The U.S. Military and ‘Brown People,’ Etc.

Today on the homepage, I have a Salzburg journal, replete with “photos, points, and aperçus from Mozart’s hometown.” I have quoted the subheading. If you are interested, go here.

A little mail?

Earlier this week, I wrote about the ad that Dick Cheney made for his daughter Liz. I said,

There is something I dislike about the Cheney ad, strongly: the music. Any music at all. One video after another — in politics, sports, etc. — is spoiled by music. Dick Cheney’s ad does not need music. A soundtrack. A soundtrack can only detract. The man and his message are potent on their own.

A reader writes,

You know where I get most irritated with musical “background”? In church, while someone is praying. Certain churches have made the practice common — I think it’s designed to provoke a sentimental response to the prayer, but I have always found it distracting.

In a recent Impromptus, I cited an article headed “Fox Host Attacks Service Members in Spat With Former Marine, Says Vets Went ‘Across the World’ to ‘Murder Brown People.’” I wrote,

For many years, I have heard from the left that the U.S. military “murders brown people.” I guess everyone is getting into the act now, as lefties and righties blend, on all sorts of things.

You know, I have never heard anyone say that the Taliban, or Saddam Hussein, or al-Qaeda, or ISIS, or Bashar Assad murders brown people. Ever.

And how about the “brown people” fighting alongside U.S. forces? Do they count?

When I made a similar point, over the weekend, a reader responded, “No one ever says that the U.S. went to Europe to kill blue-eyed, blond-haired Germans.” No, they never do.

Another reader writes,

Jay,

You said, “And how about the ‘brown people’ fighting alongside U.S. forces? Do they count?” I would add: How about all the “brown people” fighting in the U.S. forces? Do they count?

The best point of all.

I had a post headed “In These United States.” At the bottom of it, I explained,

The heading over this blogpost is an homage to Reader’s Digest, which had a feature called “Life in These United States.”

A reader writes to say,

Update for you: Reader’s Digest is still going, and it still has a feature called “Life in These United States.”

It’s still the first feature I turn to when I open my new issue. Just as it was back in the ’70s, when I would visit my grandparents’ lake house. They had bookshelves lining one wall with Reader’s Digest and National Geographic issues going well back into the ’60s. I always had plenty of reading material to occupy me, when I was avoiding loud family gatherings.

Marvelous.

Finally, a reader says,