The Daily Collegian - Pat Tillman is not a hero: He got what was coming to him

Excuse me a moment while I try to calm down.

I had hoped to post this early this morning when I first found out about it, but having to work to make ends meet, I became distracted earning an honest day's wage.

As I read it again tonight, I find myself desiring to choke the idiot who wrote it.

This is simply over the top (it's a Google cached version of the original as the Daily Collegian's website has apparently crashed due to high volume traffic). The original link is here, good luck geting to it. But for ease of making the point, I've decided to print the entire thing here:

Pat Tillman is not a hero: He got what was coming to him

by Rene Gonzalez

April 28, 2004

When the death of Pat Tillman occurred, I turned to my friend who was watching the news with me and said, "How much you want to bet they start talking about him as a 'hero' in about two hours?" Of course, my friend did not want to make that bet. He'd lose. In this self-critical incapable nation, nothing but a knee-jerk "He's a hero" response is to be expected.

I've been mystified at the absolute nonsense of being in "awe" of Tillman's "sacrifice" that has been the American response. Mystified, but not surprised. True, it's not everyday that you forgo a $3.6 million contract for joining the military. And, not just the regular army, but the elite Army Rangers. You know he was a real Rambo, who wanted to be in the "real" thick of things. I could tell he was that type of macho guy, from his scowling, beefy face on the CNN pictures. Well, he got his wish. Even Rambo got shot in the third movie, but in real life, you die as a result of being shot. They should call Pat Tillman's army life "Rambo 4: Rambo Attempts to Strike Back at His Former Rambo 3 Taliban Friends, and Gets Killed."

But, does that make him a hero? I guess it's a matter of perspective. For people in the United States, who seem to be unable to admit the stupidity of both the Afghanistan and Iraqi wars, such a trade-off in life standards (if not expectancy) is nothing short of heroic. Obviously, the man must be made of "stronger stuff" to have had decided to "serve" his country rather than take from it. It's the old JFK exhortation to citizen service to the nation, and it seems to strike an emotional chord. So, it's understandable why Americans automatically knee-jerk into hero worship.

However, in my neighborhood in Puerto Rico, Tillman would have been called a "pendejo," an idiot. Tillman, in the absurd belief that he was defending or serving his all-powerful country from a seventh-rate, Third World nation devastated by the previous conflicts it had endured, decided to give up a comfortable life to place himself in a combat situation that cost him his life. This was not "Ramon or Tyrone," who joined the military out of financial necessity, or to have a chance at education. This was a "G.I. Joe" guy who got what was coming to him. That was not heroism, it was prophetic idiocy.

Tillman, probably acting out his nationalist-patriotic fantasies forged in years of exposure to Clint Eastwood and Rambo movies, decided to insert himself into a conflict he didn't need to insert himself into. It wasn't like he was defending the East coast from an invasion of a foreign power. THAT would have been heroic and laudable. What he did was make himself useful to a foreign invading army, and he paid for it. It's hard to say I have any sympathy for his death because I don't feel like his "service" was necessary. He wasn't defending me, nor was he defending the Afghani people. He was acting out his macho, patriotic crap and I guess someone with a bigger gun did him in.

Perhaps it's the old, dreamy American thought process that forces them to put sports greats and "larger than life" sacrificial lambs on the pedestal of heroism, no matter what they've done. After all, the American nation has no other role to play but to be the cheerleaders of the home team; a sad role to have to play during conflicts that suffer from severe legitimacy and credibility problems.

Matters are a little clearer for those living outside the American borders. Tillman got himself killed in a country other than his own without having been forced to go over to that country to kill its people. After all, whether we like them or not, the Taliban is more Afghani than we are. Their resistance is more legitimate than our invasion, regardless of the fact that our social values are probably more enlightened than theirs. For that, he shouldn't be hailed as a hero, he should be used as a poster boy for the dangerous consequences of too much "America is #1," frat boy, propaganda bull. It might just make a regular man irrationally drop $3.6 million to go fight in a conflict that was anything but "self-defense." The same could be said of the unusual belief of 50 percent of the American nation that thinks Saddam Hussein was behind Sept. 11. One must indeed stand in awe of the amazing success of the American propaganda machine. It works wonders.

Al-Qaeda won't be defeated in Afghanistan, even if we did kill all their operatives there. Only through careful and logical changing of the underlying conditions that allow for the ideology to foster will Al-Qaeda be defeated. Ask the Israelis if 50 years of blunt force have eradicated the Palestinian resistance. For that reason, Tillman's service, along with that of thousands of American soldiers, has been wrongly utilized. He did die in vain, because in the years to come, we will realize the irrationality of the War on Terror and the American reaction to Sept. 11. The sad part is that we won't realize it before we send more people like Pat Tillman over to their deaths.

