Via Jeff Jarvis, I see that Greyhawk of Mudville Gazette has PhotoShopped a rather angry reply to Time‘s selection of The American Soldier as Person of the Year by juxtaposing the POTY cover with four others.
The contention seems to be that Time is generally anti-soldier and is just using this honor to sell magazines. These covers don’t illustrate that in my mind.
Certainly, the “Are We Stretched Too Thin” cover could arguably be construed to be pro-soldier. Indeed, most soldiers have been arguing for a decade now that the opstempo is too high for the extant force.
Ditto “Peace is Hell” and “Mission Unaccomplished.” Lots of soldiers are getting killed in Iraq doing nation-building; it’s worth noting that. Indeed, even the “UNTruth and Consequences” cover is, if anything, anti-Bush.
It is indeed possible to question the way the campaign is unfolding–or even oppose the war itself–while still supporting the troops. Certainly, there is a vocal minority on the Loony Left that is both anti-war and anti-soldier. I don’t, however, see any evidence that Time-Warner is in that category.
