Thursday, November 13, 2014

Alabama readers, please take note . . .


. . . if you want to buy or repair a firearm, you might want to do so at any business other than this one.

An Anniston man whose family owns a firearms business said his family has received as many as 20 death threats after comments he made about veterans "fighting and killing for profit" went viral.

. . .

[Michael] Schuette posted his controversial comments on Facebook on Tuesday, which was Veterans Day. He has since removed the post, but a screenshot was reported by Yellowhammer News.

The post, exactly as written, said:

"OK, for my yearly Veterans Day speech...to all vets...you are NOT hero's. You got paid to learn how to fight and kill for profit. You "Served" your leader...You followed the rules and made it out of whatever country you terrorized alive...You got a check and a holiday. YOU NEVER FOUGHT FOR ANY OF MY FREEDOMS!!!!! You fought for corporate interests...You never sacrificed for this country...You did so for your government owners...You did nothing for American citizens...YOU WANNT MEET HERO's???? Well, shake hands with CIVILIAN EMTs, nurses, firefighters, lawyers and anyone in the ACLU...Please feel free to add some more hero's below but Veterans are you NOT American hero's."

Schuette's comments quickly made the rounds on Facebook and military-related sites. Commenters pointed out that Schuette's wife owns Outlaw Gun Repair and Hydrographing and the couple serve as administrators of a Facebook group that specializes in the buying, selling and trading of firearms.

There's more at the link.

I note that Mr. Schuette has spent a lot of time 'explaining' his comments, but has neither retracted them nor apologized for them.  As the old idioms remind us, "There's none so blind as those who will not see" and "There's none so deaf as those who will not hear".  I'm sure veterans and those who respect them will know how best to express their opinions of his comments.

Peter

7 comments:

a_random_guy said...

The thing is, he's not wrong: the military has been employed pretty strangely since 9/11.

- Afghanistan: Just what were we supposed to be accomplishing there for more than 10 years?

- Iraq II: smash a working, if unpleasant government, and turn the whole country into a breeding ground for terrorists.

- Libya: again, smash a working country into chaos, for no apparent reason.

- Syria: fund and give weapons to the same damned organization (Al Queda) that we were fighting elsewhere in the region.

- Now, sporadic bombing that is has the effect of driving all the splinter groups to ally with ISIS - strengthening the organization we are supposed to be weakening.

Are are strategists this incompetent? Or are they just pursuing goals different from the ones they publicize? What if their strategy is to keep some area "hot", some area that is scary to the public (thanks to 9/11), but safely far from American shores? If that were the strategy, they would be succeeding marvelously.

After the end of the Cold War, there was every reason to expect a huge reduction in military expenditures. Hasn't happened, and won't happen as long as the military is needed. So create that need. Keep the Middle East in flames.

I'm a 10-year vet, so I am hardly anti-military. However, American soldiers have not been fighting for anyone's freedom. I'm not sure just what they are being sent to fight for, but maybe it's time someone asked that question...

Ambulance Driver said...

This civilian EMT abhors his views, snd strongly disagrees with his characterization of me and my peers as heroes.

I have saved lives, yes, and even risked my own a number of times in order to do it, but it in no way compares to a veteran in combat.

Not even on the same planet.

Peter said...

@a_random_guy: You're probably correct about some of the strategies being employed, but those are always open to question from many perspectives. The comment in question was specifically directed at individual veterans, not the policies that guided (?) the wars in which they fought.

Sport Pilot said...

I suspect the anti vet rhetoric was a bit of anti government and resentment of military benefits by an embittered individual. Some business owners adjacent to military installations have mixed feelings regarding said military. Its all subjective and shouldn't affect ones support or respect to a veteran.

Anonymous said...

Today fire fighters, policeman, nurses, doctors, etc, etc, etc. Save lives everyday of their lives but no one celebrate the risks that they encounter while saving others as in the veterans day...

After all these are a job well done!!

Anonymous said...

Up until 'lawyers and....ACLU', he is reiterating the thoughts of Smedley Butler. Who? Vet, MOH twice, 'War is a Racket'. Look it up and read. Vet does not automatically mean hero. Following orders to ravage people who've never attacked us does not a hero make.

Anonymous said...

It is true that we were paid to be in the military. But not very much. I made $365 a month while in Vietnam.
The moron is entitled to his views. So buzz off, moron!