The ever altruistic Will Leitch aka Bob Hopeless (above) recently took it upon himself to solicit donations for a U.S. Army platoon stationed in Iraq. One of their comrades, Sgt. Adam Knox, was slain during combat this past September. Leitch’s readers have raised over $2300.00 USD for the purpose of assembling a care package of sorts for Knox’s company.
While I’m confident the Man From Mattoon has only the best of intentions, the whole thing is ridiculously tragic. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Knox signed up with the Army Reserves to pay for his education. Sure, Knox’s mates would no doubt appreciate a a big box of stroke mags, but perhaps some sort of scholarship fund would be in order. If such an initiative discouraged even one person from becoming cannon fodder in a bullshit war, that alone would justify Deadspin’s pathetic existence.
Anyhow, not to be outdone in the charity sweepstakes, I’m soliciting donations, too. I’m asking you to make a small contribution to the folks at Iraq Body Count.net. Those who don’t have the benefit of banner ads from EA Sports (or, uh, Carol Strayhorn) have to pay for bandwidth somehow. And with all due respect to Sgt. Knox’s family and friends, innocent civilians are being killed in Iraq every day. Their lives are every bit as precious as those of Ohio State fans, and to completely ignore the circumstances surrounding our involvement in Iraq is a shameful cop out.