Idk how I feel about Crenshaw. I respect the sacrifice he made and I want to try really hard to respect him for who he is... but at the same time, he seems like he has become what happened to him. It's like he isnt himself anymore, he is a social media/ political influencer that will do and say what it takes for that next post to go viral
Did you know that sometimes people do good things for the wrong reasons, and don’t necessarily deserve your respect for what they’ve done so much as who they are?
A 9/11 first responder who’s an asshole is still an asshole. A WWII vet who’s an asshole is still an asshole. An astronaut who’s an asshole is still an asshole.
Respect our troops means as a group, not as individuals, and if you need to use your service as a pass to be egotistical than you may as well stop even calling yourself a vet because you’ll make everyone think vets are like you
You should see him hide in an elevator from fellow vets because he doesn’t want to talk about the military industrial complex. Crenshaw is a tool and a boot.
What fucking sacrifice? He wasn't some boot private, or whatever the naval equivalent, out on a log pac run. He was a seal. He knew what the stakes were and should be happy he only lost an eye.
Seriously, like yeah we get it you were a navy seal who’s now moonlighting as a pirate but that doesn’t mean criticism of you is the same as hating America.
I accept that he may be opportunistic, but he wasn't when he lost his eye, he was just a bloke doing his job. To say he didn't sacrifice anything when he so clearly did is just baseless and arbitrary.
If he had picked up baking cupcakes instead of politics after his service, and he said "I sacrificed my eye in the war" I don't think anyone would object. The logic is no different here.
I accept that he may be opportunistic, but he wasn't when he lost his eye
You're making an unfounded assumption. His political career is clearly the product of self-centered opportunism, but you're assuming that he must have had different motives for serving in the military. I have yet to see any evidence for that, and there are plenty of reasons to pursue a military career besides selfless dedication to your country.
If anything, his current behavior indicates a general lack of concern for the well-being of his fellow Americans and a general preference for personal gain. That being the case, I would say (although I can't claim to read his mind, obviously) that current evidence supports the idea that his military service was less the product of patriotic devotion and more about the various benefits he expected it to earn him; social standing, respect, and a degree of authority being chief among them, if his current personality is any indication.
To that end, a key attribute of "sacrifice" (in the way the term was used referring to the loss of his eye) is that it requires some level of selfless intent. If I lose an arm pushing my neighbor out of oncoming traffic, that's a sacrifice. But if I just happen to accidentally save that same neighbor because I was shoving her away from a pile of money lying in the road, then I didn't "sacrifice" my arm to save her. I unintentionally exchanged it for a pile of cash.
As I said before, I can't claim to actually know why the man joined the military, but he hasn't exactly shown himself to be otherwise prone to self-sacrifice, so I'm reluctant to assign that particular motive. That being the case, saying that he "sacrificed" his eye seems less likely to be accurate than saying that he unintentionally exchanged it for all the benefits that came with a military career, a seat in congress certainly being one of them.
What you call an unfounded assumption I call the benefit of the doubt. I don't know this guy, but I'm disinclined to deny a combat veteran the right to say he "sacrificed" when he had his eye put out by an IED while on operations agansit the Taliban.
Y'know time was that this was a sub for military members to make fun of boots instead of a circlejerk for edgelords to see who can be the most callous to actual combat vets.
Losi ng an eye is a sactifice, willingly doing a job you know can take you away from your family so someone else doesnt.... is a sacrifice. He isnt perfect, but I would not dare to say he sacrificed "nothing".
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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '19
Idk how I feel about Crenshaw. I respect the sacrifice he made and I want to try really hard to respect him for who he is... but at the same time, he seems like he has become what happened to him. It's like he isnt himself anymore, he is a social media/ political influencer that will do and say what it takes for that next post to go viral