Abyss
Phillip Kennicott is only happy when it rains:
But these photos are us. Yes, they are the acts of individuals (though the scandal widens, as scandals almost inevitably do, and the military’s own internal report calls the abuse “systemic"). But armies are made of individuals. Nations are made up of individuals. Great national crimes begin with the acts of misguided individuals; and no matter how many people are held directly accountable for these crimes, we are, collectively, responsible for what these individuals have done…
Here is my noble, civilized response: blow smoke up someone else’s ass, you smarmy, pompous dickhead. Collectively responsible – I’ll bet Mr. Kennicott has recused himself from this “us” – obviously he sees himself as being one of Our Betters. The heck with all the good that we have done in Iraq; instead, against every principle of liberal thought, the actions of a handful of butthead MPs just invalidated over two hundred years of history – nay, the entire two-thousand years of history since the death of Christ – which was, of course, exclusively the fault of Americans.
At this point all I can do is laugh. These people don’t want to live, they don’t want to carry this civilization into the future – they don’t want to give it even as long as the Romans gave theirs. They had 800 years – we don’t even get to make 250? Sometimes I think that the Baby Boomers not only want to spend all the money before they go, they want to take the civilized world down with them. And I am nagged by the feeling that even our government is sliding closer and closer to embracing this viewpoint – witness the grovelling before the entire Muslim world today for something that, should it have been done by military personnel in, say, Syria, would have been considered four-star fine treatment.
And another thing: this should have been between us and Iraq only. What the fuck does Egypt or Al-Jazeera or any other fucking Arab organization have to do with this? Who asked them to jump in? Were the humiliated POWs your imported thugs, fuckos? If I were Bush I’d have told all the other so-called Arab spokesbeings who were not from Iraq to stay the fuck out of this, no one asked you your opinion. I wouldn’t be nice about it either. But you know, once some moron started the “hearts and minds” bullshit, we had to play comfort woman for every single joker in the Middle East except the Israeli Jews.
Let’s get something straight: we will not win the “hearts and minds” of the Muslim world. From what I can see a significant number of them have black hearts and minds rotten with inherited centuries of Jew-hatred and resentment of the way the rest of the world has passed them by in their self-imposed cultural and spiritual prison. Most of the rest of them are either too timid or ignorant for their organs of feeling and thought to be accessible. I am disgusted with the constant backing and filling every time a “Muslim spokesperson” lets out a squeal because he came upon something somewhere that reminded him that there are other ways of thought and living than his own. And I am sick and tired of being accused of “narrowmindedness,” “racism,” “ignorance,” and all the rest of the bullshit because I happen to express my dislike of real examples of the above coming from someone whose ancestry was not primarily European.
No wonder (chorus) They Hate Us. So many of us so obviously hate ourselves and our fellow citizens. Our enemies must be frustrated as all heck right now: if only they had known it would be that easy.
I will probably add to this later; right now I have to go to bed.
(Via Random Jottings.)
Update: this post of Dipnut’s is highly instructive. Since he says pretty much what I was going to say, I don’t have to add anything more to this entry.
Update 2: one final link – I meant to mention this too – what the hell was it with the picture-taking? The closest thing I can come to is something a co-worker said her husband, who was in the military, told her: “those GIs, they sure do like to take pictures.” Then again, there are sickos right here at home doing sick things – no links, just google around – and not only do they whip out the Polaroid and the camcorder, they get out the digital devices and upload the results for all to see and enjoy. Why? Like Natalie Solent said, it’s not as if these images showed the perpetrators in any good light according to the laws and customs of modern Western society. But when you ask people why they take pictures of themselves doing things that are, supposedly, still considered shameful and disgraceful by normal people, they either equivocate or just look at you. The current impetus is, maybe, the “self-esteem” movement which we can see now has done more harm, or at least as much harm, as it has done good. Sure, people think better of themselves, and are not so crippled by guilt and shame as the psychiatrists – our priests – told us we used to be back in the bad old days – but I haven’t see that this has led to an increase in esteem for others as we were told would be the result of this loosening of inner bonds and focusing on the self instead of others. Quite the contrary.