Whats up with the colbert report??

Originally posted by Ace High
reply to post by Amaterasu

 

Really? This week alone he has had Obama, Bush the first, Biden, Clinton, Tom Hanks, and others on his show. He is doing a show in the form of Bob Hope. He even opened his shows on Monday and Tuesday standing in front of an "old school' mic swinging a golf club a la Bob Hope.

His jokes have been anit-authoritarian while remaining respectful to the troops. He has walked a fine line and provide 4 shows to a packed house for the troops.

Sadly, I do not have cable (or a TV, for that matter), and have a very slow connection, so watching online is less than optimal... I know who was on, but not what was said or done.

Like I said, maybe I'm just paranoid. [smile]

reply to post by ChrisF231


You're right I guess, but this reminds me of the old 60's slogan, "What if they had a war and no one came?" And keep in mind, that was when there was a draft, which would have made you a prisoner or a fugitive not to go. It was an appeal to the individual's conscience and choice in the matter.

With today's volunteer system, I don't absolve the individual soldier from culpability. Politicians must glorify the troops, but regular citizens don't have to. To automatically assume anyone wearing a uniform is honorable is ludicrous. The military has always attracted its fair share of idiots, lunatics, sadists, etc. People that willingly and voluntarily kill other people (including women and children)--at the request of corrupt politicians and the industrial military complex--will never in my opinion be the best examples humanity has to offer.

you'd think that someone like the president of the united states would have to many things to do to be coming on and ordering some military guy to shave his headon a satire news show . wtf was that about . . . . Obama must have been trippin

Originally posted by Berens
reply to post by Skinon

 

What is wrong with showing respect and appreciation for our troops? They are the only thing standing between you and slavery, because the world is full of evil people and our leaders may sometimes be misguided, but they are not evil.

Uhh whos trying to enslave everyone? oh yea thats right america is! And for all the people who are in the war fighting 'terrorism' because they alledgedly blew up some buldings? I say alledgedly because if they didnt then it would be a straight up case but its NOT theres too much other evidence and stuff that is pretty dam dodgy for anyone who actually wants to read into it.

So in my opinion they are actually fighting for the people who caused the disaster in the first place! That is another point the enforces the fact that most americans (yes they can be nice people until you question the official story or there politics religious views etc etc) will just suck down the official story without even considiring the other more dark option even if theres huge amounts of evidence! dam america DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

I seen the riots in south korea because of corruption of there government, the people saw it said HELL NO and made the corrupt individual leave office, in my opinion THATS patriotism. Remember the government work for you! but its flip turned under your own noses, It all comes down to greed in the end, the greedy few at the top of the chain control (easily) the masses of america, its so dam unfortunate it really is, you need to slap your neighbour outta there comfy lil bubble and introduce them to the real world.

And yea i mean alotta our people are nuetral, more so than anywhere else (at least native kiwis) we do send our troops, and we have been involved in almost all wars, you should do some research on our SAS we have some of the best in the world. But i tell you it isnt said over our national media AT all! There is the odd story of us sending aid etc etc but you have to go in alot deeper to find the real things we are doing over there, which alot of our country would probably have a lil something to say about it.

So i would love to hear what all you people here that aren't as good a people as these soldiers think about this dumbass generals comment?





That is Command Sergeant Major Frank Grippe , The Armys Top enlisted man in Iraq.

Rushing to Judgement are we?

[edit on 12-6-2009 by TriggerFish]

First and foremost, I have seen US soldiers wait in lines for hours to see an actor that hasn't been in a movie for years. I am 100% positive that the soldiers moral was uplifted just do to Steven Colberts presents in Iraq. He went further than just visiting Iraq, he did his show from Iraq for a week. It was nothing less than amazing, and I watched every night. So if there is any debate over the soldiers being satisfied then your flat out wrong.

For the comment about the soldiers being the top 5% of Americans that is just a statistic. We don't know where those numbers are coming from so there is really no debate over that. It could be about anything.

Also, all your trash about blindly fighting for ones country is simply not true. It's not even about what the government wants. You are seeing things from the highest levels and criticizing those on the ground. Obviously from the ground they see a much clearer picture of the things that are going on in the communities, blindly fighting is not an option.

Americans are a group of people just like any other countries people. America is not perfect. However, America is pretty good. I sure am proud to be an American.

