Why do liberal professors hate the military?

[MikeF]

I don't think one's employment is comparable whatsoever to one's skin color, especially given that service is a choice (now) freely made. Nor do I think there is much of anything denied to servicemembers (I for one enjoy the 5 dollar movie tickets), and while the disparaging opinions of some may be distasteful, it is IMO not any different than general opinions expressed by military personnel about those who are perceived to not understand national service as it is packaged and sold by the military establishment.

Where do I need to move?

Goesh statement is accurate. People make impressions based off status, education, job title, dress, and the less political correct stuff (creed, color, and religion). When I changed command in Iraq, my IA CDR (one of the best that I ever worked with) initially insulted the incoming commander b/c he was african-american. Major Aziz assumed he was simply a private b/c of the color of his skin. Many Iraqis are racist towards african-americans. They did not get off to a good start. We sometimes forget/overlook these conceptual blocks.

v/r

Mike

[AmericanPride]

Mike,

I don't disagree that people make unsubstantiated judgments on a whole host of factors. What I disagree with is making comparisons between one's occupation (and choices) and one's race. Goesh's statement, maybe accurate, was not precise.

And the 5$ movie tickets were at theaters outside Ft. Sill.

[Ken White]

...it is IMO not any different than general opinions expressed by military personnel about those who are perceived to not understand national service as it is packaged and sold by the military establishment.

and I acknowledge that occurs with some. Most who serve, though do not really accept that and fairly quickly come up with their own reasons for serving -- or not (and most of those get out). Members of different tribes always suspect and tend to dismiss non-members, goes with the human condition.

The issue, I think, is whether and how firmly tribal identity is accepted and espoused as opposed to particular accepted belief models, then it becomes a case of defending the tribe against all others. Regardless of logic...

That applies to Academics and Military people. Or Cops, Butchers, Pashtuns, Anishinabe and the local Chapter of the GLBTHS -- any grouping of people. Even religious and pacifist groups.

Oh -- and people are not precise...

[yamiyugikun]

Wow, I just read all the posts here everyone left after visiting that military science professor Okay, to Marc, I think I'm finally learning how to see in color Seeing in black and white is inconvienent. If there is one thing the UC system in California is good at, its mental masturbation, LOL, especially those of us on North Campus in the liberal arts. We are all theory, flying off in the mental realms of imagination all day long People on the South end of campus who are more applied, or in the hard sciences, really do seem more in touch with reality. A friend of mine who does engineering says to me "Of course your absent minded, you live on north campus, lol."

And to the anthropologists lurking here, hello.

Okay, visiting the military science professor. I will admit what was echoed by someone previously, people in uniform who tend to embody fighting have this effect on (liberal) academics, lol. I just experienced it. I was really nervous visiting him at first, cause I thought as a civilian, he would force me to get on a Black Hawk, or airplane and make me jump out in a parachute. I know he's taken an oath to upload and defend the constitution, especially to protect us civilians, but the uniform is scary, lol. I think I'd be less afraid of a fire fighter cause as a civilian I would be more used to them.

Even in the military science department, the ROTC cadets were entirely different from the rest of the civilian students at my school. When the assistant professor came in, they froze in posture and replied, "Yes, sir!" and "No, sir!" to the professor/army captain. I found this to be an interesting anthropological experience, studying the ROTC department. I felt alienated at first, odd that they behaved so rigidly, but after a few minutes the people there were friendly. There was an honestly about them in how they described the annoying people who hand out fliers. One of them said, "Yes, that is annoying, they act like **%$#."

I was really intimidated by the professor at first, but then he welcomed me to the department and told me to finish my lunch. However, when I was talking to him in his office, no one dared interupt him. Someone wrote down something with a post-it note and slapped it on his desk in a way that seemed very kinetic. After about 10 minutes, when he looked up information about civilian jobs in the military, I felt comfortable, he was very nice, upright and helpful. I gave him information about the art history department, since one of his cadets coming in will be majoring in art history.

Although it was really intimidating at first, I'm glad that I met him and I hope the information that I shared with him helped him as well. After meeting with him, I talked to this other undergraduate girl about my experience meeting with that professor. She said, "There's something about military guys that makes them very sexy, something about that uniform and their toughness makes them attractive. But they are also really scary cause they use guns."

I agreed with her. Also what she said echoed what was said earlier in this thread, that service personnel in uniform embody fighting/violence, which can be very scary to academics or those unfamiliar with it. But I learned that even people in uniform, when they are out of uniform, they become ordinary people with families, who have the same worries and problems as the rest of us Anyhow, this was an interesting experience. I'll try not to be scared of guys in uniform who are supposed to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Naomi