Applies to movie reviews, book reviews & etc.

“Insert hollow statement about the temporary nature of life and a vague and hopefully profound sentiment about purity, beauty and greatness here to receive affirmation from your peers through the medium of a virtual thumbs up.”

Comment at You Tube “Tristan und Isolde.”

We can go back to "Where Soldiers Come From" for a moment. Almost every comment about the documentary said the same things, with words arranged in different order. All about a telling film of soldiers and their families back home in this long war, etc., etc. A NY Times short said the documenatry followed four soldiers through basic training and deployment in Afghanistan. Another example of why people who don't know Army should stick to writing something else. The documentary had no scenes of basic training.

And the soldiers ... Look, you put cameras in front of soldiers long enough, you'll get what you're looking for. One soldier: If strange people came into my town I'd probably do what the Afghans are doing. (Not a quotel just a gist statement.) My comment: So? Does that mean the Afghans who set IEDs are right? Another soldier: I hate Afghanistan. I hate the way it looks; I hate the way it smells; I hate Afghans. Before I joined the Army, I didn't hate anybody. My comment: What the documentary producer got was 'Join the Army and learn to hate people.' The soldier who found several pounds worth of explosives in metal containers in a farmer's field said when Afghan police were cuffing and blindfolding the farmer: I have affected that man's life. Not only his life, but his family and his village. I have taken an IED out of commission, and that IED won't kill any American soldiers, but does that balance what I've done to that man? My comment: The Afghan made a choice when he buried the IED, or when he allowed somebody to bury it. He made a choice. He got caught.

And while we're at it ... A few months back I downloaded and read (third time to read) "The Forever War." The download had more than 30 pages of "This is the best science fiction military novel ever written." No, it isn't. The 30-page forward mostly was how a publisher showed courage and insight in printing the book during the Vietnam war, because everybody knows how nasty and dirty and inhumane and other adjectives that war was, more so than any war before or since, and we intelligent people knew so, but still we published this book and doesn't that show how open minded we are.

So, for editors and publishers: “Insert hollow statement about the temporary nature of life and a vague and hopefully profound sentiment about purity, beauty and greatness here to receive affirmation from your peers through the medium of a virtual thumbs up.”

Sgt. Bob