Ted Rall nails the popular coverage of the Pat Tillman story.

[raggedcompany]

I don't know how many of you have followed the Pat Tillman story? I'm a big football fan, so it's been a frequent subject in football MBs, and I've followed it pretty closely. The short version is that, inspired by 9/11, Tillman gave up a multi-million dollar deal with the pathetic Arizona Cardinals to join the the army. He was lauded from the start as a hero's hero, and then later sainted when he got killed in Afganistan. It turns out that he was slaughtered by woefully directed and hopelessly confused American troops. Not only that, but the government has beenless than forthcoming with the details of the incident.* Nevertheless the drumbeat goes on. Hero! Died for our Freedom! Hero! Hero! The line to smoke Tillmans' hog is endless. But not everyone is chanting along. Ted Rall offers this spoof on the coverage of this story to date, and it's the best thing I've read this week:

link

Thank you Ted Rall for this column. Keep up the good work, and be careful. Dissent like yours is dangerous in any time, but especially so in these dark, coming-out days for American fascism.

---

* Washington Post (free registration required) story, part one: link and part two: link
cnn glosses over the story here: link

[nostamj]

1. no registration required at Ted's site....

www.tedrall.com

[DrWeird]

2. That's pretty funny.

Hope it pisses off a bunch of fascists.

[crispini]

4. Oh, you bet your bippy it will.

Dayum. Biting, much?

[bleedingheart]

3. kick...

[GeorgeGist]

5. Of course we all remember the flak

Ted caught for this cartoon. The last panel needs some slight updating though.

[Goldmund]

6. But, but, but, that's different!

Pathim Tili Al-Aman fought against us! And Pat Tillman fought FOR US!

But seriously, Ted Rall didn't even need to get hypothetical. We've all heard the news models shaking their heads wondering what kind of supreme brainwashing can make an affluent, comfortable, educated young man in the ME join the "jihad" and become an "insurgent". That is insane brainwashing; the other way around is utter heroism.

[JanMichael]

7. Ted doesn't pull punches. There are also a LOT of Ted Haters here.

I wonder when they'll show up?

[FredScuttle]

8. Reporting for duty

and still think that Ted Rall is a supreme asshole for assigning racist tendencies toward Pat Tillman (i.e. the egregious "When do I start killing Arabs" line) when none existed. Also, calling someone who was killed in combat a "sap" and "idiot"

[raggedcompany]

9. Maybe Tillman is the supreme asshole? Ever think of that??

and still think that Ted Rall is a supreme asshole for assigning racist tendencies toward Pat Tillman (i.e. the egregious "When do I start killing Arabs" line) when none existed

re: when none existed. What qualifies as racism in your view? predetermined lynching and that alone? Is supporting racist policy not also racist?

I can't speak for him, but I think it's possible that Ted sees Tillman as a supreme asshole for volunteering to do the killing on behalf of a government pursuing fundamentally racist policies. Maybe Tillman is the asshole, not Rall? You know, you don't get a pass just because you served, especially not if you volunteered to do it. Rall says: you assholes who sign on to do the dirty work should feel the heat of societal disapproval. I agree. You kill for racists, you merit the accusation. I'll grant that you may not be racist on a human, one-to-one level, but if you hang with dogs, you're gonna get fleas. So choose your side carefully, because some of us are watching, and we're not afraid to seem unkind.

Please also note that Rall is calling today's volunteer soldiers--under Bush--the idiots and saps, not all U.S. soldiers ever in time. He does not roast my late grandfather who served at Iwo Jima. There's a difference.

[Ruffhowse]

10. excellent points raggedcompany

[FredScuttle]

11. Blame the criminals in charge, not the volunteers

I'll gladly be on the side of those who have volunteered to defend our country and find themselves mired in this war. You insult every DU'er who is serving or has family and friends serving overseas. I would ask if you have no shame, but since you're putting yourself in the same camp as the likes of Ted Rall, I don't even have to waste my breath.

[MountainLaurel]

12. Yeah,

Cause that excuse worked well at Nuremburg.

:eyes:

[Goldmund]

13. What a dogmatic response.

Before we slide down into the "Yo mamma" realm, try addressing what the dude actually said.

