Don't Get Mad At Me, I'm Just Building The Dream

[The Good Reverend Roger]

*sprunnnng*

That's the noise an M16 magazine makes when you push a speed-loader full of bullets into it.  You have to be careful when you do it, or the edge of the bastard will cut your right thumb.  You also have to know that you only put 28 rounds in a 30 round magazine, because if you put all 30 rounds in, the spring at the bottom will be under too much tension, and you'll "double feed" (two rounds will go into the chamber at once, causing an embarrassing and potentially fatal malfunction).  The last 5 rounds are tracers, if you can get them, so you'll know when you have to change magazines.

Call it Building The Dream.

The M16 has a bad reputation, because of the problems the first version had with jamming.  It was said that in Vietnam, our soldiers would trade up for the AK47, the weapon of the opposing side.  I don't say "enemy", because the Viet Cong and the NVA weren't the enemy, they were just the opposing side.  The enemy was a guy named Robert MacNamara, and millions and millions of "right-thinking, good Americans" who were brave as hell from the safety of their living rooms.

*sprung*

Years later, we had a number of small incidents...Trade shows, really ("Buy our shit, or we'll have the next trade show at your house").  Again, the enemy wasn't the guy in front of you, he was just some poor dogface just like you.  Just another grunt...And you can believe he knew who the enemy was.  In Panama, the enemy was Manuel Noriega, who was a wholly-owned creature of the CIA.  In Desert Storm, it was Saddam Hussien, again a creation of the American government.  These were the enemy for our opposition. 

Don't blame us.  We were just Building The Dream.

Grunts know, you see.  They aren't fooled by pretty speeches or jingoistic shit spewing forth from the TV.  They know that the people trying to get them killed are sitting in their air conditioned homes back in the USA.  Or sitting in the president's office in Baghdad.  Or doing monster lines of coke in an office in Panama City.  The point is, the person trying to get you killed is almost always in your own country.  Sort of like the Iraq war and the fucked up situation in Afbagistan.  No military objective, because a military mission might imply that there will be an end to the conflict at some point.

*sprung*

You see, there are only 3 real military objectives...First, get Those Bastards out of our shit.  Second, take THEIR shit.  Third, go break their shit.  Things like "installing democracy" are political objectives.  Soldiers can't do that, because it is not their purpose.  They haven't been trained for it.  All a soldier can do is buy time for the politicians to get what THEY want.  Thing is, what THEY want isn't the same as what's right or even right for the country.  It's really more of what's right for the people who own the politicians...And it makes no difference what nation you're in, because they're all the same, everywhere you go.

They're all just Building The Dream.

And let's not look at what The Dream We Built has brought you, the people who insisted that we build it.  No, no, let's NOT look at THAT too closely, because the stark reality that you are also victims of The Enemy will directly conflict with what the TV and your parents and your friends and your preacher have told you your whole life.  You might even get a little angry that NOTHING is true and EVERYTHING is permitted, and an angry population is an unproductive population, and we just can't have THAT, can we?  Occupy was disruptive enough, and it made Good Americans nervous.  Imagine what the neighbors would say if a bunch of pissed off veterans decided to Build Their Own Dream for once.   Why, that would be downright treasonous.

*sprung*

[Luna]

Chill.  Right down my spine.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Chill.  Right down my spine.

The difference between 23 year old Roger and 43 year old Roger isn't THAT big.  Both Rogers knew what was happening.  The only difference is that the 23 year old Roger didn't give a shit what it meant.  None of us did.  We were kids, and kids will do any damn dangerous thing that they can possibly do, especially if it fits the Mighty Hunter/Warrior tribal position.  Gets you laid, you know.

And that's how you get The Dream you demanded.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

We are the enemy. So it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise when the tanks and stormtroopers start walking down Main Street right here in little old innocent America.

Of course, we'll still be surprised. And outraged, at least until our outrage is soothed with a patriotic jingle or a bullet, whichever flies quickest.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

We are the enemy. So it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise when the tanks and stormtroopers start walking down Main Street right here in little old innocent America.

Of course, we'll still be surprised. And outraged, at least until our outrage is soothed with a patriotic jingle or a bullet, whichever flies quickest.

It's the only way to be safe.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I know I've got a few decidedly Tururust-sounding voices in my head. If it the only way to clear my thinking and make us all safe is a hot lead enema to the neocortex, then that's the only way.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Chill.  Right down my spine.

The difference between 23 year old Roger and 43 year old Roger isn't THAT big.  Both Rogers knew what was happening.  The only difference is that the 23 year old Roger didn't give a shit what it meant.  None of us did.  We were kids, and kids will do any damn dangerous thing that they can possibly do, especially if it fits the Mighty Hunter/Warrior tribal position.  Gets you laid, you know.

And that's how you get The Dream you demanded.

