Most people probably remember a few years back when Pat Tillman, then a member of the Arizona Cardinals, turned down a 9 million dollar free agent contract with the St. Louis Rams so that he could become a Ranger in the U.S. Army. The story is memorable because it is so unusual. Why would a person living a life of wealth and fame trade that existence in for a life of danger and hardship? The papers reported that his choice was a result of the Sept. 11th attacks; that he wanted to serve his country and fight terrorism.
Whether or not you agree with America’s response to the Sept. 11th attacks or the “War on Terrorism,” (I don’t agree with either), it is impossible not to respect the choice of Pat Tillman. It is as rare to see millionaires and the children of millionaires running off to battle as it is to see politicians or the sons of politicians running off to battle. Usually the millionaires decide there is some threat to their vast and hoarded wealth, so they go and cry to their politician friends who then figure out a way to send a bunch of poor, inner-city black kids off to die for them. People of wealth and privilege don’t usually ending up “dying in the fight for liberty.” They’re willing to stand up and squawk and make all kinds of self-righteous noise, but when the time comes for them to bleed for their beliefs, they scurry away like rats.
Though I don’t agree with America’s recent war, I do believe that every soldier that puts his/her life at risk is a hero. For the most part they are very young people who are putting their faith in the judgment of others in the hope that they can contribute to doing some good in the world. Every single one of them that gets killed is a tragedy, and you’d hope that when a president is waging a war for his own stupid pride, the death count would finally penetrate into his conscience.
It was recently revealed that former Arizona Cardinal Pat Tillman, who walked away from millions of dollars to go and fight, was killed in Afghanistan. It was kind of shocking for me to read this. Here is another person more or less my age, tragically dead.
Predictably, the papers were very respectful and went on and on about what a hero he is, but somehow I found those articles cliche and irritating. I’m not disputing the fact that he’s a hero, it’s just that saying the guy is a hero in a god damned newspaper isn’t good enough! It shouldn’t have happened, he shouldn‘t have been killed. I realize that it is for the family that the papers claim that “if Pat had the chance to chose whether or not to go to war even if he knew what would happen to him, he’d still go.” Bullshit. Now listen, I respect the guy and I respect his conviction, but I’ve been in near-death situations myself and I’ve found you re-think everything pretty quick. Thinking about this, I found myself wondering what sequence of events lead to Pat Tillman’s death.
The newspapers have said that Pat was a great student who maintained a 3.84 grade point average in College. That’s good, that’s not easy to do, mine was 3.82 (English literature major and a minor in Physics) and I had to work to get it, so I am content to concede that Pat Tillman had an above average intellect. But that again brings about the question: why would somebody with an above average intellect turn down millions of dollars in exchange for the chance to be killed?
Though Pat Tillman was a millionaire, he was new money, that is, he actually had to work for it. He wasn’t a rich teat sucking bitch like our commander in chief George W., and therefore he was susceptible to the media blitz of guilt and sense of duty that is constantly broadcast to the massive poor percentage of the American population (which, as already stated, is where the rich obtain their armies of people who get to do the dying to protect all the money that “they got the old fashioned way...they earned!”--Heavy Sarcasm Implied). Plus, being a newly rich person, he probably wasn’t possessed of that sense of arrogant entitlement that a person like George W. has, the one that suggests that the rules are for the lesser people who haven’t shown they have the genetic material to make money the old fashioned way....INHERIT it.
So Pat Tillman thought he could pay off his duty to America by fighting for it. He’s an honorable person. But the thing I can’t understand is why he couldn’t see that he was in a position to provide much more help to America by playing football. He was making millions of dollars, that’s a huge responsibility, he could have used that money to start up schools, or low-income housing projects, or any other of a hundred domestic problems. Why is it that the only option available in the cultural background noise for young people who want to serve their country is going out and dying? Why are they constantly made to feel guilty that they are alive?
The truth is that being of service to my country is of great importance to me, but you’ll never catch me in the army. I feel I am providing a service to my country right now, not just with this article, but with every article I have written. I believe that being an opposing voice to the masses of cultural thought is actually the greatest service you could possibly perform. It is a thankless job, in fact, many people hate you, but just think about it. Just think if there had been a few people like me to speak out against the atrocities committed by the German government in the mid-thirties. Maybe if there had been a few watchdogs, the whole holocaust could have been avoided.
Christ, somebody’s got to use freedom of speech. If we don’t, what are people like Pat Tillman dying for?
Really, I think the whole Pat Tillman tragedy is a case of misplaced faith. He put his trust in the judgment of the U.S. Government and got killed for it. Has his sacrifice made us safer from terrorists? I hope so, but I am cynical enough to rather doubt it. I’m suspicious enough of the government that I believe it was probably some half-assed West Point graduate’s incompetence that got Pat Tillman killed. Our forces our so superior that if they were competently deployed we shouldn’t ever suffer any casualties. But everybody wants headlines so they run needless risks.
Now, they’re using Tillman’s example as a lure in the media to get other young people to enlist in the army. But the next time you see an article like that, see if it mentions that Pat Tillman was a millionaire. See if the media uses the example of this honorable man to try and lure the sons of millionaires or of politicians into the army. The headlines could very easily be, “Tillman Set the Example, It’s time for the Children of Bush to Follow the Lead.”
But the newspapers won’t do that because they are all owned by the rich assholes who like to convince the poor people that they aren’t good enough and that the world would be better served by their meaningless deaths.
This whole thing really disgusts me. I was impressed with Pat Tillman back when he made the hard choice several years ago and went into the army, but the fact that he is dead just gives me a hollow feeling. That’s what happens in war, people die. That’s why you shouldn’t declare war unless you yourself would be willing to die in the cause that you were championing. If Pat Tillman had ever become president, and he had declared a war, I would have followed him. He was grooming himself into a man of experience, an honorable man who stood up for his convictions.
But we don’t get too many leaders like that in America, all the honorable people end up dying for what they believe in long before they have a chance to run for office.
And you’ll never, ever, see me picking up a gun to fight for George W. Bush, because I sure as shit know that George W. Bush would never risk his own neck or his father’s money for any of the idiotic bullshit he claims to believe.
But, like I said, Pat Tillman I would have followed. But I’ll never get that chance.
The End