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I swear, social media is making people more stupid by the day. For example, in the midst of New Year’s Eve revelry, the US Strategic Command issued a tweet featuring a video of a B-2 stealth bomber in flight. The B-2 then released two bombs, which, of course, made Big Booms. But that wasn’t all.
The tweet read:
“#TimesSquare tradition rings in the #NewYear by dropping the big ball…if ever needed, we are #ready to drop something much, much bigger.”
Cue the social media outrage!
Credit: giphy.com.
Walter Shaub, Jr., who resigned from the Office of Government Ethics in 2017, presumably because Trump offends him, huffed:
“What kind of maniacs are running this country?”
MSNBC contributor Joe Corincione called it a “sick, bragging joke by our Strategic Command.”
And a Texas mom howled that the tweet was “inappropriate & not amusing.”
Well, friends, I thought it was amusing. I mean, what do these wusses think the US Strategic Command does — drop CARE packages to the Taliban? If anything, the tweet should inspire pride in our military. After all, the GPS-bombs pictured — GPU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators — are designed to breach underground bunkers and weapon storage sites where the Bad Guys hide out and keep their munitions. We’re not talking civilian populations here.
Besides, a spokeswoman for the US Strategic Command noted this:
“It was a repost from earlier in the year, dropping a pair of conventional Massive Ordnance Penetrators at a test range in the United States.”
So it wasn’t the first time they had posted this video, which the spokeswoman said was to demonstrate their priorities of “strategic deterrence, decisive response and combat-ready force.”
But, never mind. The US Strategic Command folded in the face of social media scolds, deleted the tweet, and issued this apology:
Our previous NYE tweet was in poor taste & does not reflect our values. We apologize. We are dedicated to the security of America & allies.
— US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) December 31, 2018
Well, that was too bad. But you want to know what the video looked like, don’t you? Fortunately, Charles Johnson from Little Green Footballs found it:
This is the video posted today by US Strategic Command. pic.twitter.com/cjJ2KoPQgs
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) December 31, 2018
As my husband said when he saw that video: “Whoa! Dude!”
But let’s go back to 1964, shall we? We were in the middle of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was a threat to American security. The Cuban Missile Crisis, a time when we lurched close to war, happened in 1962, only two short years earlier. Lee Harvey Oswald, an American Communist, had assassinated President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Needless to say, everyone’s tensions were high.
And then Stanley Kubrick released his dark Cold War comedy, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The Bomb, of course, was the Atom bomb. The Internet Movie Data Base provides this synopsis of the film:
“An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a War Room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.”
Moreover, here’s the ending scene, when Major “King” Kong rides an A-Bomb from a B-52 to a Russian missile base. We see the nuclear explosion that results.
But everyone laughed, because it was funny. Dark, yes, but brilliantly hilarious in that Kubrick way:
I wonder how today’s social media scolds would react if Dr. Strangelove was released as a new film today. Why, they’d pile onto Twitter with hashtag campaigns in order to destroy the movie at the box office. Moreover, they wouldn’t ‘get’ the fact that Dr. Strangelove was really an anti-war satire. “Not funny! Insensitive! Sick! Do NOT see this film!” they’d screech.
Blah, blah, blah.
Frankly, I think the US Strategic Command should’ve kept that post up at Twitter. They had no need to apologize. After all, we’ve got the most badass military in the world, and it’s something to celebrate. I’m glad they’ve got my back.
Featured image: United States Air Force @Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain; permission from USGOV-PD.
czrpb says: for fetishizing violence; lets not!
Kim Hirsch says: Fetishizing violence? You mean like ISIS, Islamic terrorists, Putin, and Kim Jong-Un do? That’s why we have our military, which does violence when necessary.
Go home. Your mother’s calling.
Jim says: The only people involved in fetishes I hear of regularly are those of the regressive and very aggressive Left pushing the line that there are 57 [or is it 75?] types of sexual deviation that they consider ”normal”. Demonstrating one can defend oneself it not a fetish; it is a necessity in world full of aggressive left-wing totalitarian states.
DaveS says: I’m with you on this. When will Normals realize these morons have no power over us. They are a classic example of the squeaky wheel getting the grease.
SFC D says: Strategic Command exists solely to drop big things that make big booms on bad people. That’s necessary when diplomacy fails. Just enjoy your freedom, snowflake. Good people are protecting you.
DC says: At least the Air Force had the wherewithal to post the video in the first place.
Too bad they felt they had to take it down.
Gotta love those bunker-buster/B2 knockouts.
Thanks for your observations Kim.
Scott says: Sad that SAC took the post down… With apologies to you ladies, FUCK these snowflakes that got upset!! As pointed out, that’s the mission of SAC, and maybe if it hadn’t been 80 yrs wince we dropped a nuke, the world would be a more peaceful place, and our stockpile would be a bit more of a deterrent!
Dave says: It is no longer SAC (Strategic Air Command), it’s USSTRATCOM (United States Strategic Command).
See here for history: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Strategic-Air-Command-United-States-Air-Force
Scott says: Thanks for the heads up. Duly noted for the future, though it doesn’t change my opinion above.
Dave says: I concur with your opinion; should have said that up front.
Scott says: No worries! I would have made it very clear if I was being sarcastic. I did not know about the change in name ( though i should have assumed, over the last couple decades, the military has been changing unit / command names almost as often as Camo patterns
Oldav8r says: “Our previous NYE tweet was in poor taste & does not reflect our values.” I hope to hell it reflects your values. If it doesn’t we may as well dissolve Strategic Command.
I’m actually more concerned that Strategic Command is spending time sending out tweets. How cute.
Kate says: That’s pretty much my position, too.
Bombing bad guys fits with *my* values nicely. We should do it more often.
Happy New Year!
Formerly known as Skeptic says: There is a long history of this kind of Holiday “Greeting” within the military. I once received a Christmas card with a picture of Santa’s sleigh flying over the USS Nimitz which read “Strength at Sea, Peace on Earth”
I agree that the most disappointing part of this is the “does not reflect our values” line. SAC used to understand that their motto: “Peace is our Profession” was literally true as deterrence through strength was (and IS) their job.
Jim says: What ever happened to the old saying ”Speak softly and carry and big stick”? Showing all and sundry that one has the capacity to defend one’s self is not being aggressive or hostile to others. It simply reminds certain people or groups that there is a risk they take if and when they cross the line and aggress. The Japanese and NAZI Germany learned this the hard way. It appears modern trendy regressives have a limited and very naïve view of history. Showing the world one’s weaponry, the big stick, should lead to caution by the various hostiles around the world.
Rick Jones says: My complaint with the tweet, is that it states what we all assume to be true. They are ready to do the job for which they exist, so? Unless you are Barack Hussein Obama stating the obvious as if it is profound to tell us what we already know so that you can appear competent, though to be fair when he spoke to his base we can not assume they knew anything constructive, then just shut up and do your job. Talk about the dumbing down of the American populace, certainly don’t tell everyone when you are not ready to do your job, get that word up your command channels only and do it until the problem is fixed, but know that every second you spend telling us you are ready is another second when you are not focused on doing that thing you say you are doing.
Djb says: WTF is Strategic Command doing on Twitter in the first place?
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