I Refused To Post This On Veteran's Day

There's a real nutty college professor ranting about America and war. I know that's shocking, as most colleges these days are perfect places for all points of view, not just the radical liberal view where everything else is shouted down.

But Professor Michael Avery took it up a notch.  You see, the school sent out an email asking if anyone would like to contribute to care packages for troops over-seas. [story] Simply asking...that's the opposite of, like, when a Union tells you who to vote for.  This nutbar went completely sideways.  How dare he be asked if he wanted to contribute something to...well, you'll see who he thinks the military really is:

I think it is shameful that it is perceived as legitimate to solicit in an academic institution for support for men and women who have gone overseas to kill other human beings.

So, he just called our servicemen and women "killers". On Veteran's Day.

I understand that there is a residual sympathy for service members, perhaps engendered by support for troops in World War II, or perhaps from when there was a draft and people with few resources to resist were involuntarily sent to battle. That sympathy is not particularly rational in today’s world, however.

That's the thought process of a person who has never been in "today's world". The world he's talking about are gated communities fenced by six figure tuitions and a tacit environment for liberals. This man knows nothing of "today's world".

The United States may well be the most war prone country in the history of civilization. We have been at war two years out of three since the Cold War ended. We have 700 overseas military bases. What other country has any? In the last ten years we have squandered hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary foreign invasions. Those are dollars that could have been used for people who are losing their homes due to the economic collapse, for education, to repair our infrastructure, or for any of a thousand better purposes than making war. And of course those hundreds of billions of dollars have gone for death and destruction.

Apparently he doesn't understand that we are also the most aid prone country in the history of civilization, but that wouldn't fit his argument. We've spent billions of dollars in unnecessary foreign aid to countries that kill us on a daily basis. Perhaps he likes to see us dying. Maybe that makes him happy.

We need to be more mindful of what message we are sending as a school. Since Sept. 11 we have had perhaps the largest flag in New England hanging in our atrium. This is not a politically neutral act. Excessive patriotic zeal is a hallmark of national security states. It permits, indeed encourages, excesses in the name of national security, as we saw during the Bush administration, and which continue during the Obama administration.

Asking if anyone was interested in contributing is a neutral act. When your union tells you who to vote for, that isn't a politically neutral act. Get it together.

Why do we continue to have this oversized flag in our lobby? Why are we sending support to the military instead of Americans who are losing their homes, malnourished, unable to get necessary medical care, and suffering from other consequences of poverty? As a university community, we should debate these questions, not remain on automatic pilot in support of the war agenda.

How much money has he sent to "Americans losing their homes"? This is typical bleeding heart garbage..."How can we have a flag when poor people exist in the world?" Till then I had never heard a more inadequate comparison.

Anyway, I refused to give this guy the satisfaction of posting about this on Veteran's Day, the day he purposely chose to spew his hate. But now, it's no longer Veteran's Day.

Michael Graham talked about this loon yesterday and invited people to email him at his publicly available email address:

mavery@suffolk.edu

Or call and leave a voice message:

617-573-8551

You can also pass out his vcard to anyone you know that might be interested:

http://www.law.suffolk.edu/faculty/directories/vcf/Michael_Avery.vcf

As you can see, Graham's call to arms was well received...even I sent a few email messages as well.  On behalf of my dad and two grandfathers as well.  I also sent one on behalf of my wife's cousin who died in Afghanistan.

I urge you all to do the same.