printI’ve been concentrating quite a bit lately on the way the State moves swiftly and speedily against good, patriotic Americans, who’ve transgressed some or another petty rule. But to dangerous or undesirable aliens—the very people upon which the state must clamp down and control — it almost always grants immunity and inordinate privileges.
Consider the latest SCOTUS decision that encourages and incentivizes identity theft. Or the many cases where a gun owner is nabbed for self-defense or for nothing much at all.
Deporting or bringing to book an illegal criminal takes forever, and often doesn’t take place at all. On the other hand, the military, a lumbering complex, moves against gays and lesbians who’ve come out at the speed of light.
Dan Choi, West Point graduate, Arabic linguist, and a Lieutenant in the United States Army, was fired for coming out in no time at all. No sooner did it become known that Choi was gay than he was dismissed.
The same goes for “Sandy Tsao, who was booted from the military after telling her superiors she was gay in January.”
That’s one fast and efficient bureaucracy.
Now, homo or hetero—you ought to keep you sexuality to yourself, and out of my face, be it in the army or in the office. I’ve lamented before that, sadly, “The closet has come to signify oppression, rather than discretion.”
Moreover, women ought to barred from the military completely, unless they are lesbian Amazons; a rare breed which can almost match men in physicality, and is unlikely to have the toxic effects straight women have on esprit de corps (and on rates of illegitimacy and welfarism).
Still, the way the state has hounded and proceeded against gays and gun-owners so quickly and callously goes to show again that in a corrupt, fascistic country, the law protects the outlaw, not the law-abiding.
Update (May 11): The Israelis use women in auxiliary roles; not as equals on the battle field or as candidates to consider for The-Right-Stuff sort of missions. I will say, that I’ve watched an Israeli woman (on American TV) instruct American men in face-to-face combat. She was as good as a man. But more importantly, Israeli women are different from American women; they’re tough, no-nonsense types, who do not whine much, speak quite well, and don’t report for duty with breast implants and painted finger-nails. The women I’ve seen who rise to prominence there inspire confidence; which is more than I can say for the flaccid empire’s females.
There are exception, of course. CNN featured a few tragic stories of upbeat, wiry little American girls, minus a few limbs, who graduated from military academies and were just gems. Still, these exceptional young women (tiny and nowhere near as resilient as a fit young man) do not belong near the battle fields, other than in supporting roles.
If you’re interested in the subject, STEPHANIE GUTMANN, a very good writer, whose book “The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy,” I recommend, wrote the best book on the topic. Fred Reed praised her books too.
That is a radical thing to suggest. But I suppose that if we are speaking reasonably instead of politically (which are two different things), then that would be a reasonable thing to say.
The problem is that even lesbian amazons have to deal with physical problems that men do not, and are often pawns and activists in a feminist political agenda – really just a form of gender socialism.
This is a very gutsy thing to say – the kind of stuff I expect from you Ilana.
Still, I imagine you are going to get a lot of flak for saying this..
~Alex
It is somewhat fortunate that during World War II, scientists vehemently rejected becoming uniformed military – so I do not go around in some spiffy duds saluting co-workers. Unfortunately, the US military (especially the Air Force and least the Marines) are bloated with dentists, accountants, lawyers, bug exterminators, etc. who wear the uniform and get to retire for 40 years on a pension starting in their mid-40’s. We could probably turn 50% of more of the service into civilians. What the hell should it matter if an Air Force dentist is gay and why do they need a uniform – are they going to do a root canal in an F-15? The uniformed military should be reduced to combat and direct combat support activities in defense of American lives and property. The military should not perform nation building all over the planet and not occupy foreign countries for decades. Among combat-ready troops, it makes sense that they be physically fit men who keep their private affairs private.
Having been in the military many years ago, I can tell you first hand of the resentment many of us felt at the blatant double standard imposed on men. A simple morning run in basic training was a daily reminder that, when it came to the fairer sex, we were not subject to uniform standards.
The sight of seeing the women being picked up by the van trailing the run was really demoralizing to the group. Everyone knew that we were actors in a play. It was our job to pretend that everyone was equal.
The same holds true for racial preferences. I remember having to put my life on hold for three months while they vetted minority applications for Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS). This was back in the late 80’s.
We’ve been subjected to the silly and destructive social experiments of bureaucrats for a very long time. How anyone would be willing to place any trust in these fools to make life fair for everyone defies description. It’s bad enough when they impose this nonsense in the private sector. Doing it with the military has deadly consequences, and should be stopped immediately.
I’m all for gays and women in the military.
Let’s start with Dick Cheney’s daughter. Since he is a warmongering pansy, the only fair thing to do is have his daughter be his proxy and go off to war on his behalf.
Ditto for George Bush’s dysfunctional daughters. Daddy was too busy skirting his military obligation by hanging around various watering holes. His daughters can make up for his enthusiastic and no doubt patriotic partying by going off to war in his stead.
Good luck with either of these two scenarios occurring in your lifetime.
Women ought not just be barred from the military, but from any profession where their presence will potentially endanger other peoples’ lives. I wonder how many soldiers, policemen, etc. have come to grief when that atavistic reaction got the better of them and they tried to protect their female team mates. In Germany (from where I write) police staff have to inform their superiors when they have entered a private relationship with a colleague, so they won’t be deployed together anymore. On a different note: Not too long ago, the crews of several patrol cars (if I remember correctly all but one female) failed to unarm a psychotic with a knife. After he had wrung the gun from one of the policewomen, another one shot him dead. Several crews of men might have been able to unarm the man without killing him. Another dead man for a politically correct cause!
Roger – conscription is hardly an answer, not even in the odd, head-in-the-sand world of the left-libertarian. It sounds more punitive than anything.
Ms. Mercer – reading the link in your post, would you go so far as to bar women from service even in the traditional roles in which they have served, such as nurses? I have always wondered if we can truly call ourselves civilized when we send our women to war…
Conscription will put the true cost of the wars in the Middle East on public display.
The Pentagon will not have to source troops from Mexico, Haiti and elsewhere.
Hard to be an anti-war activist when friends and family are not coming back in body bags, but Third Worlders are.
The Pentagon has discovered the joys of outsourcing war to the Third World.
Perhaps this is why the elites can continue to support the “voluntary” military?
And “punitive”?
Not for the likes of George Bush and Ted Kennedy. They’ll attend university or play hooky instead.