A few years ago I wanted to explore
the inner workings of VFW Magazine
to basically see if there were any
opportunities for me to do some
photography submissions for them.

Keep in mind that when I make these
decisions, I am in it to find out
the truth about a scenario before
I get knee-deep involved in it,
and I am also looking for a measure
of the needs of Veterans being
met from inside that system.

Here is what I came out with.

VFW Magazine takes on college student
"interns" as "journalist majors" and
uses them, from time to time, to
supplement their own regular ongoing
magazine Editors. For that very reason,
the top Editors of the magazine
blocks and refuses to carry articles
which have a significant "shock"
value or is otherwise unflattering
to the blind and useless Bravado
Worship which has so very much
torpedoed most of the Testosterone
environments which invokes the name
of Veterans.

The story on the Edgewood Human
Experiments, for instance, was of
no interest to VFW Magazine editors
because it rattled the fragile minds
of the Interns too much. Of course
it goes without saying that the
Edgewood story itself, is a real
world shocker which appropriately
and bluntly phrases one layer
of Veterans as perpetrators
against another layer of Veterans
phrased as victims so
the very notion of blind and useless
Bravado Worship then all becomes
confused and less clear.

I also found that photos along
this line were also met with
brick walls and excuses by the
VFW magazine editors. If it's
just a straight-forward photo
of a bunch of active duty types
standing in formation, then the
photo got the green light rather
quickly. But if the photo was
an artsy piece, perhaps abstract
or needing a self-injected "interpretation"
by the reader, well then that
posed problems with the "graphic
designer" whose job it is to
do essentially the same but in
handbrush mode.

The truth is, the Editors of VFW
Magazine are busy spinning their
own Prima Donna wheels with excuses
and objections which, in the end,
seeks to shield Veterans from the
truth about the VA or the government
or about military service itself;
and also seeks to block any shock
value from reaching Vet audiences.

They are "sanitizing" news and
information under the disguise of
concerns about their non-veteran
interns and all the other
types who occupies the magazine's
staff.

It can be said in a very Large way,
that VFW Magazine is almost nothing
at all about the Veterans and the
organizational membership, but is
instead, all about the Editors and
whether or not they can control
the sanitized, false, deceptive,
and charade-like "myth" of military
service which is largely rooted
into a bunch of Testosterone types
who are always serving a legitimate
cause, no matter how bizarre, and even
though nobody bothers to question
the missions. Just like the VA, it's
all about propaganda and leave the
truth and the real world all behind.

At VFW Magazine, it's all about THEM !!

While formal journalism does have
its place, the sanitization that
goes with it at the expense of truth
and real information that Veterans
need to know, may be a price that
readers are no longer willing to
trade off for. Stick with the
uncensored, I say, and find out
about it ALL !!

Consider this the next time you
receive one of their very expensive
pitches in the mail to you in an
effort to gain your membership.

.........