Am I the only one who's bugged by this?

[apocalypsos]

I hate that Army commercial with the dad and his son. You know the one. "When you got off that train today, you did two things you've never done before. You shook my hand, and you looked me square in the eye. Where'd that come from?"

Now I know the Army helps you learn respect and discipline. I get that, and yay for it.

I'm just a little annoyed with the implication that A.) this man's first impulse upon seeing his father after what I presume was a long absence was not to hug him but to shake his hand first and B.) he's never looked his father square in the eye before?! Dude, he's your dad. My brother looks my father square in the eye all the damn time, and all they ever do is bicker.

Comments

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Now why is it you guys get touchy feely Army adverts and we get people stomping around and shaky-cam? Mmm?

[silent-sybil.livejournal.com]

Desperate distraction tactics. "If we focus on how much their little characters will benefit from the training, while glossing over what it is exactly they're being sent to do, then maybe we can bushwack their parents into encouraging them to enlist."

*muttering*

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

It's a generational thing.

[redhawk.livejournal.com]

You're a girl, so I doubt you've seen it directly.

In our father's generations (modulo the 60s when all those "repressive" standards were broken) and in our grandfather's generations what you're talking about was _absolutely_ the norm.

And that's what the Army is playing to. The idea that if you serve, if you're a soldier, you can stand up tall, shake your old man's hand, look him in the eye, and know that the both of you _know_ beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are both _men_.

It's selling masculinity, pure and simple.

Redhawk

[wal-lace.livejournal.com]

When my father and I see each other after a time apart we shake hands. Then, if it's been a particularly long time or if one of us is in a particularly good mood, we might do that manly one-armed hug thing.

He went to some trouble to teach me to look people in the eye when addressing them, and then a lot more trouble to teach me not to stare intently at the bridges of peoples' noses, but that's more of an autism thing than a manliness thing.

[kanedax.livejournal.com]

Technically, I think the dad said something like "you did two things you've never done before, at least at the same time." Or something like that.

[lasergirl.livejournal.com]

Me! Me! I hate that too. Partly because we get American Army commercials in Canada and I don't like it, but also because it's like..... was that kid abused by his Dad or something? Because really, you'd think the'd have actually made eye contact at some point before he went to boot camp.

I don't know.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I know! I mean, the handshake thing itself ... that's more of a personal annoyance with me. But if you can't manage to look your dad in the eye when you're shaking his hand, it just comes off as a wee bit too much like you're trying to be some big macho man, as if any eye contact with another man whatsoever counts as eyefucking.

[lasergirl.livejournal.com]

Or that the kid's dad is such a toughass that he just intimidated his son forever until son grew up, got a gun and came back with "courage and fortitude."

either way, it's dysfunctional and scares me.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Male teens and dads bicker. It's sort of an explanation

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

True, and most of the kid-vs.-dad fights I've seen (and God knows I've seen plenty) involve a HELL of a lot of looking each other square in the eyes. Kind of hard not to get all up in each other's faces when you're trying to avoid eye contact.

[tjournal.livejournal.com]

The Army Theme for commercials seems to be a) War? What war?! and b) parents, please don't stiffle your child's sincere wish to join the Army and be a better person! Why don't you want that for them?! Why aren't you listening?!?!?

I hate them.

[silent-sybil.livejournal.com]

Ditto, and ditto. -_-

However, I will not deny that my little brother seems to be benefiting quite a lot from basic training at least, so it's the "War? OMG dont be silly thats not important!" thing that really bothers me.

*seethes*

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

That ad was hand-crafted by advertising professionals to *ping* with a particular demographic--the young, male cannon-fodder desperate for the masculine approval of a father figure.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those, and the ones that imply telling your parent you want to join the army is on par with coming out of the closet. Enrage me with the disgust, they do.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the one for the National Guard where they're all, "Oh, they're just training me for when they need me," without bothering to mention that they'll most likely be needing that kid tomorrow at 6 a.m. on a plane to Iraq.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

This entire thread is proof why those commercials have that tone.

[thornsilver]

I hate all the army commercials. Because they are taking advantage of a demographic that could use some wisening up first.

