I am going to do something I once said I would never do - I am going to belittle a group with whom I disagree. My initial intention was simply to ignore them all, for the quite sane reasons that (a) it is an area outside the purview of this blog; and (b) to do so would bring me down to their level. They have gone after Sadly! No, a site I frequent because of its quite hilarious demeaning of right-wing bloggers; specifically, after posting this piece, they DDOS'd them, and have continued to try to shut them down. What was the crime for which the boys from Arkansas were to be silenced? They questioned the veracity of the Gathering of Eagles.
When I first heard about it, I honestly had no idea what it was about, nor did I care all that much. After reading a bit about it here, I realized it was the pathetic attempt by war-supporters to look tough, to associate themselves with something they know nothing about (the military), and to take upon themselves the mantle of downtrodden victim and martyr to true American freedom. That it has all worked out that way, in spades, only shows that these folks are as predictable as sunrise and sunset - you just know it's going to happen every day.
One of Gavin, HTML Mencken, et al.'s little quibbles is an important point - the whole issue of numbers. When Michelle Malkin insists that she has official numbers from the National Park Service, my ears perk up, because I seem to remember, back in the mid-1990's, Congress passing a law keeping the National Park Service from any longer doing counts of protests on the Mall. Was I wrong about that? Had the law changed? If you go back and peruse Sadly!No, you will find that, indeed, the Park Service is prohibited from doing counts of protests. So those "official numbers" are officially a crock of moose shit. Malkin was wise enough to keep changing her story, but the mistake had been made.
I have several question for this gaggle of couch-potato warriors, not the least of which is what, exactly, were they protecting and why? Apparently GoE insisted there was a plot to deface or otherwise attack the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. I honestly cannot imagine a scenario less likely to happen, unless it is the Bush twins joining the military. There are few memorials that are more dearly loved by all Americans who have been there and seen it than that lovely, silent wall. All it takes is one visit, watching as grown men weep uncontrollably as they find the name of a comrade or comrades they left behind; all it takes is to go to the American History Museum and see the small display collection of items that are left each day to remind us that this national memorial is, in essence, a national Gravemarker, a headstone marking our national sorrow at the 54,000 American lives lost to no good end or purpose. Why would anyone attack it?
More pointedly (and, for me, more controversially), is there anything more pathetic, really, than a bunch of out-of-shape, military-wannabes pretending to be a part of something that would destroy them if they actually were there? What I mean, for example, is this, by way of example. Seriously, one wonders what in the world this person is compensating for - his entire page design is like something out of the fantasies of a sophomore in high school, not least including the supposed quotes endorsing said blog that appear at the very top. I hate armchair psychoanalyzing, but something as blatant as this cries out for someone to say, "Why don't you tell me more about your feelings about your father."
While the numbers issue will never be settled, the chest-bearing, pseudo-macho, pseudo-patriotic nonsense spewers have had their fun and gone back to whatever homes and lives they had, I would ask you to click on the link to Sadly!No and view the post that contains screen caps from various GoE sites in which active-duty or former military personnel are photographed and labeled "cowards" - because they were participants in the much larger, much more successful, much more representative anti-war march. It must be so nice to be so unsure of oneself that one can castigate those whom one supposedly is rallying to support.
These people are the very embodiment of pathetic.
Virtual Tin Cup
