Picking a fight with Wil Wheaton

I am going to do a little hating on a Blogger who is famous (and I was never a fan of).

So disclosure time:
What is even weirder is that Wil Wheaton has done an online radio show for some friends of mine.
I was also part of the hordes of many back’in’the day who hated on Wesley Crusher.
I liked some of the movies Wil starred in, and after reading Wil’s blog I’ve gained some more respect for him vs. the Star Trek producers. I also am a huge comic book geek and nerd, who plays poker whenever I have cash.


Ok now that we have our disclosure Wil like a lot of anti-war folks has decided to make the 2000 KIA mark some significant part of their motivation, I’ve not seen Wil be a ghoul about it so I can let most of that go. However Wil in exercising his whole Yellow Elephant ideology single handedly shows the Hypocrisy of his belief system

but has he listened to what he's saying? Daniel Schuberth, who should probably earn some sort of award from Operation Yellow Elephant, has the fucking nerve to criticize a brave soldier who is following orders, even though he doesn't believe in the war, when he won't enlist himself.

First of all the “Yellow Elephant” Philosophy says if you believe in a war, you need to go fight. The ideology is flawed because we actually cannot economically support a military big enough to include everyone who is willing to fight in war X, Y, or Z. But beyond that Yellow Elephantism says “You must be a soldier to make military descisions.”

So if you subscribe to that Philosophy you are saying:
Women can’t ever support a war.
Homosexuals (who are openly so) can’t ever support a war.
People who have committed a crime that disqualifies themselves from any military service.
People who never graduated High school can’t support a war.
People who are physically unable to serve can’t support a war.
People who are to old to serve can’t support a war ( more on that later).
People who have (at some time) been diagnosed with a mental illness can’t support a war…

I could spend the time to talk about fundamentally how Un-American that is. But Yellow Elephantism goes deeper.

If you support a war and have kids, in a way straight out of Leviticus your sins must be visited upon your children. Forget that your children have a choice ( and may not agree with your choice) to those who believe in Yellow Elephantism say you must sacrifice your life for the sins of your father and mother.

We could also go into the harsh reality that people who are in upper income brackets and also people who are more religious tend to be more likely to enlist to serve (proportionally) then folks who come from poorer communities and communities with less religion. Because to the Yellow Elephanters the big lie is needed that poor and underprivileged minorities must be dying for those evil bigoted Republicans thirst for war.

The realities are of course a White Southerner is (statistically) more likely to be in a front line combat unit then some one from the Upper East Side in New York. A Hispanic 2nd generation American is more likely to be on the front lines in combat then a man possibly even a neighbor of African American descent.
Also unknown to the Yellow Elephanters that if you take the top 1000 people in our federal government and compare them to a representative sample of the public at large you will find –more- people with sons, daughters, or family members under the age of 30 in the service right now.

But what is worse about Yellow Elephantism, is their hate is not just to those people who cheer for the war in words and deeds, but also for people who have the ribbons on their cars. Most of those magnets are charitable in nature and go to funds to help wounded soldiers, or the children of fallen soldiers, or the families of soldiers whose primary income earner is over seas fighting. On Filibuster Cartoons we see a comic about a similar mind set. You say you support the troops ok fine, tell me how? I am one of those people who cannot due to the physical standards of the service go into uniform but I have supported the troops. I have contributed as much as I have been able on multiple occasions to funds to help support families of our soldiers, and soldiers who are injured. I support The Shriner’s Hospitals through my dues which provides to our service men and women access to some of the top notch prosthetic medicine money can buy. So am I a Yellow Elephant because short of major surgery (and even then probably not) I am unable to serve in a war I support? Do you know ho many people are turned away? Am I a fake patriot because I, like most people who buy Livestrong-styled arm bands or a magnet with support our troops on it that went to funds that actually –contribute- to the well being of our troops and our families?

But the Yellow Elephantism of Wil Wheaton grows even more dishonest. If I oppose the war I have the right to be a soldier, or not to be a soldier. And I cannot have my patriotism questioned if I am in or out of uniform. But if I support the war I do not have the right to be a civilian. Contributing to charities that actually help soldiers and their families isn’t good enough for Wil Wheaton and other folks who cry out Yellow Elephant.

I could cast aspersions on their motivations for being anti-war. I could talk about the intellectual bankruptcy of the anti-war position. But then I’d be behaving just like Wil and some of the worst of the anti-war lot.

I’ll take satisfaction in the fact that I will expose their ideas as the odious thoughts they are. Anyone who can vote has a right to an opinion on any government policy. Anyone who has a child who is going overseas has a right to their opinion. And even people who are apathetic and jingoistic who care more about American Idol then they do what is going on in the rest of the world have the right to their opinion.

And I think it is Orwellian that the very people who scream the loudest “You cannot question our patriotism” are the ones who always question the patriotism of those they disagree with.