I listened to a podcast episode of The Takeaway from January, 2010. There was a segment on an officer on the USS Enterprise who was demoted due to some controversial videos he made for the crew.
One caller (I assume she was either currently serving or a vet) said that people who have never been in the military would not understand, and presumably have no business expressing any sort of disapproval.
It reminded me of the period leading up to and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. People who doubted the Bush Administration’s contentions about whether Saddam had weapons of mass destruction or ties to Al Queda were told that they were wrong. They had not seen all the intelligence that the Bush Adminstration had. Oh, and they should either just support our Dear Leader or be quiet.
I noted that people who believed the Bush Administration’s contentions were never told THEY had no business supporting the war since they had not seen all the intelligence either.
In fact, people who “support the troops” or the war or some other military policy are NEVER told that since they are not in the military they have no business expressing their opinion. It is only the people who express doubts or skepticism who are told their opinion is invalid due to their lack of relevant experience.
In all seriousness, why is that?
Image from Wikipedia