In the early 1960s, at a time when many young people were being radicalized by the Vietnam War, Wright left college and volunteered to join the United States Marine Corps. After three years as a marine, he chose to serve three more as a naval medical technician, during which time he received several White House commendations.
Six fucking years serving his country! By choice!
I hadn't seen specifics on this, but I suspected that Wright had volunteered to join the Marines based on his age and service time. Now I have confirmation. That's from a lengthy defense of Wright in The Chronicle of Higher Ed by a Professor Emeritus from the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Just remember this the next time you hear some GOP fucktard or FOX News blowhard call Wright an unpatriotic, America-hating traitor. And do so with the absolute certainty that the loudmouth doing the insulting did no such thing.
5 comments:
beautiful. Nobody in the media seems to want to do their jobs. A pre-edited hit job appears on YouTube and instead of looking into how fairly its been edited, the MSM runs it on TV in an endless loop. Nobody thought to look at the freaking excerpts in their full context. He says "God damn America IF she continues to act like God..." but the video cuts that out. With "chickens have come home to roost," he's quoting a former Reagan administration official's comment, but you don't see that in the edited version.
They don;t consider investigation or truth part of their jobs—just scoops and sensationalism.
Putting Wright in context and taking the wind out of the sails of this phony-ass controversy would have meant moving on to something else...
Where's the fun in that?
Good point. I don't care much about the whole Wright brouhaha, and the fact that he served his country for six years should matter in the final analysis.
But the geek in me can't let this slide: In the early 1960s, at a time when many young people were being radicalized by the Vietnam War
Young people generally began to be "radicalized" after Tet, in early 1968. The first real rumblings of the anti-war movement probably started in '67, maybe '66. But this notion that he enlisted at a time when it wasn't popular to do so is flat-out wrong. Vietnam wasn't even a "war" on the American radar screen til Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.
I don't think military service—volunteer or draft-induced—is a prerequisite for patriotism. Nor is it inoculation from criticism.
But I am sick to fucking death of chickenhawk pussies calling guys who volunteered to serve their country in wars they disagreed with (Wright, Gore, Kerry and others) America-haters or unpatriotic because they criticize the Iraq War or Vietnam or the country in general.
When faced with the decision or call to serve their country, the fucking war-mongering assholes running today's soldiers out as cannon fodder opted for multiple bogus deferments or connections to avoid service in a war they purported to support.
And last I checked, they are looking for soldiers in Iraq, and none of these loudmouth bloggers and pundits today have the balls or patriotism of The 1960s JEremiah Wright.
HE put his fucking ass on the line for the country. HE earned the right to say whatever the fuck he wants.
He might be wrong, he might be a dick. But is calling it like he sees it, and he paid his fucking dues.
I agree that the whole Wright thing was blown out of proportioan and taken out of context. That being said, military service shouldn't make someone immune from any kind of criticism, nor is it a free pass for any future asshattery. I think his comments should be looked at contextually and fairly, no more or no less.
I agree with roadkill. The media was lazy and just looking to manufacture a controversy. Wright's comments weren't really all that bad if you look at them in their unedited form.
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