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May 05, 2004
The Tillman Myth
Can you smell it? Smells like victory. No wait. Smells like Hollywood.
The gears are grinding. The wheels are spinning. The smoke is rising. The slow-motion cameras are at speed. I can feel the red, white and blue moment rising from the ashes of Pat Tillman's body. Something real is about to be turned into something really phony and I get the feeling that I'm going to be sick.
I realize that I am walking a fine line. I've already said why I don't think Pat Tillman is a military hero. I have pretty high standards for military heroes, and I've spelled that out. Schwartzkopf was a military hero. The commander who found Saddam had his moment and that was worth celebrating. I think Tillman was an ordinary good soldier who did what an ordinary good soldier does. He looks out for his unit. At absolute best, Tom Sizemore in 'Blackhawk Down', but I don't really think that good. But you know what? A 'Blackhawk Down' sized movie would convince me, and that's the friggin' problem.
The more I think about the publicity around Tillman the more I think people are missing the point. I want you to read this story about the culture of sacrifice and think about what it really means. Then I want you to imagine the absolute best about Tillman. That he's really on the side of the grunts and the good guys.
Should there be a Movie of the Week about this story? No.
It seems to me that you can't have it both ways. If "We Support Our Troops" is anything more than a cliche, then you owe it to them not to make an idol out of the handsome, would be rich guy. Salute in silence and get back to the task at hand.
Now wasn't it me who was just talking about Audie Murphy last week? Didn't I say we should have some real medals given out to real soldiers instead of flightsuits for the President? Yes I did. Hand out the real medals to the real soldiers. Take a photo with the President at the Rose Garden. Have a fly-by and a 21 gun salute at Arlington (if he deserves Arlington). But don't make a movie. Don't have his folks on a talk show. Don't hang yellow ribbons, and don't make him a litmus test. Stay away from the purple prose, stop the myth-making before it gets out of control.
That's it. I'll say no more.
Posted by mbowen at May 5, 2004 03:57 AM
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Comments
Posted by: George at May 5, 2004 01:00 AM
"I think Tillman was an ordinary good soldier who did what an ordinary good soldier does. He looks out for his unit."
Sure, but for me that just means that quite a few ordinary good soldiers are heros.
That used to be a fairly common belief in the US.
Posted by: Sebastian Holsclaw at May 6, 2004 04:02 PM