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…but the effect they just had on the squirrel outside my window—who responded to the sudden roar by freaking the fuck out in five directions at once—almost makes me love them for a split-second.
But then I feel sorry for the squirrel, and my Blue Angels hatred returns.
David Schmader—former weed columnist and Stranger associate editor—is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he’s performed in Seattle and across the US. His latest... More by David Schmader
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Why this fascination with war-machinery, destruction and “power”? It’s the 21st century, folks. People are experiencing this in real-time all over the world while you are reading this. With all due respect to the military, can we show some respect and consideration for those who have been in real-time war scenarios? And why do we tax payers have to pay for this pollution and -as somebody else called it- sonic ear rape? It is a shock to my nervous system, I cannot imagine what this does to war veterans, children and pets. Yes, jets are cool inventionts, but not in the name of war and destruction! It’s time for different kinds of angels, people! This is sooooooooo out-dated.
And to all those of you who like them, why not join the military and experience this wherever the hell you bomb the crap out of other nations (which is pretty much everywhere).
Flying propaganda is not like apple pie. It makes toddlers hysterical, robs the taxpayer of money much better spent and dumps more jet fuel into breast milk. Imagine such amazing technology put to use to clean the planet up, not pollute it. I can’t imagine what immigrants from war-torn countries think of this testosterone fueled display.
I fucking hate them. HATE them. I am one of those people with PTSD who CAN’T AFFORD to leave town for FOUR FUCKING DAYS. Four days of abject misery so a few dipshits can point to the sky and say “Look! A-hyuk! KEWL!”
Seattle. We’re all about the recycling and the reducing the carbon footprint and the bitching about war for oil and the horror at the greed that caused the BP spill, and yet every fucking year it’s this bullshit 1,200 gallons-of-jet-fuel-an-hour-PER-PLANE earsplitting fuckfest.
Let’s see, reasons to hate the Blue Angels:
1) On Principle: You disapprove of the entire city being subjected to a mandatory-attendance military recruiting event.
2) Loudness: It’s fucking loud as fuck and there is no escape from it anywhere in the city — even indoors.
3) Inconvenience: I-90 is shut down for four hours at a time and traffic is completely fucked for much of the weekend.
4) The Symbolism: Fighter jets are death-bringers and the wars in which we are engaged are immoral.
5) Waste: The only mission of these machines is to fly around doing aerial stunts. Each one costs millions of dollars, each one has to be flown by a career pilot who was trained for many years for this one task, and each flight spends tens of thousands of gallons of very, very expensive jet fuel.
6) There are alternatives: Like flying outside of fucking city limits, somewhere less populated where people who WANT to see it can attend and transportation will not be affected.
7) Disrespect to PTSD Sufferers: What @37 Said
8) Danger: The job of flying for the Blue Angels have a 10% fatality rate and 26 of its pilots have died. Does flying over a densely-populated city make any sense? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Angels…
Reasons to like the Blue Angels:
1) You are so fucking stupid and inconsiderate that none of the above matters to you more than the chance to pretend that Top Gun is real.
Fuck you all.
Oh I forgot one more reason to like Blue Angels:
2) You are too fucking lazy and cheap to go drive to and pay to see a private airshow.
Loud, Fast, Aerobatic, Symbolic AND Dangerous…sounds like a win to me.
and, btw, Top Gun is real…I’m watching it right now!!
FUCK YEAH!!!
Funny original post! I love the sonic ear rape. I love the speed, the precision, the technology, and the talent it takes to fly those jets. I love how patriotic they make me feel. I love that they can fly within inches of each other and not kill themselves or anyone else. And now I love how they make pesky squirrels freak the fuck out in five different directions at all once.
Once a goddamn year we can handle the noise.
Uncelestial, remember: freedom is not free. LOL
I think they are cute. They make me think of kittens.
