KamikazeJohnson
Major
Reged: 01/01/02
Posts: 1391
Loc: WINTERpeg, MB, Canada
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The Universal Soldier
#30374 - 06/15/02 12:48 PM (209.202.47.12)
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Over the last while (since Sept 11, actually), the news has carried a lot of stories of war, battle,and the like, and through this board, I've come across some people who have been touched personally by the recent conflicts.
Anyway, I recently came across the song lyrics I posted below; a song I have encountered several times over the years. My class studied it as a poem in junior high English, and the teacher, of course, outdid himself analyzing the writer's meanings. But considering that some people on this list serve or would like to serve in the military, and pretty much all of us have some interest in things military, I would be very much interested in the (non-English-Lit. teacher) thoughts and opinions of those on this board concerning this little piece of literature and the ideas it expresses. But please, no matter how strongly you may disagree with some or all of the ideas expressed, please be civil...I know topics like this can evoke strong feelings.
I would also be interested to hear opinions on how the ideas in the song might apply to the BT universe...pre-SL, SL, IS, Clan, new SL
Note: the initial lines in italics are the writer's own comments about the song.
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER
Buffy Sainte-Marie
© Caleb Music-ASCAP
I wrote "Universal Soldier" in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in the early sixties. It's about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all. Donovan had a hit with it in 1965.
He's five feet two and he's six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He's all of 31 and he's only 17
He's been a soldier for a thousand years
He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an athiest, a Jain,
a Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew
and he knows he shouldn't kill
and he knows he always will
kill you for me my friend and me for you
And he's fighting for Canada,
he's fighting for France,
he's fighting for the USA,
and he's fighting for the Russians
and he's fighting for Japan,
and he thinks we'll put an end to war this way
And he's fighting for Democracy
and fighting for the Reds
He says it's for the peace of all
He's the one who must decide
who's to live and who's to die
and he never sees the writing on the walls
But without him how would Hitler have
condemned him at Dachau
Without him Caesar would have stood alone
He's the one who gives his body
as a weapon to a war
and without him all this killing can't go on
He's the universal soldier and he
really is to blame
His orders come from far away no more
They come from him, and you, and me
and brothers can't you see
this is not the way we put an end to war.
--------------------
I kill $%!^.
And I enjoy the hell out of it.
--Ted Nugent
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Karagin
General
Reged: 04/21/01
Posts: 6324
Loc: Ft. Hood TX (Killeen)
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Re: The Universal Soldier
#30376 - 06/15/02 12:55 PM (65.129.167.182)
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I seem to recall back in the original house-style Periphery source book, they talked about Periphery rock groups spreading the word of troubles in each Periphery nation to the other throught songs.
I would suppect that there are some rock groups or something similar out there along with enough martial music to keep the fighting spirits up of all of the houses.
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Karagin
Given time and plenty of paper, a philosopher can prove anything.
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KamikazeJohnson
Major
Reged: 01/01/02
Posts: 1391
Loc: WINTERpeg, MB, Canada
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Re: The Universal Soldier
#30378 - 06/15/02 01:32 PM (209.202.47.12)
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Interesting thought...in the 1960s, popular music often spoke out against war and all related evils, but in the 3060s, they might be doing the exact opposite!
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I kill $%!^.
And I enjoy the hell out of it.
--Ted Nugent
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Bob_Richter
General
Reged: 04/23/01
Posts: 2886
Loc: Richland, WA (USA)
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Ahh...
#30449 - 06/17/02 12:17 AM (4.35.174.250)
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...the shallow anti-warfare perspective so common in the 1960s.
And yeah. Blame the soldier. That makes perfect sense.
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-Bob (The Magnificent) Richter
Assertions made in this post are the humble opinion of Bob.
They are not necessarily statements of fact or decrees from God Himself, unless explicitly and seriously stated to be so.
:)
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SoyBigHead
Lieutenant
Reged: 04/22/01
Posts: 609
Loc: Richmond, Virginia
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Re: The Universal Soldier
#30460 - 06/17/02 08:07 AM (68.57.148.119)
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"Born in the FC yea i was born in the FC yea! I had a Brother at Coventry! Well hes still there, but They're (read:Clans) all gone. He has a woman he loves in Luthien, ive got a picture of them all alone now. He has a sister, shes a bitch now stealing off all of the LyrCom yea. I was born in the FC yea i was born in the FC yea yea" well something along those lines anyways :-/
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"There are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
-Mark Twain
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novakitty
Lieutenant
Reged: 02/18/02
Posts: 447
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Re: Ahh...
#30461 - 06/17/02 08:50 AM (209.242.100.230)
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Hippies hated the police, yet loved the politicians who were making the decisions they rebelled against. Many people do not know how to find the real source of any problem.
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meow
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NathanKell
Major
Reged: 04/30/01
Posts: 1310
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Re: Ahh...
#30465 - 06/17/02 09:24 AM (24.44.238.62)
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“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.”
– John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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-NathanKell, BT Space Wars
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
Thomas Jefferson
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