Mike the pacifist: egomania trumps patriotism.

As cookie_77 reminded me, the Mike of old had a decent prespect for veterans and was grateful for the sacrifices they made on his behalf. Not only that, he thought that war was a necessary evil and just maybe, to his mother's chagrin, a little bit cool. The Mike we see today has, shall we say, rethought things. Not only does he believe that the whole notion of war is a pointless waste of human lives but that it inevitably sullies those it touches. He can't even contemplate the subject without a slightly smug shiver of disgusted horror. The reason is, of course, amazingly simple. The older he got, the more he valued his own skin. The old woman he is now wouldn't dream of sacrificing his hide for any reason and thinks those who do are dreadful suckers. Sadly enough, the veterans he scorns value his smug, unenlightened contempt because they fought for his freedom to be a jerk. As Kipling said "Take up the White Man's burden and reap ye his reward: the blame of those ye better, the hate of those ye guard."