There's one thing everybody knows about the conservarazzi. They need to bitch and complain about something they consider "anti-American" at all times. It doesn't matter if they invent the issue or event they complain about, they just need to do it. Even a huge concert that supports our veterans by boosting awareness of veterans’ support groups, raise funds for veterans charities and salute the troops who do so much for the country wasn't immune to their cries.
Bruce Springsteen and a whole bunch of musicians including Eminem performed to support our veterans on HBO at the National Mall and it was a grand event for everybody there, except of course the ignorant class I just mentioned.
The stupidity of the Weekly Standard was on display when Ethan Epstein wrote a ridiculous screed about Springsteen's covering of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s song “Fortunate Son.”
Who would have thought that that Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, and Zac Brown, accomplished musicians all, would be so, well, tone-deaf? But how else to explain their choice of song—Creedence Clearwater's famously anti-war anthem “Fortunate Son”—at the ostensibly pro-military “Concert for Valor” this evening on the National Mall?
The song, not to put too fine a point on it, is an anti-war screed, taking shots at "the red white and blue." It was a particularly terrible choice given that Fortunate Son is, moreover, an anti-draft song, and this concert was largely organized to honor those who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.
'Fortunate Son" is not an anti-war song, but an anti-draft screed written about those that sat back getting fat at home, protecting their own children while sending others off to die. John Fogerty said this about his song:
According to songwriter John Fogerty, the song was written to speak “more to the unfairness of class than war itself.” It talks about militant patriotism, and how the “senator’s son” is able to avoid the Vietnam draft.
The morons on Fox and Friends jumped in with their righteous indignation:
Taking shots at the red, white and blue,” Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt reported on Wednesday. “People expressing outrage on Twitter, saying the song bashes soldiers going to war.”
“Some are going, wait a minute, this is all about the vets, and that particular song was intended to be an anti-war anthem,” host Steve Doocy opined. “Is it really appropriate to be performing it in front of so many vets who volunteered to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan?”
“Yeah, you’re doing this for an audience of veterans, and it’s almost a slap in the face,” co-host Anna Kooiman agreed. “These producers should have known their audience, and known what they were getting with people like Bruce Springsteen.”
Fox News' The Five's group of conservative stooges concurred with the other conservative critics.
Bolling: You have to have a little common sense. Choosing that song and a couple of songs, anti-war songs, a mistake, it's veterans day and then Eminem coming out and dropping the f-bomb twelve times...HBO showed it, there's probably millions of young people watching it.
Guilfolye: It's inappropriate, you've got children out there...
Republican operatives on twitter were doing their usual tweetplaining their outrage too.
What am I missing? Why would this offend anybody at the concert?
There isn't a sane person or a military veteran I know of that would be upset about an anti-draft song being sung by the Boss. We have an all volunteer army now, highlighted by the word "volunteer." Back in the Vietnam war, you had no choice in the matter, which caused a crack in our society.
I was too young to be drafted, but I lived through the era when my older friends were checking the newspapers for the Draft Lottery to see when they would be drafted. That's a real fear, not some made up "immigrant children are bringing Ebola over the border to attack America" crap. If you got drafted, there was a good chance you'd never make it back. One of my best friend's lost his older brother to the war.
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