Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Red Shirt Fridays

By all means, support the troops. I don't want to imply that one should not support the men and women who face death every day in service to their country. Supporting the troops is a noble goal.

But this shit is just fucking stupid.



That's right. They bleed red, so we wear red. Well, I guess that makes us even then!

Something is wrong with our society if we have convinced ourselves that wearing a red shirt is somehow helping to support the troops. How did we get to the point where we can feel like wearing a certain shirt or putting a ribbon-shaped magnet on our car is actually doing something?

Let me explain something, Red-Shirters.




These are the troops.















They are over here











And here.












You, on the other hand,






Are here.






And the troops can not see what color shirt you are wearing, what with them being over there.

And if they could somehow see your red shirtHow exactly do you suppose that the color of your shirt would make one Goddamn bit of difference in their lives.

"Well, it sure does suck being shot at all the time in this God-forsaken desert, but hey, Doug from Ohio has a red shirt on! Let's get 'em, boys!"

No, wearing a red shirt only helps you. It gives you the illusion that you are somehow doing something to help our brave men and women in uniform. But you aren't. Your shirt does nothing. Neither does your bumper-sticker. Just like me wearing my lucky Giants shirt didn't help the Giants win last night. (Which they did!)

All your stupid red shirt does is lets you strut around as though you are contributing to the war effort and feel superior to the imaginary people who don't support the troops.
Here's what they say on the Red Shirt Fridays Website:

We care only about making our support of our servicemen and women known to our fellow Americans and the world. We are a silent majority that does not wish to remain silent anymore.

See, they want to make their support of the troops known to other Americans. In other words, they want to look good and noble to other people, not help the troops.

If you really want to support the troops, try giving money to one of these organizations





but have no idea of what to send, who to send it to, or how to send it?


And there are plenty of others. If you want to actually do something for the troops, take the money you were going to spend on a stupid fucking red shirt and give it to one of these organizations. Then keep giving until it hurts. And leave the red shirts for freshman quarterbacks.

6 comments:

jadedj said...

Oh, yes...I've heard of the silent majority before. They got us where they wanted to go, for sure.

jadedj said...

Oh, and I forgot the word of the day regards this...simpletons.

Blueberry said...

Seems like those people would really want there to be LESS red, as in less bloodshed. Some folks think war is a sport.

Mentor said...

Good point, are these companies actually trying to sell a movement or a t-shirt where the proceeds line their own pockets.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. If you had looked a little further into their website, you would have seen "Joni Industries the company that sells the Red Shirt Fridays shirts, donates ALL profits to missions supporting our troops." On a personal note, I wear a plain red shirt every friday to show my support for the troops AND I donate monthly to the USO. As a former member of the military, I know what any and all shows of support of military personnel means. I also understand that we are all entitled to our freedom of speech and expression, misguided or not.

Tom Kerrigan said...

Misguided or not, I say not. I spent 12yrs in the Army and I could care less what someone back home wore to show their "support" Jim Slattery came to the Gulf to show his support, right, I told him if he wanted to support me, grab an M16, ditch the jeans and shirt and get with the program. In my opinion if you want to buy something to show support, fine, but putting up banners is just you showing us how great YOU are for your "support" as meaningless as it is. If it's truly support you're giving, there are organizations out there with proven track records of support, monetarily as well as volunteer ism appreciated. Keep your prayers and T-shirts, show real support or shut up.