[amalthia]

my dad was career military and I don't know...my siblings and I could all look my dad in the eye, shake his hand, hug, hang out, talk...and the only one that went sort of military was my youngest brother...but he didn't do that until recently and my younger brother and my dad hug each other, talk to each other on a regular basis, and see eye to eye on a lot of things. They even go hunting together. And they did all this way before J ever joined the National Guard (my brother was the second oldest in his platoon? when he went to boot camp). I think parents who don't have a good relationship with their children aren't going to have a better one just because their son/daughter went and joined the army.

Respect goes both ways.

I hate when commercials imply that your family life will be better if you join the army, or worse yet you can respect yourself more once you get done with boot camp or whatever...My theory is if you can't look your dad in the eye it's probably best you avoid your dad for the rest of your life. I highly doubt military training is going to fix that problem.

(I don't think my family does handshakes, we hug and kiss, or don't bother touching at all.)

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

I wrote about his exact same thing last summer. My reactions were pretty much exactly the same, though.

[gruyere.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I can recall ever shaking my dad's hand. Then again, I hug him all the time (and occasionally threaten to smash my head into his nose), so...

[topaz08.livejournal.com]

The Army?? Oh, the US Army, that won't take my son because he's homeschooled, yet will take people with 2 felony convictions as long as they are crimes of violence . . . that Army?? Yea, it's great they are trying to convince parents to convince their kids to join up. Not!

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the USA, it's my home & country. But this propaganda is pure bullshit. I've talked my son out of joining any military group until things change drastically. Thankfully, he still listens to me - and looks me in the eye!

/rant

[silent-sybil.livejournal.com]

yet will take people with 2 felony convictions as long as they are crimes of violence

You'd almost expect them to have a lot of problems with some of the people they take going nutso overseas, and raping and murdering and torturing civilians, and... OH WAIT.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

-Are- crimes of violence? I really don't think the Army is that desperate they are recruiting rapists.


Hell, you lose your right to vote after tax fraud for crying out loud.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

They don't want people who are homeschooled? How bizarre. Did they go into why they do not want the home-schooled? I couldn't come up with a single non-goofy reason why they would reject a homeschooled person!

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Okay, I googled around and found an article about this subject. Apparently drop-outs trying to enlist will tell the army that they were homeschooled in order to improve their resume, and these drop-outs' attrition rates are very high.

But I would have thought the army recruiters would be able to tell the difference between a genuine homeschooler and a drop out.

http://www.pahomeschoolers.com/newsletter/issue89a.htm

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend's family are ex-military (well, RAF). A has no problem looking his father square in the eye, but said father would never look back if he knew his son was queer.

I'm just saying. Respect, as someone above said, goes both ways, and from everything I've heard military atmosphere sounds fucking toxic to the development of any personality beyond Emotionless Strapping Manly Manly (Straight) Man. /bears grudges

[lots42.livejournal.com]

From everything I've heard, the millitary atmopshere improves the hell out of a lot of people.

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

There's another one where the son talks about joining up to pay for college, and they missed the best joke... The father keeps saying "but, the Army?"... It should have ended with a close-up of his Navy uniform.

[tabaqui]

I loathe those commercials, too. I mean - okay, yes, thank Christ we have an Army that could help stamp out the Nazi's and keep Japan from going nutso when it was so inclined... But jayzus.

Army pay sucks. They won't take a gay man or woman but they'll take a criminal. Most of the army guys i knew back when got a good dose of mysogeny or bigotry that about half of them didn't bother shaking off later. Half the chicks i knew were there for the chance to get a husband and breed.

My dad was Navy. He was born in 1925. When we visit? We hug, we kiss - my brother is temporarily living there and he gets a kiss goodnight *every night*. The Army does shite for family relationships unless it's the only thing you or your father happen to think is worth a damn.
WTFever, PR people.

*cough*
Yeah.

[secretbutterfly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with this entire post. Sometimes those army commercials miss the mark completely...

[random-serious.livejournal.com]

Annoying. And wrong. And annoying.