Often times people target the best and let the rest slide on their mistakes.

reply to post by TriggerFish


Correction, one of the top enlisted soldiers in Iraq. He even went on to state that there were are a few hundred command sargent majors in Iraq.

Also, like I stated that was a statistic. We don't know where that came from. For all we know he was just talking about people willing to serve their country during a hard time to serve. The words soldiers are better than all other Americans never came out of that mans mouth. Somebody correct me if I am wrong but I believe the active military makes up less than 1% of the American population.

reply to post by ChrisF231


Really? So who do we blame for the bomb on Hiroshima. The Polititians or the man who pressed the button which released the bomb from its holster which sent it fallling to its inevitable conclusion. The answer BOTH.
You CANNOT excuse the actions of an individual who was just following orders.
Everyone takes responsiblity for their own actions ultimately. Colberts angle is possibly to reverse the desensitized mentally that the American population have towards the constant death of soldiers. Inturn reigniting the call for the troops to come home. After all they are humans too. Just really really foolish ones.

I hate the UK join the army commericals, anyone seen them?

I would be more likely to join the army, if I felt it was honest and that it was not trying to brainwash me!

These commercials are making the army look like a FUN game, they show women having fun with the soldiers, they make the battlefield look like a video game and ask you what you would do? in a game show way. They even show xbox 360 controller being used to controll devices in the army.

They are trying to get kids to join by brainwashing them to think it's like a videogame, it's ALL fun.

Yes the army may be fun at times, but not like that, people die, your friends die, bad crap happens, that's not fun, they don't show you that.

They tell you you gotta make yourself worth something, so join the army! as if if you don't your worth nothing.

It's all brainwashing you to join the army, like I said I would be more likely to join if I didn't feel like I'm getting brainwashed to join.

I even saw a US army commercial once, it showed a couple of young guys playing a video game, and then suddenly the soldier in the video game turns around and looks at the guys and says " you wants a REAL challenge? then join the army!"

My point is, why would I want to become the top 3% of people in the world, if I feel like I'm not joining a honest deal. Why would I sign up to protect my country when these days most soldiers are out in chaos far away, basically in "simple" terms, invading countries. where's the protecting our country bit?

Why would I sign up to be a slave, if I don't agree with something I will get arrested, and your "friends" want you to be shot for having an opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I respect the soldiers out there who join to do the right thing, they risk their lives for us, I just don't respect the "situation" these guys are in.

In the end we are all humans, soldiers are not better than non soldiers, it's truly down to the individual and what's in their heart, their motives etc

I also do not believe a king or royalty is any better than non royalty, who are we to judge such a thing, how are we to truly know who is better or not. Money? bloodline? nah such a petty thing, only what's within the person is what matters.



[edit on 12-6-2009 by _Phoenix_]

I think you guys are being a little unfair to the Sgt. Major. He is not a celebrity nor adept at performing a celebrity type interview on a comedy show. At times it was very clear that he looked nervous.

He was playing to a crowd of soldiers, the 3% and 5% crap was not meant to be negative to the viewer but positive to the audience sitting in front of him.

Plus, he appeared to be career military, most likely born into a military family.

All I am saying is cut the guy some slack, he's mid-level management in the military in a "fish out of water" scenario in the interview seat on a national TV program.

Originally posted by ChrisF231

Royal New Zealand Navy - appx 2,000/12 vessels

LOL That's not a Navy, thats a yacht club. A well armed one

I really did not enjoy the two 'Colbert Report' episodes I watched which were broadcasted from Baghdad. Now perhaps he was trying to do something nice for some of the troops, and that is most certainly commendable. However, I found both of the shows lacking much of what makes them great, and yes I feel that it gave the US military yet ANOTHER opportunity to push some of their crap propaganda.

The earlier posts concerning the General's statement of the military being the "top 3%", and the ensuing debate over America and patriotism has frankly left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Granted, our US of A has done some wonderful things over it's relatively short history, but we also have our share of hubris to contend with. Those who blindly support what we have been doing during our more recent history should consider the millions that we have adversely affected with our oft-times unilateral actions, specifically militarily. We may have been one of the greatest and most honorable of nations at one time, and we may have stood for freedom, liberty, human rights etc.....but that time has so obviously since passed us by, it's a wonder that anyone can still buy into that BS.

Fin.