Rene Gonzalez is a UMass graduate student.

No... Rene Gonzalez is a blooming idiot. It's really that simple.

UMass' president seems to agree:

UMass president Jack Wilson issued a statement saying Rene Gonzalez' comments in The Daily Collegian "are a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country."

You've got that right Jack. She joins much of the Hollywood left, the so called anti-war left (many of whom are not anti-war, they're simply on the other side), the folks at MoveOn.Org, the mouth-breathers at Democratic Underground and fellow idiots like Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, et al.

Buffoons. Ignorant buffoons.

Rene's momma ought to slap the heck out of her daughter.

UPDATE: I was all wrong about this folks. Dead wrong and I feel so terrible. I have to make amends.

...

...

...

Rene is a he, not a she. Momma shouldn't do anything about Rene. Daddy ought to smack the crap out of him.

Comments

[Linda]

Why let Rene's momma get all the fun...can't we just form a line!! And if she doesn't like it, she can just move her butt back to Puerto Rico...or even better...go live with the Afghani people and then ask herself whether she would like the U.S. to help them/her. People like her are what puts this country to shame, and to think Tillman died to give her a right to say/write her words. Sheez

[HarryTick]

You know, I was just thinking that minus a few points, like those about being able to change the world that ferments and incubates Al Qaeda growth, that there was nothing really wrong with Rene's comments.

Some people have accused me of succumbing to my situation and allowing it to affect my politics, but right now I am extremely apolitical. I really think that a. people like Rene, as well as yourselves should get to use the liberty, that you all claim to be so grateful to us for defending, to speak your minds. b. If there wasn't SOMETHING to merit the ideas Rene professes, nobody would feel that way anyways.

I'm not saying that she's absolutely right and you are absolutely wrong (nor vice versa), just the mutually exclusive nature of your expressions are equally repulsive.

Do we really want to be fighting these kinds of conflicts 50 years from now? Will playing nice with the world really prevent these conflicts from occurring in the future?

Both of these questions beg really hard soul-searching answers.

[songstress7]

Good idea. One correction to note - Rene is apparently male (not that you could tell from his wussy attitude). Hubby-head and I were looking at some webpage with his info and picture on it, which is now apparently borked from the site traffic (or "Farked", since Fark.com posted the link for all to see). The Google cached version of the site is: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:DDsFEy88_BoJ:www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~jbcp/rene.html+rene+gonzalez&hl=en&start=10 (sorry for the extra-long link).

[Adam]

While I do not agree with the comments of Rene Gonzalez, his right to free expression and speech is just that - free. I actually find the backlash from his comments more disturbing than the article itself. Have we become a country that simply does not allow alternative or unpopular opinions? Yes, I think we have become just that...

[Rick]

Harry,

I'd really like to have you expound on the idea that there was nothing really wrong with Rene's notions.

What specifically is right about them?

Here are some highlights (not quite as high as they ought to be in my view but nevertheless) of those views expressed by Rene:

Both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are stupid.

That the JFK exhortation to service for country is merely a knee-jerk reaction by Americans that leads to hero worship.

That Tillman, and men like him by extension, are idiots.

That Tillman was a G.I. Joe guy that got what was coming to him.

That Tillman wasn't defending freedom or America but was instead "acting out his macho, patriotic crap and I guess someone with a bigger gun did him in."

That people like me, who see the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as legitimate and credible, are merely "cheerleaders of the home team".

That Taliban resistance was more legitimate than our invasion.

That Tillman "shouldn't be hailed as a hero, he should be used as a poster boy for the dangerous consequences of too much "America is #1," frat boy, propaganda bull."

That Tillman died in vain "because in the years to come, we will realize the irrationality of the War on Terror and the American reaction to Sept. 11. The sad part is that we won't realize it before we send more people like Pat Tillman over to their deaths."

I ask you specifically Harry what parts of this you agree with and why.

[HarryTick]

Rick,

Exactly what Adam said, I find his right to say those things absolutely dead on! Not to mention, that his rhetoric is poor, his facts askew, and yet, I can't help but agree with him. You are getting caught on the facts, which is immaterial with Rene and why the Right-wing cannot comprehend the Liberal-Left, because it isn't in the facts. The "facts" are like reading tea leaves, you might always miss something and read them wrong...happens all the time.

This gentleman has more of a viewpoint I would likely be able to agree with:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/schroder3.html

[RickinVa]

Harry,

I checked out the link. I think there to be more to conservatism than mere nostalgia, so I was immediately put off after reading that in the article.

