In the past, it was assumed that men, as good citizens, would serve in the armed forces in wartime. In the present, however, liberal democratic states increasingly rely on small, all-volunteer militaries deployed in distant wars of choice. While few people now serve in the armed forces, our cultural myths and narratives of warfare continue to reproduce a strong connection between military service, citizenship, and normative masculinity.
In Support the Troops: Military Obligation, Gender, and the Making of Political Community (Oxford University Press, 2022), Dr. Katharine M. Millar provides an empirical overview of "support the troops" discourses in the US and UK during the early years of the global war on terror (2001-2010). As Dr. Millar argues, seemingly stable understandings of the relationship between military service, citizenship, and gender norms are being unsettled by changes in warfare. The effect is a sense of uneasiness about the meaning of what it means to be a "good" citizen, "good" person, and, crucially, a "good" man in a context where neither war nor military service easily align with existing cultural myths about wartime obligations and collective sacrifice. Instead we participate in the performance of supporting the troops, even when we oppose war—an act that appears not only patriotic and moral, but also apolitical. Failing to support the troops, either through active opposition or a lack of overt supportive actions, is perceived as not only offensive and inappropriately political, but disloyal and dangerous.
Dr. Millar asserts that military support acts as a new form of military service, which serves to limit anti-war dissent, plays a crucial role in naturalizing the violence of the transnational liberal order, and recasts war as an internal issue of solidarity and loyalty. Rigorous and politically challenging, Millar provides the first work to systematically examine "support the troops" as a distinct social phenomenon and offers a novel reading of this discourse through a gendered lens that places it in historical and transnational context.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
What is the “traditional American family?” Popular images from the colonial and pioneer past suggest an isolated and self-sufficient nuclear family as the center of American identity and the source of American strength. But the idea of early American self-sufficiency is a myth. Caro Pirri tells the story of the precarious Jamestown settlement and how its residents depended on each other and on Indigenous Americans for survival. Early American history can help us imagine new kinds of interdependent and multi-generational family structures as an antidote to the modern crisis of loneliness and alienation.
Researcher, writer, and episode producer: Caro Pirri, Assistant Professor of English, University of Pittsburgh
Featured Scholars:
Jean Feerick, Professor of English, John Carroll University
Steven Mentz, Professor of English, St. John’s University
We're talking about a rare emergency move by the United Nations to address a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and how American celebrities became the face of a Russian propaganda campaign.
Also, new criminal charges were filed against the president's son.
Plus, new research has some of the world's leading health experts calling for better postpartum care; a strike could impact holiday shipping, and expect to see a lot of one particular color soon. We'll tell you about the new color of the year.
A Texas judge ruled Thursday that a woman can terminate her pregnancy because of a lethal abnormality in the fetus. It’s the first attempt in the country to use the courts to obtain an abortion since the end of Roe v Wade, and Thursday’s ruling is meant to shield the woman and her doctor from Texas’s strict anti-abortion measures. But state Attorney General Ken Paxton warned that it’s still possible his office might prosecute those involved.
Then, over 17,000 people are dead in Gaza as the war in the Middle East continues. Meanwhile, a U.S. House Committee questioned university presidents over their responses to reported antisemitic campus protests.
And in headlines: Hunter Biden was hit with nine federal counts of tax-related charges, the White House proposed a new policy to strip some patents from drug companies if their prices are too high, and a new space-themed McDonald’s spin-off opens Friday in Illinois.
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The U.S. is in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. And for a lot of people, the feeling is even more pronounced during the holidays. In addition to its emotional impact, chronic loneliness and social isolation have some dramatic health consequences: increased risk of heart disease and stroke, infections, cancer, even premature death. Recent research also suggests that loneliness can change the way people process the world. So today on the show, host Regina G. Barber talks to Rachel Carlson about the neuroscience of loneliness.
The history of Hanukkah traces back to a military victory for the Jewish people over their enemies more than 2,000 years ago. The Jews defeated the Greek army in the Maccabean Revolt, making way for the Jewish people to also rededicate the temple in Jerusalem to God.
The victory celebrated on “Hanukkah is twofold,” Rabbi Pinchas Taylor says. “On the one hand, it celebrates a military victory, but perhaps [the] even more important victory was this ideological victory, the spiritual victory of faith over nature, of the godly worldview over the Greek natural worldview,” says Taylor, an author, speaker, and faith leader.
In the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, the rabbi says the message of Hanukkah is a powerful reminder that light does win over darkness.
Taylor joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to detail the history of Hanukkah and explain the traditions of the holiday, including the meaning of the menorah.
The newest restaurant chain in America is “CosMc,” a McDonald’s spin off — It’s taking on Starbucks… and it looks like McDonald’s cousin.
GameStop just authorized their CEO to use company money to buy stocks — They turned their CEO into their Chief Investment Officer (and gave him a whole lotta cash).
And the # of job applications with take-home assignments is up 87% since 2019 — More companies are making you work… before you start work.
Is Spotify’s 2023—ending with layoffs and cancelling critically acclaimed original podcasts—a sign of trouble at the streaming giant, or an adjustment to expectations that’s setting them up for a brighter future?
Guest: Ashley Carman, Bloomberg reporter who covers Spotfiy
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