[FredScuttle]

16. I did address what he said

although Michael Moore expressed it much more eloquently:


"I've always been amazed that the very people forced to live in the worst parts of town, go to the worst schools, and who have it the hardest are always the first to step up, to defend us. They serve so that we don't have to. They offer to give up their lives so that we can be free. It is remarkably their gift to us. And all they ask for in return is that we never send them into harm's way unless it is absolutely necessary. Will they ever trust us again"

[Goldmund]

24. It's funny you bring that up...

...since when I saw the movie and heard that passage, my first thought was "an obvious political slogan to end the movie with, to deflect some of the 'this traitor is against the troops' freeptard garbage.". Those recruiters, were they looking for heroes? Their pitch, was it an appeal for sacrifice? Those kids in Flint who were talking about their relatives who are serving... Were they describing people who gave us a gift to defend us? Lila Lipscomb, was the dominant feeling in her heart pride that her sun stepped up to defend us?

Nope. It was betrayal.

[slowroll]

18. What makes you think Rall wouldn't have roasted your grandfather?

You wanna talk about a war soaked in racism, look at the war in the Pacific Theater, the portrayal of Japanese in the US during the war, the internment of Japanese civilians. The arguments about Japan being forced into WWII are FAR more plausible than the LIHOP/MIHOP/gas pipeline bullshit Rall and his ilk push. So if we're using this kind of reasoning to talk about Pat Tillman, why wouldn't it be fair to characterize your dead grandfather as some kind of stupid racist asshole?

Maybe because it's an asinine and disgusting to do so, showing little understanding of the world as it is, a tendency towards denial of reality and deep, deep intellectual and emotional immaturity?

[Goldmund]

27. Oh, you sound so high and mighty talking about...

..."the LIHOP/MIHOP/gas pipeline garbage.". You know, the shit only them kooky people believe! Yes baby, it turns me on when you condescend! Whip me! Spank me! Call me "bitch"!

[Johonny]

14. Isn't

One tool of the humorist is to take things to the extreme. I mean Pat Tillman the hero was sold pretty hard. Yet there's some truth to Pat Tillman the idiot and the fact that the whole situation is sad.

[FredScuttle]

17. So to even things up

we should smear and insult a dead man?

Pat Tillman, himself, didn't want the hoopla and publicity around his entry into service, BTW, and did everything he could to minimize it.

[slowroll]

19. Humorist?

Did anyone find that column, or the original Tillman cartoon, actually amusing?

[Johonny]

23. I did

Only thing funnier than Ted Rall's comic is the fact your mad at him. Which is in a way what he wants. It's so classic.

[slowroll]

26. Not mad

just repulsed. I find no difference between Ted Rall calling Tillman an idiot and a racist and Ann Coulter calling for the invasion and forced conversion of Muslim countries. I hold fans of the two in equal regard. You couldn't tell them apart under a microscope.

[Goldmund]

31. How can this be?

"I find no difference between Ted Rall calling Tillman an idiot and a racist and Ann Coulter calling for the invasion and forced conversion of Muslim countries."

How can insulting a single person, no matter how unjustifiedly, and even if by doing so more than one are insulted -- be equivalent to calling for enslavement and slaughter of millions?

This is what I was talking about when I said you were "dogmatic".

[raggedcompany]

25. Yeah

But I guess you already know that.

[Nordic]

30. yes, if the Army hadn't made huge propaganda out of this

and sold us a whole bunch of LIES about how he died, then that would be one thing.

What's up with the jock-worship, anyway? Too much of that in America.

Think back to high school. How many of the jocks weren't absolute pricks?

[bvar22]

15. True compassion is born...

...when one develops the ability to stand in someone else's shoes.

[genieroze]

20. If you people go to the yahoo site and are registered

could you please vote?
These Reich Wingnuts always give Rall a bad rating and I always give him a five to offset this. I also vote on the righties articles as well, hehehe. Ann Coulter usually has a high rating for a lunatic. Let's see what we can do about this. It's a pet peeve of mine.

[slowroll]

21. Yeah, I think I'll go rate him

Down. Rall and Coulter are two sides of the same coin.

[genieroze]

28. How can you compare the Dyke Reich Wing Wacko Bitch to Rall.

Same coin? No even the same planet.

[jpgray]

22. I actually like this bit from Rall

I didn't like his strip where he made Tillman out to be a racist--that to me didn't satirize the situation effectively. This points out the absurdity much better.

[Nordic]

29. Wow! Ted Rall takes no prisoners!

I gotta love Ted Rall.

We need more people who will say it like it is, with absolutely no sugar coating.