{"id":15843,"date":"2025-10-22T10:22:57","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/?p=15843"},"modified":"2025-10-22T10:22:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T17:22:57","slug":"wow-just-wow-i-really-hate-hit-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/2025\/10\/22\/wow-just-wow-i-really-hate-hit-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Wow, just wow. I really hate hit pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caught this article<\/strong><\/a> and thought, \u201cOn the one hand I can understand fighting fire with fire”<\/p>\n

\"PlatnerBut it saddens me that it\u2019s gotten to this point and It muddies the waters.<\/p>\n

The article is about a veteran running against Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). It\u2019s a hit piece and I personally found it as offensive as the hit pieces against Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n

What it looks like at this point to me, is a veteran that became disillusioned with the military when he began questioning the reasons he\u2019d joined in good faith to protect our country.<\/p>\n

\"\"That questioning is not uncommon. They see friends blown away, they see the results of war, they see politicians getting rich from the military industrial complex, and REMFs giving orders that make no damn sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They seem to realize they\u2019re pawns and question if the honest motivations that made them become soldiers were naive and wonder if they\u2019re on the \u201cright\u201d side.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve known a few military people that went through this and came to the conclusion that the only fight they\u2019ll engage in, is one where they can clearly see and understand the threat but they\u2019re not interested in some overarching geopolitical bullshit that has no clear endpoint or goal.<\/p>\n

Some of them become pacifists, some become thoughtful and introspective, some work their way through it, and decide that war should be the absolute last resort and then only in defense of their homes and families. They seem to be somewhat agnostic about concepts like nationalism and patriotic duty. And some become stone cold killers who are never fit to live in non-military society again, they become the monsters that fight other monsters and that\u2019s all they know or remember.<\/p>\n

The duty that many citizens have completely forgotten and abdicated is our duty to reach out to all of these soldiers to hold their hand guiding them back from being warriors to being people again.<\/p>\n

\"\"We\u2019re supposed to hug them when they wake in the middle of the night, wild eyed and dangerous, because they were reliving the nightmare of battles they\u2019d been in. I\u2019ve always believed it was our duty to remind them of what they sacrificed their youth and innocence to protect, we\u2019re supposed to be rocks they can cling to in those turbulent moments where all these soldiers can do is wait for the sunrise to break on a new day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen a few sunrises sitting next to men in that state. I can\u2019t fix or heal those psychic wounds, only time can do that. But I can be a rock, a calm point in the storm, waiting for the sunrise with them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been said the last thing you want to do, is make a soldier turn his plowshare back into a sword. Because that man will fight with a fury of a demon out of hatred and anger at having his hard won peace stolen from him again.<\/p>\n

I believe that with all my heart. A soldier who\u2019s forced to do that risks everything because he risks being taken by the abyss.<\/p>\n

This hit piece is about Graham Platner. He\u2019s running against Susan Collins for a Maine senate seat.<\/p>\n

\"\"He\u2019s got a skull & crossbones tattooed on his chest. He\u2019s 41, a vet and referred to the tattoo as a Totenkopf. That\u2019s German for skull. The tattoo doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s a NAZI.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve known a lot of soldiers that had skull tattoos of various types. Some choose traditional pirate tropes, others choose Baron Samedi, other variations I\u2019ve seen include skulls with new life sprouting from them represented by green plants growing around or through them.<\/p>\n

The article implies he got it when he was 22, and in the Marine Corps. I found a photo that is supposedly him, and honestly the tattoo quality is really bad. It\u2019s a crap tattoo. Duh, a drunk 22 year old on leave, kind of typical.<\/p>\n

As muddied and indistinct as the lines were, a coverup piece would probably be a nightmare to design. It would take a real artist not some $20 per hour hack.<\/p>\n

I know a lot of people who\u2019ve had coverup tattoos to eliminate their youthful regrettable choices. I know about an equal number of folks that just said, \u201cFuck it\u201d. It wasn\u2019t worth the time or money to bother.<\/p>\n

So this guy having a skull tattoo doesn\u2019t meet my personal qualifications to mark the guy as a NAZI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"This looks more like the rabid assholes on the extreme right<\/em> trying to get payback for the extreme left\u2019s<\/em> making hay about Hegseth\u2019s cross tattoo.<\/p>\n

