What are you eating under there?

If you said “under where?” then, HA HA! If not, why not?

Okay, I am going to jump right into this one, because it is going to be a doozy. There have been some things floating around of late (And by ‘of late’ I mean ‘for the last several years’.) where people are continually sounding off on what they believe in, or don’t believe in, or don’t believe that other people should believe in. Anyway I would like to address some of these issues today, because, frankly, I read a post on this ‘mispace’—that’s the Spanish language version of myspace—that made me physically uncomfortable and sick to my stomach. It wasn’t that it was gross or in particularly poor taste, so much as it was mean and ignorant. And I know everyone out there knows what I am talking about when I say that I am the sensitive type who is easily upset.

Anyway, this post brought to my attention that there was a group on myspace that, well, it is called “Fuck the Troops” which unless it is meant in the strictest sense of raising morale by fornicating with those in uniform is probably in pretty bad taste. Personally, I am not against the troops as people. I definitely do not agree with some/many of the things that they do, but to each his own. After all, this is America, we can do whatever we want.

The post I received was a petition to have the group kicked out of the myspace community. Sort of a NIMBY for the internet. Now, I am all for speaking out against something if you don’t believe in it (especially since that is what I am about to do when I’m done rambling here) but there are tactful ways to go about it. The petition in question is, at times, tactful and touching while at other times it is gut wrenchingly blind and hateful. There are, the simple statements of, “I know/love/am family with someone in the military and wish them the best.” which are wonderful sentiments and cannot be argued against. Those make me feel nice. The signatures—and their attached notes—that I feel I must discuss in more detail are far less sentimental and more directly offensive. My plan is to run through some of the sillier ones and talk about what they made me feel. (Anyone afraid of talking about feelings should look away now…this means you br@nt.)

I would also like to mention that, before embarking on this little rant, I tried to find the offending “fuck the troops” group on myspace and was unsuccessful, which leads me to believe that it actually has already been removed, or that many of the people who signed the petition were simply reacting to what they were told, rather than the group itself.

(Because this whole thing is a little long—not to mention high and mighty—I am going to break it down into a few sections. This should give you a chance to stretch, rub your eyes, decide that you don’t want to read any further, or get a nice snack. Like some Chicken ‘n a Biscuit, or a Yoohoo. But I do hope you keep reading…)