Mr. Schroder seems hell-bent on throwing out the baby with the bath water. In his quest for the best, he is dismissive of the better. I can't understand that mindset. In fact, don't care to.

He closes with "Whereas the war hawks will lament the death of a patriot, we should lament the fact that being a patriot now means unyielding devotion to an American ideal that is anything but."

Where is that written? Are American ideals of love of country, duty, honor, freedom, faith, family, are they all to be dismissed because there are those in country that abuse those things, that demean them, that are disrespectful of them? Why should the minority be used as defining fodder for what the American ideal is or should be? Or worse, why should their abuse of God given freedoms in some way minimize or do away with the American ideal?

I find Mr. Schroder's perspective depressing, defeatist, and yes, dare I say it, un-american.

This country has indeed done wrong in it's past. It will do wrong again in the future. The definition of being human requires that this be the case.

But Schroder thinks the American ideal is dead because America has made mistakes.

I call this Utopian, Ignorant, and woefully lacking in historical perspective and in what it is that this country has done right.

Mr. Schroder's scales may have fallen from his eyes but he's still blinded partially by a perspective that focuses on the bad at the expense of the good and decent.

[Camo]

Uh, guys... Rene is male.

Just so you know.

[Mike]

Rene, go back to Puerto Rico lets see you surrender a $3.6 million contract to get shot at you fool. Its not arrogant people like Pat Tillman its arrogant foreigners like yourself that we bend over backwards for and give all your rights to!!!!

[Jason]

The first time I had heard about such an article I was absolutely infuriated. I served 8 years in the Marine Corps, and to hear such a person have complete disrespect for our country and peoples beliefs made me absolutely sick. First, this person is not originally from the United States of America, so why is he trashing our country with his rediculous beliefs that were probably fed to him by a third rate teacher. I highly doubt that this guy served any time looking at the American flag and reading the history behind it.
Hey Rene, do you think that the people that died fighting the British during the American Revolution were a bunch of brain-washed GI Joe wanabees? Funny, there were non. These people wanted peace, and the people that serve THEIR COUNTRY want the same thing. Did that ever corss your mind? That not all of us are living off of the hard working Americans money like you are? Oh yeah I am sorry, you are getting you Doctorite. So I have paid for 8 years of your college tuition.
Is there any pride of country from you Rene? I will bet that you will hold up a flag of Puerto Rico, instead of an American Flag, oh yeah, Peurto Rico is sovergn American soil, if you have forgotten.
It is idiotic people like this, that tease 3rd graders when they are in high school because they know that they can not defend themselves. Keep picking on the dead, that served their country, for what they believed was right. And by the way, Pat Tillman can not fight back against this moron.
If it were up to me, I would kick him out of school and ban him from the greatest country on Earth. Have him try this stuff in Afghanistan. Because he believes that this is a useless was over there.

[Craven Morehead]

Rene (boy-girl, whatever) is no better than Jane Fonda...a low-life traitor. Gutless wonders like Gonzoles have no idea what it takes to serve your country and put your life on the line. Do Americans a favor and put your worthless ass on a raft and float back to Puerto Rico where you can hang-out with your other pitiful wetback friends. Maggots like you are a disgrace to the human race.

[Francis McGillicuddy]

I think you should be ashamed of your self.
i dont believe we should be fighting in iraq, i do believe we should be fighting in Afghanistan however i am not here to discuss that. Whether we should be at war or not doesnt matter at this time because the fact is we are. The soldiers are not to blame for this they are over there fighting a war, just or unjust, not out of desire but out of a belief in a cause, whether it is legitimate or not is not something we have the luxery of debating at this time. Pat Tillman isnt any more a hero then any other soldier who is fighting overseas. The fact that they are over there fighting the battle and we are here talking about it is why they are heroes. If you believe that someone who answers there countries call to duty, fights for a cause they believe in, and then gives there life as a result is anything less then a hero, then i feel more sorrow for you then i do for the tillman family, and i know them personally. To sit in judgement of somebody who has unselfishly given there life to what they believe to be the cause of freedom, and to then say that you have a hard time feeling sympathy for this person. It is a good thing that i dont know who you are or where you live because i have never been more angry or more disapointed with my fellow humans then when i read your disgraceful, unsettling, commentary. Moreover i believe that your thoughts and feelings on HEROES like pat tillman says a more about what type of person you are then what type of person he was. Its a shame your mother didnt commit suicide when she was pregnant with you so that we wouldnt have to listen to your rank verbal discharge.