“Here’s your job, Republican Party," Nugent said over the weekend in comments posted online by Right Wing Watch. "Twenty to 25 of those guys kill themselves every day, and they haven’t told you why and they haven’t told anybody else why but they told me why: because the commander-in-chief is the enemy."
This is the kind of ridiculous hyperbole one expects from the Left, not the Right.
Veterans undoubtedly commit suicide for all sorts of reasons. Some may get depressed because their wives or girlfriends leave them. Some may have substance abuse issues. Some may have felt hopeless because their employment prospects outside the military seemed dismal. Some may have just suffered from depression as an organic condition.
Undoubtedly some veterans are depressed because of the severe injuries they received in Iraq or Afghanistan. And veterans may also be at higher risk than the civilian population to begin with because they have access to and are familiar with firearms.
Undoubtedly some veterans are depressed because of the severe injuries they received in Iraq or Afghanistan. And veterans may also be at higher risk than the civilian population to begin with because they have access to and are familiar with firearms.
But it's hard to imagine that many of them killed themselves because Obama is President. A large number of them undoubtedly despise Obama; but it's hard to believe that that would have been enough to drive them to suicide.
And note the way Nugent's statement is constructed: he is saying, literally, that the veterans who killed themselves told him why they were committing suicide. (The quote is accurate, by the way, as you'll see if you watch the video on the link above.)
This kind of inaccurate statement actually helps Obama, by making his opponents look like rash, intemperate morons.
Last year Nugent apologized after calling Obama "a subhuman mongrel." (I'm not quite sure how that furthers the cause of conservatism.)
Nugent is in many ways reminiscent of Alec Baldwin, another outspoken show business figure. (Baldwin once called a NY Post photographer who attempted to take his picture a "coon.")
Back in 2012, Nugent said that he would "either be dead or in jail" if President Obama were reelected. This comment is reminiscent of how Baldwin said in 2004 that if President Bush were reelected, he would leave the country.
Baldwin never emigrated, and Nugent is still alive and free. But both men have proven time and again that they are, despite their political differences, birds of a feather.
Posts
8 comments:
PTSD is probably a big reason too.
Steven --
True, though my son says that it's overstated. He often jokes about the stuff he could get away with by claiming PTSD.
I disagree. It may be hyperbole but it is true. Imagine risking your life to protect your civilization all the while knowing that the enemy is inside the gates and there is nothing you can do. Everything you know is wrong + PTSD + firearms equals suicide.
Anon --
My son served in Afghanistan in the infantry at a remote combat outpost for a year. He understands exactly what Obama is all about. And he was involved in some dangerous situations over there, though he doesn't have PTSD. (I'm closer to having it myself just because of how worried I was about him while he was over there.) In any case, killing himself is the last thing on his mind. He's too busy having a good time.
If he had come back missing a limb, things would be different. If he were the type of guy to get hung up on one girl, and if he lost that girl, he might feel differently. If he felt that his future looked dismal, his outlook would be different.
As I said in the post, I'm sure a lot of ex-military types despise Obama. I've heard that the Navy Seals who went on the mission to kill Osama bin Laden grumbled on the way back that they had just reelected Obama. But I can't imagine that any significant percent of the suicides that have occurred are directly due to Obama's political stances.
Well its not Obama personally that is scary and depressing but the millions of people who vote for him and what he stands for - THATS depressing. I would say that soldiers are killing themselves for the same reason that boys are now doing worse in school: there is no future, no hope and they know it. The tough soldiers can hate on Obama all they want but they can't stop the leftist juggernaut.
Anon -
I agree that the leftist juggernaut is depressing (and infuriating) to behold.
There was a british army veteran who had been to either Iraq or Afghanistan who committed suicide. His mother was on the TV saying he was tormented by the things he'd seen. She remembered him sitting on the kitchen floor crying because he couldn't get relief.
I don't know if that is ptsd but he was clearly traumatised in some way.
Steven --
Yes, that would definitely be another reason a vet might commit suicide. I'm guessing that sort of torment would be classified as a form of PTSD.
Post a Comment