Disconnected Public, Disconnected Policy
If you needed more evidence of the growing disconnect between the American military and civilian worlds, you need look no farther than the recent weekend box office. New Moon, a movie about a love triangle between a teenage girl, a vampire, and a werewolf, took in $142 million, while The Messenger, a movie about the human cost of the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, made $44,000.
The Americans at war have little in common with the frivolous American home front. While American soldiers will fight and die in Afghanistan for the ninth Christmas this year, home front Americans will wake up at the crack of dawn to take advantage of “Black Friday” deals on Christmas gifts. The home front Americans will go shopping, thinking little of the American military beyond the ubiquitous yellow ribbon on the back of their SUV or Minivan.
This civil-military gap causes great harm to America. As Boston University Professor Andrew Bacevich has said, “…the high esteem we have for our military doesn’t necessarily translate into a desire to be one of them.” Americans do not encourage their sons to join the military—that job is best left to others. The average civilian is so disconnected to the military experience as to actually believe the yellow ribbon show of support absolves them of any responsibility for the actions of the American republic.
My own family experience is fairly typical. I am the only one in two generations to have served in the military. Yet my family is as flag waving, pin wearing, and military loving as the rest of America. My family celebrated my service, but neither volunteered, nor protested when America went to war.
Despite 5,000 American dead, there has been no large-scale public outcry against the wars. Certainly Iraq was a contentious issue in the 2004 election cycle, but the anti-war effort was not sustained. Americans re-elected George Bush and went back to the mall.
It is hard to fault the average American for the situation. Most are loyal and patriotic, honestly wanting the best for America and Americans. So they volunteer for a political campaign, get involved in issue advocacy, and ultimately vote for their chosen candidate. And therein lies the rub—the only thing worse than betting on the American public to end the wars is betting on the American politicians to end them.
Barack Obama was elected, at least in part, because he promised to end the war in Iraq. As it stands, there are 130,000 troops occupying Iraq, and he is contemplating an escalation in Afghanistan that would raise the number there to around 100,000. This is the foreign policy of the leader of the Democratic Party—the traditionally pro-peace party.
It is not as if the American public can vote for the opposition party with the expectation that the Republican Party will end the wars. The contemporary GOP never misses a chance to support a war, intervention, or defense contractor. In many ways, the GOP is worse. In the face of the “Global War on Terror,” George Bush himself told Americans to go shopping and travel to Disney World. Most of the key GOP leaders wholeheartedly support Obama’s proposed escalation—criticizing only his slowness in making the decision.
And so New Moon makes millions while small numbers of American families are destroyed by policy elites who should know better, and the American public who do not care to.
Love your writing style, very captivating, interesting, and generally well thought out. I, however, disagree with the conclusions you draw from the recent box office numbers. Americans are lazy. They choose, in large part, to attend the movie premire of “New Moon” because of the marketing and publicity assoicated with it.
Americans were, in large part, perceived to be more patriotic during WWII because every movie was preceeded by an update on the war. Every newspaper focused on the war. Americans were concerned about the war because it was constantly brought to their attention.
Americans are intersted generally in what the media tells them to be interested in. Not because they are mindless sheep but because they are lazy and take what is given to them. This posses an additional question; is the media coverage driven by the desires of Americans, the media’s perception of the desires of Americans, or the media’s agenda?
J-Boogie
February 1, 2010 at 10:14 pm