The article also quotes Mr. Platner as saying;<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cTell them that if they expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The author of the article claims this is a call to violence.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t look at it that way. If you cite WWII as an example, it was semi-automatic and full automatic rifles that beat back the penultimate fascists known as NAZIs.<\/p>\n

The article printed another quote;<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAfter the war, I\u2019ve pretty much stopped believing in any of the patriotic nonsense that got me there in the first place, and am a firm believer that the best thing a person can do is help their neighbors and live a loving life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He added;<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cStill got the guns though. I don\u2019t trust the fascists to act politely.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That tracks with several ex-military folks I know. I\u2019ve heard similar sentiment from soldiers who saw hard combat, including one Vietnam Vet whose leg was spared by a penny in his pocket. He was very happy to have lost a penny rather than have a Purple Heart. The penny in question is mounted in a small glass case on his bookshelf among a few pieces of memorabilia from the war.<\/p>\n

Later in the article Mr. Platner is quoted as saying he\u2019s a socialist, later a communist and that he grows psychedelics.<\/p>\n

Okay, that\u2019s when I get a bit concerned. My question would be is he communist lite, or hardcore communist? On its surface Communism does look very appealing. However historically, the problem has been in the implementation, because human nature is not, in my opinion, compatible with Communism.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to read and hear more about Mr. Platner. It\u2019s unlikely that I\u2019d agree with him on all points but I\u2019m willing to listen and if he\u2019s got good ideas I don\u2019t care what his political ideology is.<\/p>\n

The article is decrying the Democrat party and their apparent love for bad candidates and bad ideas. Okay, I\u2019ll agree with that generally.<\/p>\n

Both are apparently true, the first is exemplified with Biden and Harris. The latter is exemplified by the Democrat Party doubling down on ideas, rules, & regulations, that have failed.<\/p>\n

If the Democrat Party would simply be able to say, \u201cYep, that didn\u2019t work as expected. So we\u2019re going to defund and dismantle it.\u201d I\u2019d have a lot more respect for them.<\/p>\n

Then I think about John Fetterman. When he was running, I thought he was possibly one of the worst candidates I\u2019d ever seen, (other than Biden), but as it turns out, while I disagree with him most of the time, I\u2019ve started to see him as a voice of reason within the Democrat Party. At least he\u2019s willing to call out others in the party who are \u201cOff the rails.”<\/p>\n

Maybe Mr. Platner could bring a fresh view. Maybe being who he is, having actually seen combat, & worked for a living wouldn\u2019t be a bad idea for the Democrat party and the Senate.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve long believed that what we need in Congress is average people. Yeah AOC is \u201caverage\u201d so maybe my theory may not hold water. But she\u2019s not particularly bright and I suspect she\u2019s kind of a \u201cGo Along with the crowd,\u201d kind of person. When I say \u201cAverage\u201d people, I mean free thinkers who don\u2019t vote lockstep along party lines.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m worried about the Republican Party doing exactly the same thing. If Republicans are expected to vote strictly along party lines, in short order they\u2019ll be no better than what we\u2019ve seen with the Democrat Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ideally what I want in Congress is a bunch of people who do the research, can justify their votes, and who are unafraid to have a different opinion. In other words, I would like a real cross section of America. I\u2019d like thoughtful people who eschew rhetoric and party affiliation. I\u2019d like to see votes in the House and Senate that look more like the results of the general vote.<\/p>\n

While at the moment I think the Democrat Party is full of a bunch of loons. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right or productive to paint all Democrats with the same brush. (Yes, I\u2019ve done it in these very pages. I apologize, I was pissed off.)<\/p>\n

We need balance. Hit pieces from either side aimed at destroying new or unknown candidates are not productive. In fact, I think they lead to maintaining the status quo because they poison the possibility of new blood entering office.<\/p>\n

Nowhere in the article is there mention of what Mr. Platner is actually campaigning on. Perhaps the ink would be better spent describing the candidate\u2019s thoughts on changing the political landscape, what kind of experience he has, what he plans to do for his constituents, and how he plans to do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Were I living in Maine, those are the things I\u2019d be interested in. Not a candidate\u2019s tattoos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caught this article and thought, \u201cOn the one hand I can understand fighting fire with fire” But it saddens me that it\u2019s gotten to this point and It muddies the waters. The article is about a veteran running against Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). It\u2019s a hit piece and I personally found it as offensive as … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Wow, just wow. I really hate hit pieces”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-15843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15844,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15843\/revisions\/15844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bone-in-the-throat.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}