SCE for the Troops at Shore Leave!

[Turbo]

After the announcement of the end of the SCE line, TerriO and others hatched an idea to donate SCE collections to the troops stationed overseas. After some planning, the first donation drive will be happening at Shore Leave!

Tomorrow night, during the annual Meet the Pros event, TerriO will be collecting new or "gently used" books at her autograph table for donation to Operation Paperback, an organization that has managed to get over 800,000 books to our troops overseas just since January 2006. Look for the sign if for some bizarre reason you can't find her.

From Operation Paperback's website:

Troops have requested the following genres: action, bestsellers, biographies and memoirs, fantasy, history, horror, mysteries, science-fiction, true crime.

Do not send romances unless specifically requested by the individual! Our troops have received a disproportionate amount of this genre.

Be sure that the books you collect are in very good condition. Do not send books with loose, brittle, or missing pages, stains or water damage. Do not send books without front covers - these are called "stripped" books. Stripped books are paperbacks that were reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher. Neither the author nor the publisher receives any payment for a stripped book, and such books are considered stolen property.

Department of Defense policy prohibits the distribution of materials that are: sexually-oriented or racist. In addition, volunteers cannot send large shipments of religious materials, though religious materials (ex. a single holy book) can be shipped if requested by an individual.

So, obviously, Shore Leave is a prime target for books of the sort they're seeking.

TerriO will also have a special personalized page that anyone donating can sign that will be included in the box when shipped. If you have any books autographed for the drive at the convention, please let the authors know when you approach them. That way the soldiers don't get books that have been personalized to you in the autograph. It's just...weird.

If you catch her at any time during the con and want to donate a book, please do. She will have a wheelie cart with her specifically to collect any books on the go, as it were.

Next stop: Dragon*Con!

ETA: Here's the LJ community, with the original Shore Leave announcement.

ETA2: In response to Greg Cox's question below, we're taking any types of books that match the categories mentioned. It started out as an SCE/Trek thing, but all books are welcome! As for comics and manga, I'm not sure about those. I'll see what I can find out.

 

[Trent Roman]

Afghanistan or Iraq?

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Turbo]

Operation Paperback ships books to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Korea, Italy, Iceland, Bahrain, Hungary, Japan, Turkey, Navy Ships, military hospitals, and and USOs at US Airport transit points.

Here's their website.

 

[Deano2099]

Cool idea, out of interest, anyone know why the 4th SCE paperback is so rare? I've been picking up the early paperbacks from Amazon Marketplace and there's loads of sellers doing them all for a couple of quid each, but only second-hand copies of No Surrender for £25(!).

 

[Trent Roman]

Here's their website.

What a load of jingo pap. Folks, if you've got some cash to spare, the International Red Cross, the World Food Program, UNESCO, UNICEF, and many other fine organizations are always looking for assistance from ordinary world citizens like you and I, and come with the added benefit of not comitting war crimes. Food for thought.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Turbo]

Fascinating. Might I enquire as to how supporting either the soldiers or this cause is equal to supporting war crimes?

 

[Trent Roman]

The same way giving aid and succour to a terrorist is considered supporting terrorism. Or any other crime and the criminal(s) committing it.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Deano2099]

They don't want cash though do they? They want books. It's the very essence of "supporting the troops" but being against the war. They're not going to take the books, sell them on Ebay, and use the proceeds to buy guns.
Frankly I get sick and tired of people claiming to 'support the troops' and when you ask 'how?' they have no answer. Here's one.

Sure, you don't like the war, I don't like the war. We're all victims of this unjust ridiculous war. But if you think we're pissed off at how unjust it is, imagine how the poor sods that have to fight it feel. Anything we can do to make their lives a bit better helps, because Iraqis aside, they're the real victims of the whole mess.

 

[Turbo]

In addition to what Deano2099 said, I'd like to point out the difference between soldiers/armed forces and terrorists:

From Wikipedia:

The armed forces of a state are its government-sponsored defence, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external and internal aggressors. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in a nation's armed forces. Armed force is the use of armed forces to achieve political objectives.

Terrorism is "the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion." There is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism. Most common definitions of terrorism include only those acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack), and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants. Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and war.

Terrorism is also a form of unconventional warfare and psychological warfare. The word is politically and emotionally charged, and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a precise definition. One 1988 study by the US Army found that over 100 definitions of the word "terrorism" have been used. A person who practices terrorism is a terrorist.

Supporting the soldiers and supporting the terrorists are two entirely different things, as their objectives and purpose are entirely different things. Please don't throw strawman arguments into the mix here.

 

[Jim Johnson]

Excellent. I have some comp copies I was planning to donate to my local library, but this is just as good. I'll bring them along this weekend and give them to the cause.

 

[Dayton Ward]

The same way giving aid and succour to a terrorist is considered supporting terrorism. Or any other crime and the criminal(s) committing it.

According to the site, the operation supports troops stationed all over the world, not just Iraq and Afghanistan.

I know you're fervently against the Iraq war (so are most sane folks), but are we saying that anyone in a uniform regardless of current assignment or location is a war criminal? I seem to recall we went down this road in here once before.

 

[Greg Cox]

Are you just looking for Trek books, or will other books do? What about manga?

(And for the record, I think invading Iraq after 9/11 made as much sense as it would have been to invade Korea after Pearl Harbor, but that doesn't mean all those kids stationed over there can't use some reading material.)

 

[Trent Roman]

It's the very essence of "supporting the troops" but being against the war.

I have neither the twisted logic nor the Judeo-Christian temperament to make sense of that statement.

We're all victims of this unjust ridiculous war.

We are? Only in the most ephemeral sense, if so. Barely worth mentioning compared to the victimization suffered by those on the receiving end of the warfare and subsequent anarchy.

