Supporting the troops while opposing the government

I had mentioned a few days ago about a soap I watch ("One Life to Live") doing a story on a peace activist (Marcie) getting harassed because of her anti-war stance. Since then, they've brought Marcie's brother, Ron, on the show, to try and pressure her on behalf of the family to give it up.

Ron starts by telling her how their business at their father's restaraunt has fallen off in response to Marcie's protests and business at his own shop has as well. Then he lays into her about opposing the military action when their brother is a soldier. Marcie responds that just because she diagrees - strongly - with what the government is doing with our troops doesn't mean that she doesn't support the troops themselves.

I'm on a mailing list with other fans of the show, and one of the, Brad Beam, shared one way he's found of making that same point - and I think it's good enough that I wanted to share it with the rest of you.

We all have our favorite sports teams, whether it's high school or professional. The team may be part of our community or part of our personal history, and we care intimately about the team's members.

But during the course of the season, or even during a game, the coaching staff makes what we deem to be boneheaded plays. We want our team to be respected and to succeed, and we think these plays run counter to the team philosophy.

In some cases, the coaches may not have any personal experience in playing the game, or we didn't agree with the coaches' hiring. But, we care about the success of our team.

Given that it seems like many conservatives are also sports fans (why else would someone want to have Rush Limbaugh help give commentary on football games), its the kind of metaphor that might actually penetrate their skulls a bit - though whether they'd admit it or not is a whole different question.

In any event, I think it's something that a lot of people may be able to relate to, and I'm glad Brad is willing to let me share it with you.

Posted by thorswitch at August 6, 2003 03:36 AM | TrackBack