"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Friday, April 30
Blowhole (Updated)
Last week I wrote about Pat Tillman and his death in Afghanistan. Now, there are a lot of legitimate responses to his death other than "He's a hero!". "He knew this could happen," is one. "Others gave as much," is another.
"Pat Tillman Is Not A Hero; He Got What Was Coming To Him" is not.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past several days (a rock without Internet access), you know that this is the title of a piece written by one Rene Gonzalez, in which he seems to suggest that Pat Tillman's actions (mostly idiocy) should carry the death penalty. All I can say is, Rene, you'd better hope stupidity is not punishable by death.
Before turning to personal attacks, however, let's take a look at his arguments.
Gonzalez attacks Tillman on two fronts: he suggests that Tillman was A) an idiot who was duped by the government, and B) a Rambo-type who couldn't wait to get into the "thick of things".
First, Rene, Tillman was nobody's dupe. If you'd read something about his life instead of merely looking at his "scowling, beefy face on the CNN pictures", you'd know that he was a thoughtful man and one suspicious of all types of bullshit. "Phony" was a dirty word to him. Like many of us, he was saddened and angered by the events of September 11th. Unlike most of us, he decided that doing something about it was worth any sacrifice he could make.
Tillman was also exceptionally intelligent; he graduated from college with honors, sporting a 3.8 GPA. Gonzalez, a grad student, should consider the fact that Tillman could probably master his field a lot easier than Gonzalez could master Tillman's.
Rene also says Tillman was a fool to turn down the money so he could do something more important. So, is Magic Johnson a fool to invest in minority neighborhoods when he could make more money elsewhere? Rene, are you sure you want to say that only a fool doesn't grab every dollar?
Next Gonzalez suggests that Tillman was "a real Rambo", supporting his argument with the fact that Tillman joined the elite Rangers. Hello! Rene, Tillman wanted to be the best at everything he did. Why do you think he went through all he did to make himself into a success in the NFL? Clearly it wasn't the money. He did it because he wanted to be the best.
I would suggest that there's a strain of thought that derides anyone who puts themselves above others and assumes a leadership position. This is the "never volunteer" crowd who sulks along behind everyone else. I say that this attitude stems from a lack of confidence. I'm guessing here, but Rene would probably say that Tillman thought he was better than other people because of what he did. Another guess, but one I'm pretty sure is correct: Tillman thought he was filling his role as a member of a team, doing what he was good at to the best of his abilities so that the team could succeed.
(Side note: Gonzalez also mentions that "someone with a bigger gun did him (Tillman) in." Rene, the United States has the biggest guns in the world. If we wanted to we could lay waste to the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, level every village, kill everything that moved. Use nukes if we felt like it. And no one could stop us. There is only one reason to send soldiers like Tillman instead: to minimize civilian deaths.)
The article's analysis lives mainly on the plain of "jocks are dumb and cheerleaders are sluts", but I think it's Gonzalez' attitude that he's so much more sophisticated than those dumb rubes tricked into fighting for their country that makes the whole thing so offensive. He pretty much gives his game away when he dismisses patriotism as "frat-boy bull". So, you couldn't get a bid, eh?
Here's something else: if Gonzalez had ever met Tillman, he would probably have liked him. Tillman didn't label people, he judged each person by who they were. Unlike many of us, he wouldn't have moved on after noting that Rene was a bitter grad student whose dreams of changing the world had been dashed by the realities of academic life. And even if he had, he would have never been so rude as to insult him.
A couple of final points: I hope Rene Gonzalez has a long and happy life, but if he lives to be a hundred, he will never accomplish as much as Pat Tillman did in 27 years, and when Gonzalez dies, no one who didn't know him will be saddened by the death of such a man.
Rene, I know you're just excercising your First Amendment rights, but you really ought to think before you do. As a wise man once said, it's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
P.S. My favorite jab, from the message boards at Fark.com: "Rene is a name for a girl, or a French boy (SEE: girl)."
Update: If you're not pissed off enough already, check out this Ted Rall cartoon. It's online at A Small Victory because MSNBC took it down soon after it was posted. They explain here.
