagine how bad it would get if there was a war or occupation going on here. God, I hope I never see that.

And to all the Iraqi people out there: I am very, very, very sorry for the pain and suffering that my country has inflicted on you. You never deserved it, and I tried my best to stop it, but the fact is, the dumb people of the United States of America allowed this to happen, in spite of my best efforts. You can see from the above exchange just what we are up against.