Supporting the War, Disagreeing with the War

It's funny how people get hung up on ideas that are not mutually exclusive.

For example, the Iraq War. I think a person can be supportive of American troops while still believing that this particular war was a mistake.

Disagreeing with the reasons for the war does not negate one's support for responsible men and women risking their lives in order to do their jobs well.

Likewise, supporting men and women who show fidelity to their responsibilities does not mean one has to agree with the task with which they have been assigned.

Why has this nation become so simplistic? (Or perhaps it has always been so -- just expressed differently through the decades.)

An adult mind should be able to hold two (or more) disparate thoughts at the same time and live with the tension created by them.

I wonder if the generation gap has contributed. Gen X did not experience the demeaning close of Vietnam (or at least grasp it fully), where soldiers wounded and killed serving their country were reviled and abused upon their return home. Activist Baby Boomers [wrongfully] directed their anti-war furor against people who were only serving their country [as expressed through the will of politicians -- whether or not it was correct], rather than at the thing they actually hated.

That whole experience left a bitter taste in many people's mouths, and as far as I can tell, it seems to be the older generation that has trouble merging patriotism with moral dissent -- that seems to equate criticism of current policy with some sort of infantile rebellion.

It's one of the things that makes it difficult to unify this country. Many people seem happy with blue and red and never the twain shall meet.