troops and martial law

[Ignoramus]

Does the situation in Louisiana change your interpretation of the "support the troops" propaganda slogan?

If the troops are from "the enemy"'s country, you don't "support the troops" I bet. I think this illustrates that the slogan is really an attempt to create group-think promoting a tendency to automatically agree with violence and killing that the troops are assigned to do, and to allow people to avoid empathy for the victims of the violence.

My position on the issue comes from the perspective that characterizing a population as "the enemy" is always wrong, and just because someone is coming to kill you doesn't change the fact that they are humans worthy of respect, and that a bad action is a bad action, regardless of who is doing it.

So, if troops (our children) were assigned to shoot on sight in our (the people of the world) neighborhoods during martial law, and we are now "the enemy", would you "support the troops"? If you encountered someone who was going to sign up to kill you, or if your child was going to sign up, would you thank them for serving to kill you, and would you want to make sure that they could kill you more safely?

[shoelace414]

1. I hate to use a sci fi show but

on Battlestar Galaticia Adama resisted using his troops as cops because..

"we are trained to fight the enemy, and before long they would treat the population as the enemy"

(or something to that effect)

[Ignoramus]

2. I actually love that show

I get anxious waiting for the next episode.

There was a hilarious scifi channel editorial program early AM on monday, where they addressed the issue of whether or not the show is pro-war or anti-war and concluded that you can't tell. I thought it was an attempt to avoid criticism by pro-war people.