You call me a Cougar… I’ll call you a Navy Seal.
- Details
- Category: Robert Dexter
- Published on Tuesday, 24 May 2011 11:07
- Written by Robert Dexter
I was recently listening to an episode of NPR’s “What What Don’t Tell Me” and I was laughing out loud while riding the bus to work. Among the many jokes being cracked about the anonymity of members of Seal Team Six, including that in bars all across America, 40 million men will have now joined the ranks of Seal Team Six. It was eventually summed up by Amy Dickerson cracking a joke pick-up line “You call me a Cougar and I’ll call you a Navy Seal.” This stimulated my noodle. Does the now iconic idea of Seal Team Six embody a confidence in America that Americans were looking for?
Over the last two decades, the United States has been mired in conflict after conflict. We have taken military action in a guided or misguided attempt to address any number of the following: human rights, weapons of mass destruction, revenge for terrorist acts, etc. Whether you consider this the real reason for military action or not, in very few to almost none of these conflicts has the U.S collectively demonstrated its effectiveness in producing a solution. The closest we have come is in Afghanistan with the almost complete removal of the Taliban from power, but still this goal has fallen short of its intended outcome simply because the Taliban still is a force to be reckoned with in Afghanistan. The physiological effect it has had on the American people has no doubt resulted in an overall lack of confidence in our ability to actually achieve something we collectively set out to accomplish.
This lack of confidence in our collective psyche, combined with our competitive spirit, and deep national sorrow of 9/11 came to a head on May 1st when President Obama announced that the United States had killed Osama Bin Laden. There were parties in the streets, people screaming U…S…A, U…S…A, U…S…A. This became the moment where America accomplished something. We finally accomplished something and we did it in a very John Wayne meets Rambo way. I could have only been more American if X member of Seal Team Six was a teenager when his mother died on 9/11 and he was the Seal Team Six member to shoot Bin Laden. Oops…did I just give away the plot to the new Michael Bay quasi Seal Team Six histo-pic?
While the death of Osama was warranted, needed, and proof that the American national security apparatus can function, should this be the symbol of the national pride that warrants celebrations in the streets? On some level, I think it should, but more importantly we need to set our country in a direction that will allow us to feel confident in who we are and what we can accomplish. The killing of Bin Laden speaks volumes to the ability of one segment (military) of our country but it does not really speak volumes to a broader portion of our country. So, today I will call you a cougar and you can call me a Seal but I wonder I will call you tomorrow.
