How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
One nation, two weeks, eight American heroes, though technically there is no such thing as Bravo squad. They are Bravo Company, second platoon, first squad, said squad being comprised of teams alpha and bravo, but the Fox embed christened them Bravo squad and thus they were presented to the world. (Thing Begins.14)
These days, it seems like everything is crafted for media consumption, regardless of accuracy or truth, and here is a prime example of that. A video went viral, a news station dubbed the guys Bravo, and, well, now that's what they are. Can't you just picture some news exec watching a screen saying, "Bravo. Great. It's easy to remember, it sounds positive and military, so package it up and send it. Who cares if it's not quite right?"
Quote #2
"All the big warmongers these days who took a pass on Vietnam, look, I'd be the last person on earth to start casting blame. Bush, Cheney, Rove, all those guys, they just did what everybody else was doing and I was right there with 'em, chicken as anybody. My problem now is how tough and gung-ho they are, all that bring-it-on crap, I mean, Jesus, show a little humility, people. They ought to be just as careful of your young lives as they were with their own." (Virtue.22)
One of the messages Fountain hashes out time and time again is that there is a lack of consistency from people, and that can be really confusing. In this case, he's discussing how hypocrisy is the name of the game in American politics. Think of all the "family values" candidates who cheat on their wives; or, as Albert is pointing out, think of those famous politicians who found ways to dodge the draft but loudly argued for war for the next generation.
Quote #3
"Listen," Albert says, "what Bravo did that day, that's a different kind of reality you guys experienced. People like me who've never been in combat, thank God, no way we can know what you guys went through, and I think that's why we're getting push-back from the studios. Those people, the kind of bubble they live in? It's a major tragedy in their lives if their Asian manicurist takes the day off. For those people to be passing judgment on the validity of your experience is just wrong, it goes beyond wrong, its ethics porn. They aren't capable of fathoming what you guys did." (Virtue.32)
Nothing says "authenticity" like people who have a different version of reality from the rest of the world's. But Albert has a point: if their idea of tragedy is something small and trivial, how can they be expected to understand true catastrophe? The answer is: they can't. They are incapable of comprehending what Bravo went through at Al-Ansakar Canal, and that's why they aren't jumping at the chance to make the Bravos' movie…even if it is "realer" than their manicurist taking the day off.