Some military douchebags are very offended that I’m taking my valuation of humanity from the Milgram experiments, the Stanford prison experiment and the Nazis to state that thrown into appropriate cultures, most people of ordinary morality act in immoral ways. Soldiers (and frat boys and gangs) rape because the military encourages and fosters a macho rape culture. There should be nothing controversial about this, but apparently I’m supposed to be a naive little girl and trust most people to be good, “deep down.”
Newsflash: they aren’t. Humanity is mostly pretty fucking evil. And not just men either, although when it comes to rape, I can’t really avoid charging men with the deed.
For the douches who couldn’t resist leaving astoundingly stupid comments to the Cindy Sheehan post (and whom I most pleasurefully deleted), here’s some more troop-lovin’ support from this anti-military woman:
Iraq war vet rapes his three-month old daughter, resulting in injuries from which she will never recover.
[h/t: Astraea]
Filed under: Feminism
Ok, I truly deeply don’t get this one. I’ve seen stupid miserable plea bargains and sentences in my life but this one beats every single one. He raped his three month old, a thing difficult to imagine, and then beat her. He did it for two days. He broke bones and left her on life support. And he’s going down for ATTEMPTED child abuse? And no sexual offender status. OMG. WTF. I can’t, just can’t believe it. WHAT is happening?
I hope you don’t mind if I post on this – I will link to you, of course. And thanks. I guess. If you know what I mean.
[...] just came upon this story at Apostate. I am struggling for understanding of some sort, and for words. Can this be understood? Or is [...]
Where your comment was stupid was in assuming that the very American macho culture of the American Army is the same as the Muslim macho culture you grew up with.
One does encourage the abuse of women. The other doesn’t.
One culture does not equal the other, and it’s stupid to pretend they do.
Alpha, you’re so stupid, I don’t even know what to say. I’m speechless.
This is Alpha’s other comment on the Sheehan post:
I also notice that you assume, as Muslims do, that men have no control over their sexuality.
The only difference between you and other Muslims is that they blame women for this bullshit assumption and you blame men.
But you’d be right that the Army turns all its men into rapists, if you were talking about the Sudanese army, however we have higher standards in the west.
So not only is this idiot a racist, he completely missed Abu Ghraib.
He also thinks rape is about “controlling sexuality.” That’s what the Islamists think, schmuck.
I said nothing racist. I’m laughing at you.
I’m not a Christian, but I can see the difference between a macho Christian culture which puts the onus of self-control on the self where it belongs and a macho Muslim culture where men believe they have the God-given duty to beat women and blame all of their sexual responses on them.
Keep digging, Alpha. This is entertaining.
Disagreeing with you isn’t “digging” Mrs. Apostate. You’re winning this argument in your own mind only.
Now it’s “Mrs.” Apostate. Every time this guy opens his mouth, he reveals either racism or sexism.
I’m winning this argument because I’m right and this is my blog. You can’t win. The territory is not yours.
Plus, you have a small penis.
Idiot.
Too funny – the doofus just accused me of trolling — on my own blog!
(No, I’m not publishing any more comments. But that was priceless.)
“We have higher standards in the west”???!!!! Oh yeah, we have such high standards that we let men rape babies with virtual impunity.
What a dorf Alpha is/ was and thanks for shutting him up. “Alpha”, how appropriate.
One does encourage the abuse of women. The other doesn’t.
As part of my preparation for my clinical license, I provide pro-bono counseling to a non-profit veteran’s group. I also have several friends and relatives who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, mostly women. The above is bullshit.
The machismo culture of the military is often sexist, especially in combat-oriented units. This is not to say the military hasn’t made great strides towards inclusion, or that all who serve are in lock-step.
What Alpha forgets is that the military is all about circumventing normal standards of morality. When you put men and women in a situation where they are asked, often encouraged, to kill, you are placing them in a situation where they learn that the normal standards of morality do not apply. It is to be expected that this would trickle down to other areas of morality.
As one soldier put it, bitterly, “If you put out, you’re a slut; if you don’t, you’re a bitch.” Can’t win for trying.
B, you’re banned. Sorry. Leave.