You seem to have been the opposite of me. When I was 23 I cared all too deeply about the injustice of the world and I marched and postered and met up with likeminded people and we bemoaned the fact that the enemy was just too big to fight.

Nowadays I just think the whole thing is fucking hilarious, in a - not actually that funny but can't help smirking anyway - kinda way.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Chill.  Right down my spine.

The difference between 23 year old Roger and 43 year old Roger isn't THAT big.  Both Rogers knew what was happening.  The only difference is that the 23 year old Roger didn't give a shit what it meant.  None of us did.  We were kids, and kids will do any damn dangerous thing that they can possibly do, especially if it fits the Mighty Hunter/Warrior tribal position.  Gets you laid, you know.

And that's how you get The Dream you demanded.

You seem to have been the opposite of me. When I was 23 I cared all too deeply about the injustice of the world and I marched and postered and met up with likeminded people and we bemoaned the fact that the enemy was just too big to fight.

Nowadays I just think the whole thing is fucking hilarious, in a - not actually that funny but can't help smirking anyway - kinda way.

Thing is, America has one HELL of a warrior mythology.  It's almost impossible to not buy into it at one level or another, when you're a 17 year old kid who is convinced of his own immortality.

And I think it's hilarious, too.  That's why I laugh the way I do, even if it makes the neighbors call the cops.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Chill.  Right down my spine.

The difference between 23 year old Roger and 43 year old Roger isn't THAT big.  Both Rogers knew what was happening.  The only difference is that the 23 year old Roger didn't give a shit what it meant.  None of us did.  We were kids, and kids will do any damn dangerous thing that they can possibly do, especially if it fits the Mighty Hunter/Warrior tribal position.  Gets you laid, you know.

And that's how you get The Dream you demanded.

You seem to have been the opposite of me. When I was 23 I cared all too deeply about the injustice of the world and I marched and postered and met up with likeminded people and we bemoaned the fact that the enemy was just too big to fight.

Nowadays I just think the whole thing is fucking hilarious, in a - not actually that funny but can't help smirking anyway - kinda way.

Thing is, America has one HELL of a warrior mythology.  It's almost impossible to not buy into it at one level or another, when you're a 17 year old kid who is convinced of his own immortality.

And I think it's hilarious, too.  That's why I laugh the way I do, even if it makes the neighbors call the cops.

Yeah, I get that. That's one major difference between our cultures. Scotland is a subjugated nation, from hundreds of years ago. We're much more interested in fighting amongst ourselves than marching under a flag.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Reading...yes, very true, yes, exactly...and then this line:

Imagine what the neighbors would say if a bunch of pissed off veterans decided to Build Their Own Dream for once.

Holy fuck. It was like something went through me.

*sprunnnnng*

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Chill.  Right down my spine.

The difference between 23 year old Roger and 43 year old Roger isn't THAT big.  Both Rogers knew what was happening.  The only difference is that the 23 year old Roger didn't give a shit what it meant.  None of us did.  We were kids, and kids will do any damn dangerous thing that they can possibly do, especially if it fits the Mighty Hunter/Warrior tribal position.  Gets you laid, you know.

And that's how you get The Dream you demanded.

You seem to have been the opposite of me. When I was 23 I cared all too deeply about the injustice of the world and I marched and postered and met up with likeminded people and we bemoaned the fact that the enemy was just too big to fight.

Nowadays I just think the whole thing is fucking hilarious, in a - not actually that funny but can't help smirking anyway - kinda way.

Thing is, America has one HELL of a warrior mythology.  It's almost impossible to not buy into it at one level or another, when you're a 17 year old kid who is convinced of his own immortality.

And I think it's hilarious, too.  That's why I laugh the way I do, even if it makes the neighbors call the cops.

It does. I remember the kids after 9-11 wanting to go to Afghanistan and kill Muslims. So they sent 'em to Iraq. And they went, because it was that or work in the produce section of Handy Andy for the rest of their lives.

Everybody wants to be the guys raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Fat lot of good it did Ira Hayes.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

And right on cue there was yet another shooting today, this time at Texas A&M:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79677.html

It's starting to remind me of the late 90's, when bombings and shooting sprees were all the rage.

*sprung*

[Juana]

Most of my early memories are either cartoons or news stories about those bombings and shootings.

Reading...yes, very true, yes, exactly...and then this line:

Imagine what the neighbors would say if a bunch of pissed off veterans decided to Build Their Own Dream for once.

Holy fuck. It was like something went through me.

*sprunnnnng*

Ditto.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And right on cue there was yet another shooting today, this time at Texas A&M:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79677.html

It's starting to remind me of the late 90's, when bombings and shooting sprees were all the rage.

*sprung*

If your culture is based on insanity, why would you expect members of that culture to remain sane?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh, wow Roger. CHILLS.