Pro-military complain Celebities not soldiers get remember in History

[Pisces Axxxxx]

I notice there is a strong tendency in the Military Community-especially Veterans and civilians with relatives in the military to scoff at the general public because they don't revere veterans. They seem to really hate how celebrities who make a living off "useless" things like movie stars, professional athletes, divas, musicians, and artists make sooooooo much money that are often in the thriple digits or for top stars like Brad Pitt, JK Rawling, and Muhammad Ali, made millions for a single work from their occupation.

In their eyes, "soldiers sacrificed everything for our freedoms" and they deserve much more than celebrities of various things get paid. That its unfair a civie who never served like Tom Cruise get paid millions of dollars for one movie or Selena Gomez gets paid at least $35,000 for doing one episode of Wizards of Waverly Place.

 

In their eyes, soldiers should get paid that much because they risked death everytime they fight in the battlefield and they have the hardest and most dangerous job in the world. That soldiers as the embodimment of virtues are much more noble people than any of these celebrities can ever hope to be.

 

Here are some such posts online.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071023231357AAVAIbo

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhDK6q.5BWgyD4Ae5YEn8w0jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20130110124345AADWLem

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aqcc28n_5b4TdWptoc1ChEYjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20070226145056AAaOHkb

 

In my opinion this is OVERROMANTICIZING the Military. To begin with, most soldiers don't join out of civic duty but they do so because they couldn't get a job elsewhere or to avoid a prison sentence. Secondly most soldiers don't even go fighting in the battlefield but are back safe in bases.

 

Thirdly these professional Athletes, Movie Stars, musicians, and so-their jobs aren't EASY. I won't go into details but a lot of the things and stress they face in the job would be enough to break most people in the Military who aren't in combat units esp. reserves. They do a lot of stuff for example professional athletes do a lot of physical activity that makes basic training a joke and would make most Reservists and non-combat soldiers cry and break apart. I won't go into details because each of these profession are VERY stressful in different ways. But just to leave on more example, when Victor Fleming was filming Gone With the Wind, he was so stressed he passed out and had to rest for several days that other people had to temporarily take over to direct the movie. YES it can be that stressful especially in big budget production.

 

Furthermore even among combat units, most soldiers ARE not the noble embodiment of virtues like many civilians with relatives who were in the MIlitary worships them to be. Many of them are madmen thugs and crooks-bad bad people prior to enlisting. A lot of them actually enjoy violence long before they joined and they excel as soldiers because their personality is so much in tuned with this life style, Yes they fight hard and are comparable to the average professional athlete in physical vigour but they are NOT noble citizens.

And they pale compared to the star stars of sports like Usain Bolt in physical conditioning.

Furthermore a lot of these celebrities HELP civilians so much, many of them much more than the typical Combat soldier could ever hope to in their life time. For example Bill Gates and Michael Jordon donated MILLIONS to charity. Muhammad Ali inspired millions of Americans to get into Boxing and become in better shape for the rest of their life as a result.

 

And my personal role model as far as Hollywood goes, Katharine Hepburn, served as a role model for millions of women around the world to follow and look up to because she was such a DISCIPLINED and FIERY woman. And rightfully so because she really was a woman of such self-restraint, more so than the average soldier could ever hope to become in her life time.

Civilians often contribute much more than soldiers do.

 

So I think its deserving that the average soldier get such low pay than civilian Celebrities do. Esp. when you consider most people can become soldier very few people have what it takes to become a Movie Star or professional athlete.

 

What do you think? Agree?Disagree?

 

I notice its even bigger in the History community esp.among enthusiasts of Military History who all too offten moan and complain many soldiers who died in past wars are barely remembered. They complain most civilians don't even know the famous military figures of history who gave their lives for their country or for "Freedom" like David Crockett, Stonewall Jackson, and Roger Vandenburg.

 

All over-romanticizing the soldier IMO and forgetting the contribution other aspects of society gave to history esp. history other than Military History like Cultural History, Social History,etc.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Pisces Adonis