Patriotism is something that most Americans hold dear. No matter how much our politicians disagree, or how little they actually get done, the American people always tend to retain pride for their country.
But recently, it came out that the U.S. Department of Defense has been paying University of Wisconsin for hosting “patriotic events.”
The real shame is not so much due to the funding coming from hefty amounts of taxpayer money, but instead stems from the fact that these programs had to be paid for in the first place.
Federal department awarded Badgers $170,000 to host patriotic events, report reveals
No matter what your personal political opinion may be, I think it is fair to say that all who have served time in the military deserve to be recognized as heroes.
They’ve undeniably made great sacrifices in order to protect our American way of life, and we as a society in today’s world are certainly no strangers to displays of recognition for members of our military. Whether it be veterans throwing first pitches, national anthems accompanied by fantastic spectacles or a variety of others, watching a decent amount of any collegiate or professional sports will almost certainly result in witnessing at least one patriotic act of some sort.
But, the recent report of the DOD funding these displays with taxpayer money definitely gives all of this a bit of a cynical twist.
And believe me, I get it. Each of these athletic organizations is essentially a business: Everything has a price. What’s wrong about this isn’t the fact that the DOD is dishing out hefty servings of our taxes under the table. It’s this whole idea that the government essentially has to buy a time slot in these programs’ busy schedules in order to fabricate some patriotic connection between the heroes of the game and the heroes of society. It absolutely disgusts me, especially in the case of our Badgers.
I’ll always be a Badger fan through and through. But along with that, I’ve experienced firsthand how popular and profitable our athletic programs are. You can’t tell me that our football program, which continually fills Camp Randall to the brim on Saturday gamedays, isn’t financially stable enough to throw a group of veterans a bone every once in a while.
Between our football team and men’s hockey team, we received $170,000 for patriotic promotions — a whopping $170,000. But really, how much could it cost to let a few soldiers announce the commencement of Jump Around before the fourth quarter rolls around?
It may sound a bit idealistic, but if these athletic organizations truly wanted to give recognition to veterans solely for the purpose of paying respect and showing thanks, it’s not too unrealistic to think that they should do it for free.
I understand that nothing comes without cost, but patriotic displays undoubtedly promote the organization putting them on. Anytime a big-time sports team does something for a common citizen, especially someone who has served in the military, they build themselves an image of caring for their fans as much as their fans care about them. Furthermore, UW Athletics pulled in more than $112 million in revenue during the 2013-14 fiscal year, so I really don’t think it is at all unreasonable for our athletic program to put on a few acts of patriotism funded out of our own pockets.
When we get right down to it, I firmly believe that all veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country should get the heroic recognition they deserve, and if these “patriotic” acts put on by extremely profitable collegiate and professional athletic organizations have to be purchased in the first place, the actual validity of these productions is pretty shaky to say the least.
Phil Michaelson ([email protected]) is majoring in biomedical engineering.
