Facebook Groups: Soldiers Are Not Heroes

Just when I thought my work of exposing anti-soldier groups on Facebook was done, I encountered another anti-soldier group on Facebook. This group is called "Soldiers Are Not Heroes" and there is not one group with this title, but 21! That's right, there are 21 Facebook groups with the title of "Soldiers Are Not Heroes". Everyone is allowed to have an opinion, however, I found 2 group in particular to be very hateful and not peace-loving as they claim.

About "Soldiers Are Not Heroes"

"Soldiers Are Not Heroes" was founded in 2008. They state that, "Soldiers Are Not Heroes is a growing consciousness emerging through the progression of knowledge and morality being freed from the grasp of ruling governments and being shaped by the consciousness of free thinking peoples. Towards peace, with love."

This group has 402 fans and is listed as a non-profit group. There is no listing for the creator or administrators names on the group page. They often use the abbreviation "SANH" for their group. Under the Company Overview, they write, "SANH is a movement and evolving collective consciousness; it does not seek to hate any individual soldier, killer, or government - it seeks to discuss principles beyond national boundaries and without control by those that have the biggest weapons. It is a new world morality, emerging through the internet. It inherits and develops as an international consciousness gravitating towards a peaceful future. SANH examines war and mans hate for man as expressed in the media of the world, much of which have been shaped and controlled by moguls and governments, against the best interests of the majority. SANH is a vehicle to grow and express direction for a future peace. The consciousness of SANH is young and if you start to want to be a peaceful person and not hero-worship those that carry guns and engage in conflicts - that is SANH working in your life. Soldiers have put down their weapons when SANH started working in theirs."

They further state in their Mission Statement that " To advocate peace and non-violence; to question the perpetrated illusion that a man becomes a hero by wearing a uniform; to refuse to chant in line with dictators, propagandists and warlords, no matter what flag they wave. Peace means not killing. War is racist."

I am not against others having an opinion and sharing it. They say that they are peaceful, however, as I looked at the posts in this group, they sounded very hateful and violent towards all soldiers. They also included videos about soldiers throwing puppies off of cliffs. I viewed the video and you actually cannot tell what the soldier has in his hands, or even that he is on a cliff.

About "Soldiers are not heroes"

This group is listed as "Common Interest -Politics" and has several administrators, which include, Ari Miller, Anna Ng, Angel Ng, Afra Arnaud, Felipe Ramirez (Spain), Dexter Diviney (Wales), Simon Griffin, and Stan Dodds. I am unable to confirm 100% whether any of the group administrators are American, however, I do know that there are members and fans of this group that are American, which disturbs me and makes me fear the future of our nation.

They describe their group as "This group is intended to point out the absurdity of the many groups on Facebook that portray all soldiers to be heroes and shower the armed forces with unconditional praise. Putting on a soldiers uniform does not make you a hero. Supporters of the group generally agree that the wars that our armed forces are participating in at the present time and in recent years are unnecessary and unjust. Therefore we don't feel that we should be pressured into offering "support" to people fighting and killing innocent people for causes that we don't believe in. We recognize that the government are mainly to blame but also think that members of the forces need to take responsibility for their own actions in choosing to support these causes. Soldiers have free will and the opportunity to not sign/re-sign up if they feel they are being asked to participate in an unjust war, so they also deserve a proportion of the blame if they choose to stay. We also find it amusing how so many of those who claim to "protect our freedoms of speech" tell us to shut up, or be duffed up. Soldiers are not heroes. They can be heroes, they can act heroically, they can do heroic things - but the act of putting on a uniform for the next so many years does not make your life more important than others, it does not make your opinions and insights more worthy of respect than others, it does not exempt you from moral judgment. It does not make you a hero. And we should not fall prey to hero-worship." We are peacefully protesting against the groups protesting (with needless threats) against our peaceful protests against the forces!"

Now, regarding a soldier as a hero does not make him or her exempt from moral judgment. Everyone is judged at one point or another, including soldiers. Soldiers also obey the same laws that you and I do and are reprimanded appropriately if they break a law. As far as the statement of "hero-worship", I don't think many of us worship a hero simply because he wears a uniform. Worship and respect are two different things. I don't worship anyone except the Lord, however, I have deep respect and appreciation for soldiers because they keep our nation free. If it weren't for soldiers protecting us, I would not be allowed to speak or write my opinion.

Group Wars

In response to this alarming trend of bashing our troops, several Facebook users have created groups to petition Facebook to close these groups. They have titles such as, "May Not Be Heroes But They Are Still Willing To Die For Your Ass", and "Remove The Group Soldiers Are Not Heroes", as well as "Remove The Group Soldiers Are Not Heroes By 5-1-09 Or I Will Delete My FB Account". The groups dedicated to the cause of removing anti-soldier groups are too numerous to count, although I did become a member of "Petition To Remove Group Soldiers Are Not Heroes", and "Remove All Anti-Soldier Groups and Pages From Facebook".

In summary, I would like to remind anyone who does not respect what our soldiers do, that you eat, live, and breathe because of the work the soldiers do on your behalf. They protect you when you don't deserve it. It is a thankless job, yet they do it anyways. If members of anti-soldier groups are as peaceful as they say, then they should focus on anti-war, not anti-soldier. Being against war simply means that you do not agree with war and the reasons we fight. Being anti-soldier means that you are against every soldier, past, present, and future. Perhaps these anti-soldier groups should think about this before they start any more soldier bashing pages.

Sources:

Facebook Group: Soldiers are not heroes,

Facebook Group: Soldiers Are Not Heroes, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=159663746899

Facebook Group: Remove All Anti-Soldier Groups And Pages From Facebook,

Facebook Group: Petition To Remove Group Soldiers Are Not Heroes,http://www.facebook.com/search/?o=69&init=s%3Agroup&q=soldiers+are+not+heroes&s=70#/group.php?gid=159663746899http://www.facebook.com/search/?o=69&init=s%3Agroup&q=soldiers+are+not+heroes&s=70#/group.php?gid=196387194654http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2373072738&gid=159663746899