Vince Avedon – 8/16/05

This page was last updated on August 24, 2005.

A two-faced traitor; Vince Avedon; Beaver County Times; August 16, 2005.

Another example of Mr. Avedon going off the deep end. He wrote a high school student who showed interest in enlisting in the Marines as a “was probably brought up to be a two-faced traitor to his country.”

The Beaver County Times published my letter to the editor on this subject.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I recently read a story about a Marine recruiter who had a conversation with the mother of a Marine candidate from a well-to-do Pittsburgh suburb.”

[RWC] The story to which Mr. Avedon refers was “Parent-trap snares recruiters” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 11^th).

“Oh how nice of this woman to have two American flags in her yard as reported. Not one, but two mind you, because two makes you more patriotic than your neighbor with only one flag, and definitely more American than the yard with none. I suspect her car is also adorned with the flag and ‘W04’ from bumper to bumper.”

[RWC] Mr. Avedon forgot to mention the woman was wearing an American flag t-shirt.

“Then came the bombshell. ‘Military service isn’t for our son. It isn’t for our kind of people,’ she said.”

[RWC] I have to admit this quote sounds bad, but I don’t know the woman or what she was trying to say.

The woman also said, “I want you to know we support you,” referring to the military.

“This mother is obviously one of the 51 percent of the voters who bought into Bush’s WMD lie. Now, when her country calls for her support, they deserve more than a magnetic sticker on her car.”

[RWC] Mr. Avedon might be correct that the woman was a Bush supporter, but he didn’t explain how he came to his conclusions. Are Bush supporters the only Americans who fly the flag and/or wear American flag t-shirts? Are Bush supporters the only Americans who support the troops?

He also didn’t describe the alleged lie.

Here’s a portion of the story Mr. Avedon failed to note: “Recruiters have to contact as many as 100 young people just to get one who is willing to talk about enlisting, chiefly because of opposition from parents, said Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, commander of the Army Recruiting Command. That’s nearly four times as many as before the war in Iraq began.” In other words, most parents don’t want their kids in harm’s way.

“Maybe it’s best that her son doesn’t enlist, as he was probably brought up to be a two-faced traitor to his country just like his mother.”

[RWC] Mr. Avedon hopes you didn’t read the original story because it would undermine his rant. You see, the reason the Marine recruiter visited the family was that the son expressed interest in enlisting. I could be wrong, but a high school student who wants to enlist in the Marines knowing he will likely see combat doesn’t sound like “he was probably brought up to be a two-faced traitor to his country.” It’s also unlikely the son of a “two faced traitor” would want to enlist.

Below is the letter to the editor I referenced above as I submitted it. The Times published the letter on August 24^th.

Marine candidate a traitor?

In his letter entitled “A two-faced traitor” (August 16), Vince Avedon drew several conclusions.

There’s only one conclusion for which I’d like to see an explanation, however.

I’d like to know how Mr. Avedon concluded that a high school student who showed interest in enlisting in the Marines “was probably brought up to be a two-faced traitor to his country.”