someone please explain to me why the entire country isn't talking about

[fleabert]

this article?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/opinion/02herbert.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fBob%20Herbert

not really, I know why not, but I want everyone here to read it and to send it out en mass. It was posted in the Editorials forum yesterday, since it was published then, but it only showed up in my newspaper today. (may 3), and they changed the title to "A quagmire of hatred and violence." hope it's okay that I reposted someone else's thread. I was going to just post my own, but a search showed I was late to the party. I just want a wider audience to have a chance to read this. (GD casts a very wide net)

link to original post in Ed. and Articles. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x122820

snip>
From 'Gook' to 'Raghead'
By BOB HERBERT

Published: May 2, 2005



I spent some time recently with Aidan Delgado, a 23-year-old religion major at New College of Florida, a small, highly selective school in Sarasota.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, before hearing anything about the terror attacks that would change the direction of American history, Mr. Delgado enlisted as a private in the Army Reserve. Suddenly, in ways he had never anticipated, the military took over his life. He was trained as a mechanic and assigned to the 320th Military Police Company in St. Petersburg. By the spring of 2003, he was in Iraq. Eventually he would be stationed at the prison compound in Abu Ghraib.

Mr. Delgado's background is unusual. He is an American citizen, but because his father was in the diplomatic corps, he grew up overseas. He spent eight years in Egypt, speaks Arabic and knows a great deal about the various cultures of the Middle East. He wasn't happy when, even before his unit left the states, a top officer made wisecracks about the soldiers heading off to Iraq to kill some ragheads and burn some turbans.

"He laughed," Mr. Delgado said, "and everybody in the unit laughed with him."

[Jamastiene]

1. "...kill some ragheads and burn some turbans."

That sounds like some of America's finest. That's exactly how some of them talk. Of course, there are soldiers who don't talk that way and don't see things from that low minded perspective, thankfully.

[fleabert]

3. I am sure there are, but their voices are kept silent, even when they

get an interview with a reporter with the NYTimes. sheesh. what does it take?

[Jamastiene]

11. It's almost like they don't want to

show us that more dignified side of our armed forces. We do have better examples, but they seem to only want to concentrate on the particularly nasty ones for some reason. I don't get it. The few times I do read or see stories about military families who don't think that way are the nicest stories that make me feel more hope for the country.

[Qanisqineq]

6. Thanks for clarifying that there are soldiers that DON'T talk that way

As the wife of a soldier, he and I know very few who say such shit.

As the guy in the article said, it's mostly the younger ones. Seems to be the ones that signed up just to "kill ragheads" after 9/11.

[Jamastiene]

10. You're right.

The few who do talk like that make the country look bad. They should have more respect for what this country stands for. The ones who don't have that mentality deserve more praise. I was raised by a veteran, so I KNOW for a FACT that not all soldiers talk that way.

[Qanisqineq]

2. Because we are busy focusing on the runaway bride & Michael Jackson

Who has time for such silly stories about people that just want to take away our freedoms?

:sarcasm:

[fleabert]

5. I know. It sucks. Please pass it on, since we have to do the MSM's job. nt

[mr blur]

4. Why should we spoil our "beautiful minds" with such stuff? (nt)

[rodeodance]

7. you are right.

[ClintonTyree]

8. This is SOP....

(standard operating procedure) in the Armed Forces. Rule number one is to dehumanize the enemy. They are not men, women or children, they are gooks, nips, krauts, ragheads, charlie, dagos, zipper heads etc.

In this way the enemy is reduced to objects, not people. It wouldn't do well if a commander told his men to, "kill that elderly grandfather over there". They'd equate that with their own grandfather and have a tough time killing someone with a personality.

Unfortunately this has probably been employed since the first wandering tribes of Neanderthals roamed the earth. If you don't dehumanize the enemy it make warfare much harder. You have to forget that you're killing men, women and children. You're killing objects that, if given the chance, will kill you in a heartbeat.

This type of thinking is directly responsible for events such as Mi Lai, Abu Ghraib, etc. Soldiers forget their training and see nothing but a blood red haze over their eyes, striking out at these "things" that are trying to end their lives. It's not personal, it's war.

Look at the Japanese and American WWII soldiers that have made peace with each other now that the hatred and fighting is over. They've once again made the connection that these are human beings, not "things" deserving of their hate and scorn.

It's war. It sucks. It's not right, but it may be the one thing that keeps you alive during a time of war.

[acmavm]

9. I think that the revelations about the cruelty and barbaric behavior of

what the US has done to the Iraqi people is very well known. But there is a two-pronged problem here. If you get a sense of outrage at the behavior this article describes, you get accused of 'not supporting the troops'. Now personally I don't support anyone who causes bodily harm to an innocent person, American or not. But just that remark can get you in trouble with the 'they're in a foreign land, they're scared, they're just trying to survive' crowd. So there's one reason people keep quiet.

Then there's the fact that these are just words in a newspaper. The horrifying reality of the carnage hasn't been brought into American homes like Viet Nam. Life Magazine's pictures of that little girl running down the road naked after being napalmed in Viet Nam was an absolute stomach-turner. The bodies of old people, women and children in a ditch after My Lai, the execution of that Viet Cong soldier. They shocked America into facing the reality of that war. Here we don't even see the sanitized pictures of the coffins our own sons and daughters are being sent home in. To many many people, this war is just an abstract event, it doesn't effect them personally and they don't see the truth about what's going on.

And finally, the fear factor being constantly pumped by this administration along with the constant reminder that these are ragheads or hadjis, not worthy Christians. Those two fallacies have a big impact on the stupid (of which there seems to be an abundance in this country).