Blue angles just woke up our 5 month old infant! I say, get rid of them. Let them fly over Texas and bush’es ranch, but not anywhere else.
you know what they say about guys who fly big jets don’t you?
Previewing Your Comment
Re: I Hate the Blue Angels
I used to hate the Blue Angels too. They seemed a symbol of all that is wrong about not just America but all militarism.
But I had a new thought the other day.
As the ferocious crescendo of their engines shook my house to the point where, in spite of myself, I lowered my neck into my shoulders sure they were going to really crash into me,I understood what it feels like to be a civilian in a war zone. This is a feeling very very few Americans understand. Living in the middle of war is something that only happens to Others. Thank god The Angels only make noise and don’t strafe and drop bombs!
Maybe being rattled by the Blue Angels now and then will sensitize us to the plight of civilian populations that suffer when we invade to bring them a better way of life!
Previewing Your Comment
Re: I Hate the Blue Angels
I used to hate the Blue Angels too. They seemed a symbol of all that is wrong about not just America but all militarism.
But I had a new thought the other day.
As the ferocious crescendo of their engines shook my house to the point where, in spite of myself, I lowered my neck into my shoulders sure they were going to really crash into me,I understood what it feels like to be a civilian in a war zone. This is a feeling very very few Americans understand. Living in the middle of war is something that only happens to Others. Thank god The Angels only make noise and don’t strafe and drop bombs!
Maybe being rattled by the Blue Angels now and then will sensitize us to the plight of civilian populations that suffer when we invade to bring them a better way of life!
i want to see the blue angels and the thunderbirds dogfight
The planes are like the ones that dropped napalm on children in Vietnam and cluster bombs on children in Laos. They still drop both, on children, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and used to do so in Iraq. On children. And on their mothers. There are treaties outlawing the use of cluster bombs (mother bombs that release bomblets at an altitude of a foot or two off the ground, just at the height to hit a child in the leg or stomach or chest. Children in Laos are still dying and being maimed daily from cluster bombs the US dropped between 1964 and 1974 [Remember Johnson’s & Nixon’s “Secret War in Laos”? No? Read up.] About half the bombs didn’t go off at the time they were dropped, so they lie around, like a land mine, till a child walks by or a farmer tries to clear a field for planting, then they explode, fully functional even 30+ years later.) but the US has not signed the treaties. If you doubt the veracity of any of the above, it’s easy to read up on it online.
It’s a dog and pony show. Recruitment isn’t about real patriotism in this instance but shock and awe- which has been our military strategy for some time. Ideologically we could argue for freedom and democracy as humane and preferable to having the state shove it’s point of view on anyone (and these would be valid and meaningful) but in practice we’re doing just what we say we oppose, forcing our will on others and the ideals we say we represent get shoved aside again and again in favor of shock and awe. The result, whether we’re justified or even care about the conflicts we’re in, is that we come off as bullies, simple thugs who don’t care at all about humanity in general or others in particular. Spreading peace and Democracy and prosperity become excuses to do whatever we want, whenever we want to whomever we want.
Where is the patriotism for the wounded vets who get benefits cut and wind up homeless? Or the people who are being forced to serve MUCH longer than they signed up for? These issues don’t seem to matter as much as impressing ourselves with how mighty and wonderful we are and calling that patriotism.
@54 I grew up here and hate the hydros. Love the angels.
@54 – what 119 said. Actually I’m in town this weekend visiting the family and rushed out into the yard 3 days in a row to plug my ears and yell “WOOOOOOH” at the sky. It was fucking cool.
The only people that are really gung-ho about the Blue Angels are people that live in fucking Bellevue or Shoreline. In other words, the people that tell relatives they live in Seattle because otherwise they wouldn’t fucking know what they were talking about.
I’d be absolutely okay with it if it really were only “20 minutes, once a year,” but it goes on for fucking days.
I guess I just have to accept it and think of it as the great equalizer (other people don’t have to listen to this shit every year, but they also live in fucking Renton).