So, tonight one of my officers called President Obama an ape.
Yep, we were watching North By Northwest, and <Spoiler Alert> the climax of the film takes place at Mt. Rushmore. One of the other sergeants mentioned that there is a rocky outcropping right by the giant sculpted headed that looks like an ape. This officer, a captain, says “They can go ahead and start calling it 'Obama.'” And them, after a big laugh at his own joke, he reminded everyone that he was just kidding.
So just remember folks, just because I tend to focus on the sexism, homo and transphobia in these posts, there's still plenty of other stuff going on with the Army.
...
This captain, he's also regularly quite upset with the media for being so anti-soldier. How exactly are they anti-soldier? Well, the other day during one of his “the Media is oppressing me” rants, I said to him, “As they say in Pulp Fiction: Example.” The Captain could not think of a single specific news story in which soldiers were vilified. He did say that Adriana Huffington was behind a lot of these attacks on soldiers that he couldn't quite remember.
I don't know a lot about the woman, but from what the Captain tells me, she must be an awful, awful woman. She must have hit his dog with a car and laughed about(Seriously, the Captain has a three-legged dog. He's very proud of it. He regularly talks about how, once we get back from the sandbox, he's going to take it around to wounded soldiers in hospitals and use ol' Tripod to cheer them up. 'Cause a three legged dog, that's what recent amputees need.).
Anyway, here's the thing. It may have been said by someone else before, and if it has been it was probably said better, but Dear Reader, let's just talk a quick minute and talk about why someone would feel so victimized by the news. I suspect that on some level people like the Racist Captain(not to be confused with the Fat Captain from my earlier post. Those two are actually pretty good friends) has a lot in common with intelligent mildew. Intelligent mildew, were such a thing to exist, would be terrified of good strong sunlight. The intelligent mildew would know that if it were left out exposed in the sunlight, it would dry up and be destroyed. Intelligent mildew can only thrive in dark, damp places where is has lots of books or cloths to destroy and rot its way through.
In the same way, people like the Racist Captain know that if the truth of who they were was put on display, they were shrivel up and be destroyed. Despite all the pride they take in and effort they put into their racism, people like the Racist Captain are aware of how shameful their positions are. They feel bad about thinking the way they do but instead of turning those negative feelings into something positive(like, say, turning away from racism) they channel their negative feelings into a deep hatred of those who, the Racist Captain fears, might expose him for what he is.
I used to get angry, but these days I just feel sad for these people. It's really pretty pathetic the ways in which they are broken. Anger is too good for them. Anger suggests that they might be strong, worthy opponent. Pity is the answer. We should pity these poor wretches because they are simply too weak and stupid to do better. It's sad that they are damaged, but it doesn't mean that we should treat them like their opinions matter.
Wow and here I thought military dudes were all about having respect for their commander in chief...
Posted by: whatsername | June 03, 2009 at 01:42 AM