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Cannon Fodder Analysis

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Cannon Fodder Analysis
Valentine Matongoh
HONR 393
Paper #3 DO I SUPPORT THE TROOPS?
On July 1965, civil rights activists in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party circulated and published a petition urging African Americans not to fight in the Vietnam War, more specifically, any war. Some of the reasons mentioned in the petition were; since black people were not free in America, they couldn’t fight for the freedom of others when they themselves were not free, they would gain respect and dignity as a race if the police had to come to their homes to get their sons so they could fight in the war, no one had the right to ask them to fight other colored people so colored people can be looked as traitors and die for no good cause while white Americans get richer …show more content…
While some parts were convincing, I found some of the logic a little accusatory and demeaning to those who support the military. I would suggest that if the author is trying to convince others, or trying to let others understand her perspective, she should not accuse them of contributing to her son turning into a “cannon fodder”. All in all, the article was extremely informative and it forced me to evaluate my opinions about the military. It forced me to look deeper and try to find where my opinions about the military root from and they all root from the glorification of the military culture our society has adopted. In conclusion,, the article does a good job of convincing its readers that the military is unnecessary and no one should support it. Before reading this article, I fully supported the troops and after evaluating and analyzing the article I think that there are some actions of the military I do not support, for example the Syrian strike. The article left me with some profound questions like; must I support the soldiers who go to war, even if I am against that war? Do I have a moral obligation not to support soldiers who agree to fight in immoral
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