yup. it’s like when those chilean miners were rescued after being trapped under ground for 69 days. the first images they showed were of how incredibly happy those miners’ families were when being united at the end of their ordeal. it just made everyone who saw it want to go be a miner. i think the whole “accident” was a scam setup by the mining company. it was probably cheaper than advertising on monster.com. and i bet all the miners were in on it.
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Your post also makes me sad because I love a few soldiers. All of them retired long ago, but they are still retired pawns of the military-industrial complex. They are also good, kind people who made sacrifices to do what they thought was right, for the sake of others.
Hook, line and sinker.
Can’t say I’m surprised from the reaction, but I’m sad to see this coming from you.
This is kind of conditioned, knee-jerk reaction is the exact desired effect the very real and very corrupt mlitary-industrial complex wants you to do to me.
If I say that I’m tired of these kinds of military videos and imagery that pervades mass media offline and online, I must now hate all troops through the fallacy of extension.
Yes, now I must think that all vets are “pawns” and aren’t good, kind people who made sacrifices for the sake of others because I dared to point out I’m wary of all these “returning military” videos, etc.
Nevermind that I’ve personally worked with the military and also helped to find housing for homeless veterans… I mean, I could pander to veterans through online encouragement instead, but, I digress…
Americans spit on soldiers
Like I said… hook, line and sinker.
Look who’s “on your side” here. Take a look at your compatriot @Klamato who takes the the fallacy of extension to the Godwin level on me… and @marilove who now thinks I despise the joy of infants.
It’s the conditioned thing to do.
it just made everyone who saw it want to go be a miner. i think the whole “accident” was a scam setup by the mining company. it was probably cheaper than advertising on monster.com. and i bet all the miners were in on it.
You are fantastic at very fitting analogies. Yes, the mining companies making a concerted effort to bring attention to mining accidents (which obviously helps to bring in more miners into the industry). Yep, that’s just the same thing as the U.S. military using sugary social media imagery to influence the American public. That’s exactly the same thing that I was talking about in my post.
And, just like my posts above, you backed yourself up with a wealth of sources for this behavior. You’re a very intelligent person, you are.
But, whoops… you forgot to tell me I hate the troops and think the U.S. military is Hitler. But, well… others took up that slack for you, thank goodness.
I’m sure you’re a blast at parties, man.
I tend to be, thanks.
You know, people like you, people who can make anything joyous – even a baby’s laughter – and find something negative
Right, there wasn’t enough fallacy of extension in this thread already.
Now I also hate the joy of a small baby. Got it.
people like you suck.
Well, of course I do. I hate baby laughter.
What’s worse than a motherfucker who hates baby laughter?
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Nothing makes me angrier than another person’s happiness! Grrr! Grr!
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… Yes, there are a lot of these videos. There are a lot of videos of babies dancing to pop songs and cats pouncing on objects online too. I’m sure some of these videos ARE being orchestrated by some military PR aid, in the hopes of humanizing individuals and maybe that goodwill extending to the uniform.
I don’t think these are recruitment tools, at all, though. I don’t look at videos of dogs quivering in happiness because the dog thought their special human was dead and has now miraculously returned, or kids having to be told the person in front of them is their mommy/daddy before bursting into tears as reflecting positively on the service that made an extended separation necessary.
Military service hurts families. Watching the dog spasm in joy just makes me think about all the pets and children who don’t get a happy reunion video. It humanizes the soldier but in no way glorifies or justifies the war.
I don’t know, maybe I’m in the minority. I just don’t see how anyone could watch these videos and think, “I can’t wait to go out and inflict a similar horrifically painful situation on my loved ones!”
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in the hopes of humanizing individuals and maybe that goodwill extending to the uniform
They honestly don’t care, it’s about funding (converted to profit). If they cared about the actual welfare of the soldiers then we’d see a lot better treatment and services for the vets who come home. Actions speak much louder than pandering words. If they really cared about the soldiers, then they’d provide the needed armor, etc.
(If you really need more examples of how shitty the military-industrial complex is towards American soldiers, then I’ll provide them)
These guys really don’t care:
I just don’t see how anyone could watch these videos and think, “I can’t wait to go out and inflict a similar horrifically painful situation on my loved ones!”
I don’t think that’s the point. The point is to inspire people to Fight for Freedom™ and garner more support (money) for the military in general.
As far as this specific video goes (as I explained to someone else at Dangerous Minds):
It’s a cute video, the dog is great and given Dangerous Minds’ and Boing Boing’s track record I very seriously doubt they’re consciously promoting that people join the military and/or support more bloated funding for it.
But, at the same time, I’m a little nervous to see this kind of stuff creeping over into these realms and hope some will at least take pause and think about the message it may send to people about the military.
The military is very actively promoting this kind of stuff (touching military “return home” videos) and spreading them everywhere they can. I don’t like seeing one here, that’s all.
What the hell happened here?
I killed baby laughter and now there’s a contest to see who can whine louder than a lovesick hound dog named Hitler.
At least the words “kill shelter” wasn’t brought up… sheesh… then we’d really be in trouble…
Anyone disagreeing with the idea that the military industrial complex uses a blanket approach to the concept of propaganda, seriously needs to re-examine their motivations for calling such an idea into question.
The whole debate about whether or not videos like this are planted pro-military industrial complex/recruitment propoganda is a valid one. I don’t know whether this is true, but it’s a good thing to be aware of such possibilities in order to be aware of possible manipulation.
Personally, I can look beyond this and talk about the point of the OP, which was that the reaction of the dog is quite poignant. It wouldn’t matter to me why the person was absent for long, the dog’s vocal tone says it all to me, as pointed out above. “Where have you been? I thought I’d never see you again. I’ve missed you so badly! I love you!” The tone is eerily identical to the tone of people breaking down in tears of joy and relief of pent-up worry and sadness at the return of their loved ones. It doesn’t make me want to join the army or send money to the government. It makes me happy, like all displays of genuine interspecies friendship. I started to say interspecies love, but this is the internet, and well, I know where that would lead us…
My late cat also reacted in a very similar fashion when we returned after an absence of more than a day (always with arrangements for people to feed, water and check in on him, or stay over.) He would “tell us all about it” after we walked in the door, with strident meowing in a very similar tone, scolding, crying and happy sounding at the same time while rubbing against us, and purring too. He never sounded like this if we were just returning after a short while, just as I sincerely doubt that dog would act like that after a brief absence. People who doubt the depth and power of the emotions possible in these animals don’t know their sociobiology, or have some complex about wanting to emotions to be the sole domain of humanity. I sure do miss that cat, he loved us fiercely. And for people who think cats can’t be extremely affectionate and loyal, my personal experience is otherwise.
He would never react vindictively, either, no matter how long we were gone, nor have any cat I’ve ever had. I may have just been lucky, but I think if you get to raise a cat from kittenhood in a loving manner, they usually will be pretty well behaved. Usually being the giant caveat here.
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