[marxmail] All Rise…For What? Baseball, Conformity, and Violence in the USA

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It leaves one punch-drunk to contemplate how over 51 years after the Fall
of Saigon, there are still Americans, combat veterans no less, who believe
that the Bill of Rights was somehow at stake in the jungles and villages of
Vietnam. Perhaps, it is a coping mechanism for Chavez, along with the many
Vietnam Vets who I see walking around grocery stores in sweatshirts and
baseball caps advertising their service, to believe that their =E2=80=9Cbud=
dies
were killed=E2=80=9D and that they themselves killed people to preserve the
American =E2=80=9Cway of life=E2=80=9D against an existential threat; to pr=
otect the right
of a young man, five decades later, to sit or stand during the National
Anthem. My father doesn=E2=80=99t believe that absurdity nor do most of the
veterans, like Tim O=E2=80=99Brien, Robert Kovic, Larry Heinemann, and Lynd=
a Van
Devanter, who wrote the great literature of the war. But it is sufficiently
widespread that every Memorial Day, Veteran=E2=80=99s Day, and Fourth of Ju=
ly
includes celebrations of those fought not only in Vietnam, but also
Afghanistan and Iraq, whether it was the Gulf War or the post-9/11 =E2=80=
=9Cweapons
of mass destruction=E2=80=9D monstrosity, as defenders of =E2=80=9CAmerican=
 freedom.=E2=80=9D

Rare is acknowledgement of the three million Vietnamese
<https://www.npr.org/2013/01/28/169076259/anything-that-moves-civilians-and=
-the-vietnam-war>
who
the US annihilated or the millions who remained to suffer the defects and
diseases that result from agent orange poisoning. It is uncommon to hear
discussion of the American soldiers, like my father, who have had a
lifetime of health issues related to exposure to the same chemical
weaponry. There is hardly a passing thought for the Afghans and Iraqis,
numbering in the hundreds of thousands, who died in American wars. Like
their medical cousins in Vietnam, thousands of civilians
<https://www.salon.com/2016/09/18/stack-the-bodies-outside-the-door-polluti=
on-contamination-and-the-toxic-legacy-of-the-iraq-war-on-the-iraqis-themsel=
ves/>
in
those countries also deal with an assortment of maladies, some of them
life-threatening, from the environmental toxicity that lingers after days
and days and days of bullets, bombs, military pollution, and burn pits.
*https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/31/all-risefor-what-baseball-conformi=
ty-and-violence-in-the-usa/
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/31/all-risefor-what-baseball-conformi=
ty-and-violence-in-the-usa/>*


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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div><p style=3D"margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-heigh=
t:1.5em;font-family:&quot;Source Serif Pro&quot;,serif;color:rgb(17,17,17)"=
><font size=3D"4">It leaves one punch-drunk to contemplate how over 51 year=
s after the Fall of Saigon, there are still Americans, combat veterans no l=
ess, who believe that the Bill of Rights was somehow at stake in the jungle=
s and villages of Vietnam. Perhaps, it is a coping mechanism for Chavez, al=
ong with the many Vietnam Vets who I see walking around grocery stores in s=
weatshirts and baseball caps advertising their service, to believe that the=
ir =E2=80=9Cbuddies were killed=E2=80=9D and that they themselves killed pe=
ople to preserve the American =E2=80=9Cway of life=E2=80=9D against an exis=
tential threat; to protect the right of a young man, five decades later, to=
 sit or stand during the National Anthem. My father doesn=E2=80=99t believe=
 that absurdity nor do most of the veterans, like Tim O=E2=80=99Brien, Robe=
rt Kovic, Larry Heinemann, and Lynda Van Devanter, who wrote the great lite=
rature of the war. But it is sufficiently widespread that every Memorial Da=
y, Veteran=E2=80=99s Day, and Fourth of July includes celebrations of those=
 fought not only in Vietnam, but also Afghanistan and Iraq, whether it was =
the Gulf War or the post-9/11 =E2=80=9Cweapons of mass destruction=E2=80=9D=
 monstrosity, as defenders of =E2=80=9CAmerican freedom.=E2=80=9D</font></p=
><p style=3D"margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:1.5em;font-family:&=
quot;Source Serif Pro&quot;,serif;color:rgb(17,17,17)"><font size=3D"4">Rar=
e is acknowledgement of the=C2=A0<a href=3D"https://www.npr.org/2013/01/28/=
169076259/anything-that-moves-civilians-and-the-vietnam-war" style=3D"margi=
n:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51)">three million Vietnamese</a>=C2=A0wh=
o the US annihilated or the millions who remained to suffer the defects and=
 diseases that result from agent orange poisoning. It is uncommon to hear d=
iscussion of the American soldiers, like my father, who have had a lifetime=
 of health issues related to exposure to the same chemical weaponry. There =
is hardly a passing thought for the Afghans and Iraqis, numbering in the hu=
ndreds of thousands, who died in American wars. Like their medical cousins =
in Vietnam,=C2=A0<a href=3D"https://www.salon.com/2016/09/18/stack-the-bodi=
es-outside-the-door-pollution-contamination-and-the-toxic-legacy-of-the-ira=
q-war-on-the-iraqis-themselves/" style=3D"margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(=
51,51,51)">thousands of civilians</a>=C2=A0in those countries also deal wit=
h an assortment of maladies, some of them life-threatening, from the enviro=
nmental toxicity that lingers after days and days and days of bullets, bomb=
s, military pollution, and burn pits.</font></p></div><font size=3D"4"><u><=
a href=3D"https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/31/all-risefor-what-baseball=
-conformity-and-violence-in-the-usa/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/=
31/all-risefor-what-baseball-conformity-and-violence-in-the-usa/</a></u></f=
ont><div><font size=3D"4"><u><br></u></font></div></div>


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