But if you think we're pissed off at how unjust it is, imagine how the poor sods that have to fight it feel. Anything we can do to make their lives a bit better helps, because Iraqis aside, they're the real victims of the whole mess.

There's an idea that boggles the mind. Traditionally, a victim does not volunteer for their victimization (obviously, I'm excluding S&M clubs), nor do they get paid for it. Such people are rather called 'collaborators'. Don't want to fight in the war? You have ample choices. You can try and claim consciencous objector status. You can quit, unless you had the lack of wisdom of making yourself a thrall to the modern equivalent of identured servitude. You take an ethical stance and refuse to collaborate, accepting whatever punishment the authoritarian force at whose disposal you've placed yourself (so far, prison terms not exceeding 18 months, in an ironic reversal of justice). You desert. You flee to another country, either non-extradition or where you can seek asylum. And, of course, you can always not sign up to serve a warmongerer in the first place, or take another ethical stance and refuse to join an organization that won't allow gays and lesbians to serve openly. Plenty of options. But just stating that you're against something while going along with it, facilitating it, doesn't innoculate anybody from complicity unless you've got a bloody gun to your head. That's Nuremberg right there.

In addition to what Deano2099 said, I'd like to point out the difference between soldiers/armed forces and terrorists:

<snipped for length>

Supporting the soldiers and supporting the terrorists are two entirely different things, as their objectives and purpose are entirely different things. Please don't throw strawman arguments into the mix here.

Cute. Given your proficiency with reference materials, I will trust that you are capable of looking up the term 'analogy' for yourself. I could have easily have said: "supporting thieves is equal to supporting thievery" or "supporting arsonists is equal to supporting arson", but I wanted something that had a remotely comparable body count.

According to the site, the operation supports troops stationed all over the world, not just Iraq and Afghanistan. I know you're fervently against the Iraq war (so are most sane folks), but are we saying that anyone in a uniform regardless of current assignment or location is a war criminal? I seem to recall we went down this road in here once before.

Precisely why I asked what theatre of operation these were being sent to. I'm not the one being indiscriminate here, the project is.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Trent, I understand your difference of opinion but this isn't really the thread for it. Allow those who do to support this cause.

 

[William Leisner]

Food for thought.

Where's that projectile vomit icon when you need it?

 

[Trent Roman]

Trent, I understand your difference of opinion but this isn't really the thread for it. Allow those who do to support this cause.

I beg your pardon, but while I do think this subject is more appropriate to TNZ then Trek Lit, I can't simply recuse myself. If Turbo is permitted to create a pro-military thread, then I should be allowed to present my countervailing viewpoint in it as well.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Steve Roby]

a pro-military thread

Trent, you're going to hurt that knee if you let it keep jerking like that.

If you can't understand that people can be pro-military and anti-war, then you aren't thinking, you're reacting on an ideological basis.

Many of the people you're arguing with agree with you about the war in Iraq. You get that, right?

 

[terpette]

Many of the people you're arguing with agree with you about the war in Iraq. You get that, right?

And some of us have family over there right now, too.

I'll see what books I may be able to dig up, but most of what's in my goodwill pile are romances, unfortunately. I'll be at DragonCon, though, and by then I'll have time to alert my mother-in-law, the book fiend, to go through her stuff.

Karen

 

[Deano2099]

It's the very essence of "supporting the troops" but being against the war.

I have neither the twisted logic nor the Judeo-Christian temperament to make sense of that statement.

They're fighting a war. Many of us are trying to get the government to pull them out of said war, as we feel the war is ridiculous. But in the mean time, lets do what we can to a) make sure they don't die and b) make the conditions a little less miserable. It's a band aid, nothing more. We can't stop starvation in Africa and other third world countries without major changes in the way we all live, a massive reduction in what we consume (food and otherwise) and a complete re-assessment of how the world is run. Some people lobby governments to move towards those changes, but honestly they'll probably never come. The whole of western society is built upon the suffering of those in other countries and most of us, myself included, are happily complicit in it. Yet you support the World Food Program. It's a band aid. It's there to ease the very worst of the suffering but doesn't fix the underlying problem. That doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile.

But yeah, with apologies to the mods, we could be having this debate anywhere.

So lets try and drag this back around. Books for the troops. Specifically Trek books. Books from a franchise with a defining feature of finding peaceful solutions to problems and only seeing war as a last resort. Books that in many ways preach the idea of a better future through mutual co-operation. So lets ignore the fact that some people signing up for the army might really not have much of a choice economically, lets ignore the fact that some did so with faith in their government not to ask them to fight unless it was absolutely necessary. We disagree on that. Lets put it aside, lets, for the sake of argument, accept that they are warmongers and collaborators. And that the true victims are the people they are fighting and killing. How do we stop this? UNESCO ain't gonna stop it. UNICEF won't fix it. But maybe, just maybe, sending them reading material that espouses an entirely different world view, that features a military (or not) organisation that doesn't resort to war so quickly to solve its problems, might change a few minds. Maybe not. What it won't do is any harm, so I really don't see how you can be opposed to this.

Honestly, even if it were, say, money for body armour; there might be a point buried in what you're saying, even if everyone else disagreed with you. But it's books, man. Books. For reading. And y'know, if more people read these days than spent thier time playing games and watching films that glorified war we might not even be here.

So be against the war and everything that relates to it. Don't draw those dividing lines, abhor violence in all it's forms. I don't agree with you but sir, I admire your dedication and your passion. But books? To be against giving troops books? Why?

 

[Turbo]

Are you just looking for Trek books, or will other books do? What about manga?

All books are welcome, though I'm trying to find out about manga and comics.