The warbloggers persist in claiming that their efforts as members of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders or 82nd Chairborne are valued contributions, meaningful sacrifices in the Global War Against Whatever it is This Week.
This nugget nailed it for me:
Crooked Timber » » STFU Syndrome:
I’m going to quote something I mailed to Jim Henley yesterday, that occurred to me in the course of some family reminiscing:
Talking with Mom and Dad about their personal histories led me to this association: what the war party bloggers have done is recreate the experience of being a child in World War II. They write patriotic essays and make patriotic collages, and get pats on the head and congratulations from the authorities. They watch diligently for the mutant, I mean, for the subversive among us, and help maintain the proper atmosphere of combined courage and vigilance. They are not expected to manage the family books, nor invited into discussion of the nitty-gritty, and it seldom occurs to them that there’s even a possibility there – that’s for the grown-ups, and rightly so.
It’s beyond irony for one of the leaders of the 101st to label himself captain, as a reminder of his obsessive Star Trek fandom or for another quote Lt Sulu — and use the character’s first name.
Do they really wonder why they’re assumed to be failed adults, living in their Mom’s basements?