I’m sad that Pat Tillman died.
However, I think his death is getting way too much media attention. How many people have died in the military in the last month? Most of them don’t even get their names mentioned, much less a front page story on every web site in the free world. Just because a man gave up a multi-million dollar football contract to join the military doesn’t make him more of a hero than the rest of the people who have died protecting our country. He didn’t give up any more than any other person who has died for our country, they all gave up everything they had.
I’m not saying what Tillman did wasn’t an amazing thing. It was. It was worth covering when he made the decision. But I don’t think the fact that he died deservers any more attention than any of the other brave men and women who have lost their lives in the last few years protecting us.
If Tillman gets 5 minutes on the news tonight, so should the man who leaves his wife and three kids and his $30,000 a year job to go to Iraq. So should the woman who left her husband and son behind. So should the single man who now has parents that don’t have a son anymore.
Every death that occurs in this war lessens us all, and it pisses me off that this one death is being treated as so much more important than all the others.
