...but I'm frightened of the things I might find.

[aberrantangels]

Earlier today, while I was in my room, my parents were in the next room talking about the revelation that, yes, Lance Armstrong had used an erythrocyte (red blood cell) enhancer, albeit for medical reasons (related to his chemo) rather than anything to do with any of his seven Tour de France wins.

This was the signal for a long discussion of why "the French" are trying to take away Lance's trophy. (My kindly gray-haired mother, when she had occasion to talk about the story yesterday, thought the whole doping charge was completely without factual basis and the French were just jealous.) They came to the conclusion that it's because the French like heroic underdogs. My dad suggested that explains the popularity of Jerry Lewis — well, that and a thumbing of the nose at America. He then added that they hate America "because we had to bail them out in two World Wars."

I'm ashamed of myself for not going in there and asking them "So, you want some ketchup on those freedom fries?" or something along those lines. But I don't relish the thought of sleeping on the street. There are a lot of things along those lines that I want to say to them, but won't dare say until I have a roof of my own overhead, one they can't take away from me. Some of them involve Jane Fonda.

I realize they can't entirely help it. Living in America, it takes effort to educate yourself to the notion that other countries might have specific and palpable* reasons for hating our government, just like it takes effort to learn that supporting socialism, or even just considering that capitalism is somehow less than perfect and infallible forever and ever amen, does not necessarily equate to being a fan of bread lines and five-year plans. (And someone running on an empty stomach is not really in a condition to teach anyone the latter fact.) A member of a military family is not likely to put forth that effort. But that's only an explanation, not an excuse.

* Perceptible by the five conventional senses, locatable in the space-time manifold.

Comments

[nakedblueninja.livejournal.com]

Dude, that's terrible. I was always blessed with a family full of thinkers and speakers, researchers and awareness-mongers. You can jump ship any time you like! ;)

[aberrantangels]

Don't getta me wrongo™; they're not complete jingo-eating ribbon monkeys. They're both at least nominally aware that the Cheney adsinistration War on Freedom is going wrong, but that doesn't lead either of them to re-evaluate their experience of being US military in the sixties. (Which makes their blind spots all the more annoying.)

And if I had the money, I'd be off to Canada like the proverbial dose of salts. Sure, it's like going from Germany to Austria in the thirties, and it'd mean sharing a country with the likes of Adam Yoshida and Mark Steyn, but at least I'd be in a country where those yipyops are recognized for the mouth-foaming fascists they are, not passed off as sensible moderates by the so-called liberal media.

FIrst, Fonda; then, why your parents are close

[vidstudent.livejournal.com]

Now, see, Jane Fonda stepped well over the thin line.

I have nothing but respect for protesters on this side of the Pacific in regards to the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Vietnam had a lot of them getting personal against the soldiers, but, while wrong (being drafted means never having to say you're sorry - you sure didn't *ask* to go there), was still their right to speak.

Jane Fonda went over to Vietnam to aid and comfort the enemy through helping them with propaganda spots. That's treason punishable by death. A fine line, to be sure, but she stepped gaily over. I've seen her interviewed recently by CNN; I think her brain has tried to explain this bit to her, but her heart still is pissed by our having been over there.

Of course, this leads into Cindy Sheehan, who is doing everything *right* - she's not hurting the troops, she's going after the policy-maker who put us there. She's not going to get to meet Bush, but she can stay next to his ranch as long as she likes (and remains civil - no outright rioting, plzkthx).

As for the French - Jimmy Kimmel got it dead right. Lance is winning their event. More importantly, there's people that owe him money based on performance that would like to skip out on some payments, and they've been trying to prove performance enhancers on him for a while now. Groklaw featured one of the lawyers working the case last Christmas. I believe there's another one for the insurance agency he rode for prior to USPS.

Re: FIrst, Fonda; then, why your parents are close

[quasipenfold.livejournal.com]

It's worse than that.

I'm not sure if it's true or not, but Fonda went to see the POWs. I think she was shooting a film to show the conditions they were being kept. Naturally, they were told to smile for the cameras and say they were being treated well.

One of them shakes her hand, slipping her a note describing their real conditions in the process...

...on the way out, she hands the note to a guard. The conditions of the POW's incarceration quickly got worse.

If that story is true, execution is too good for her.

Re: FIrst, Fonda; then, why your parents are close

[aberrantangels]

I'm not sure if it's true or not

"Jane Fonda handed over to their captors the slips of paper POWs pressed upon her: False."

Please excuse the generic response, but I have been swamped with so many e-mails on the subject of the Jane Fonda article (Carrigan, Driscoll, strips of paper, torture and deaths of POWs, etc.) that I have to resort to this pre-scripted rebuttal. The truth is that most of this never happened. This is a hoax story placed on the internet by unknown Fonda haters. No one knows who initiated the story. Please assist by not propagating the story. Fonda did enough bad things to assure her a correct place in the garbage dumps of history. We don't want to be party to false stories, which could be used as an excuse that her real actions didn't really happen either. I have spoken with all the parties named: Carrigan, Driscoll, et al. They all state that this particular internet story is a hoax and they wish to disassociate their names from the false story.
& Mike McGrath, President of NAM-POWs

Re: FIrst, Fonda; then, why your parents are close

[quasipenfold.livejournal.com]

One of these days, I'm going to bookmark Snopes so I can check things out like this.

Just a note: that rumor is probably far, far older than the Internet, seeing as my father, a man who apparently thinks social and technological perfection were achieved in 1952, told it to me.