An Ex-Military Black Man from Arizona on John McCain, Colin Kaepernick, Heroes, and Social Media
The world is a better place because of social media. Most people at or around my age of 50 have reconnected with old friends and family, and have also gotten closer to new friends and family via posts, pictures, and hashtags. New businesses and ideas not previously known are opening people’s minds and promoting a more futuristic school of thought among many.
On the other hand, social media is quickly fucking up the world. A widening chasm is gaining steam toward loss of trusting one’s experiences, loss of friends, and loss of life. We the People are becoming robots — puppets to those moneyminders who are giggling all the way to the banks that they are owning with our money.
We have become lazy from relying more on social media and less on actual research. The scary part is that we are increasingly ignoring our own experiences in order to comply with the wishes of ‘the winning side’. Black/Brown/White, Blue/Red, Christian/Jew/Muslim, Old/Young, etc. Whereas in the not too distant past we would at least attempt to put the word ‘and’ in between those word groups, we are now openly choosing the word ‘or’. Hail to the Victors!
John McCain didn’t become a national hero until he died. Think about that…
The man who has now fallen just short of being nominated for American sainthood didn’t even garner the votes of even 46% of the country in his bid for the presidency (whose brilliant idea was it to even mention that one of the stupidest women on the planet should be his running mate?!?). McCain wasn’t quite the maverick — the media liked the title and ran with it — but he was mostly his own man until his run for the Oval Office. His decision to put the money before his country and the people in it, ultimately cost him more of a historic legacy and put his political future in temporary doubt. Arizonans were speaking more about his age and shortcomings than his place in history. Until he died.
McCain was a war hero, which, believe it or not, most who enlist in the armed forces are not. I’m gonna catch a lot of shit for this, but it needs to be said anyway, because it seems to slip most ex-military minds that well over 50% of kids who enlist aren’t doing it solely to protect the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. Most enlisted, and many officers, are simply looking for a way out of their dull, low-ceilinged towns and job possibilities, and into something that includes travel, benefits, and a consistent paycheck. The men who shot Pat Tillman are not heroes. The vast majority of men and women who are given a general or dishonorable discharge, of which there are a sizable amount, are not heroes. Ask anyone who has served, and they can tell you a decent number of stories regarding some of the fuck-ups that they served with.
I served during Desert Storm, earned as many ribbons and medals during my four year enlistment as my father did during his 21 year enlistment (which included the Vietnam War), but I am no hero. There are cops who are true heroes, and others who are not. There are teachers who are true heroes, and others who are not. Firefighters, pilots, doctors, nurses…professional sports figures, political figures, and the top 1% in gross earnings, should NOT be pigeonholed into any stereotype, be it the hero, or the villain.
Which brings us to the most polarizing figure in this country today. Who, for the record, I did not even like before that first fateful kneeldown. I saw him play live in a game for the University of Nevada, and instantly thought of him as a cocky self-serving insanely talented prima donna. His years in pro football did nothing to dispel my opinion. His initial kneeldown was in my opinion more of the same. Hero? Or not?
But when the heat was turned up on him and he remained steadfast on his position (which was never about disrespecting God Bless America and No One Else — y’all made that one up), and when he lost his job and remained steadfast on his position, and when he created own brand and remained steadfast on his position, I changed my opinion.
Hear that? I changed my opinion.
Along comes Nike, and the message is no longer on police brutality and social injustice, but on motherfucking shoes!!! Nike simply took a page from the NRA and said, “Thanks to social media, we can get rich off of this.” In the same way that the gun lobby made millions via donations and gun sales and paraphernalia, athletic shoe companies are banking our hard earned money, and giggling all the way to the banks that they own. Return on investment — a bazillion percent.
We are consistently being taken for the fools that we are, and need to wake up to that fact. Black and Brown and White and Blue and Red and Christians and Jews and Muslims, young and old.
Embrace the similarities. Respect the differences.
