Pharthan wrote:Vistulange wrote:
And that makes using a homophobic slur alright? It's the same deal as calling a black person "nigger" and getting off because hey, it's "TEH MARINEZ AND I AM SARGEANT". There are hundreds of insults he could've used which wouldn't be homophobic. If that sarge can't use a few cells in his brain to avoid using a homophobic slur, perhaps he shouldn't be a sargeant.
It's not the same as using the N-word at all, because I hear the N-word everyday in the military - and never from whites.
I actually find it offensive that anyone would suggest that any slur ever be compared to the N-word, because it's racist that I can't use it, but black people can without reprocussion.
I find it extremely offensive that I could lose my job if I say it, yet there are guys rapping on the mess-decks regularly using the word, and only because of my skin-color.
My problem with issues like this is that people don't actually understand the full situation about what they are arguing. People are all-too-ready to offer their opinions on how to run the military, and none-too-ready to actually do the job.
My point: None of you, unless you've actually served, has any clue what you're talking about. I don't care if your parents were military. I don't care if you're married to military. If you haven't served, your opinion should mean very little.
Why should your opinion mean so little in the realm of the military? Well, in an ideal world, it should mean just as much as anywhere else, but any realist can tell you that the world is far from ideal, and thusly two main reasons come about when dealing with the military:
1) If you haven't served, your concept of how things run in the military is purely word-of-mouth and usually quite corrupted by Hollywood and crappy websites like Huffington Post or news agencies like MSNBC who make money off of murdering context. Normally, this wouldn't be a huge issue, except for the next point:
2) People die in the military. While it's true there are more dangerous ways to go about life than Army/Marine Infantry (i.e. living in Washington D.C., Detroit, or Chicago), it's the point that you're letting your own personal opinions get in the way of an organization that is relatively isolated by simple nature, and you're trying to run it.
It's worse than asking politicians to run it.
People are assuming that because they pay taxes, that they should get a say in how the military runs things. Like I'm going to feel comfortable giving my life to someone else's hands who's knowledge of the military extends further than Rambo? I barely feel comfortable going to sleep on the ship as it is, knowing who's standing watch at times, let alone putting a civie in the driver's seat. It's nothing against the civilian populace, it's just a matter of lack of knowledge. You simply don't have all the information, nor will you ever, even if we posted everything on the internet in a nice bold-easy-to-read font.
We military folk don't walk around telling people running oil-rigs or schools how to do their jobs.
Don't tell us how to do ours. We've just got, oh, like 200 years worth of experience we're trying to turn over to new generations every year to try to keep us all alive, yah know.
Not like our lives depend on not having that all jacked up because someone wants to stick their nose where it doesn't belong just because they've found some new word offensive.
"But how can telling Drill Sergeant's not to say 'faggot' really mess all of that up?"
Good question. Here's the process. It goes something like this (coming from experience, not just speculation.)
A) Civilian X makes complaint about Political Correctness.
B) Congressman Y or News Agency Z want to look more popular/get higher ratings/get reelected, so they get on the bandwagon and make a big deal of it all.
C) Word gets out, usually lacking any and all proper context (or sometimes blatant lies) in such a manner as to rile up public opinion against the military on issue A.
D) Military Branch hears complaint. There is some genuine concern - the military does care about it's own people, after all everyone in a high position used to be someone in a low position, and we do have some degree of camaraderie - however this is completely and totally overshadowed by the fact that the military doesn't wish to be painted poorly. Tends to lower recruitment ratings and everything, which means the ability to maintain anything becomes horribly threatened.
E) Branch implements overzealous training program. After all, there really isn't any other way to do it. You have to have documentation saying you properly told everyone not to sexually-molest/say mean things, or else the news agencies and Anti-Military politicians make an even bigger stink which forces certain other politicians to put a halt to all operations.
F) Time and money and various operations are wasted due to said training. You are wasting millions of dollars every time this happens.
G) Millions of dollars that could otherwise go to body-armor, new equipment, et cetera, are now going to tell hundreds of thousands of military members the exact same message: "Don't be a bad person." Why? Because there are bad apples, and you have to tell them not to be bad people, but you can't always tell who those bad people are, so you have to tell everyone.
H) People die because they don't have aforementioned equipment. A simple complaint is more effective than an IED. Some soldier doesn't get in that shipment of night-vision goggles or new body armor, shipments get delayed, parts don't get fixed, et cetera. People. Die.
Happens like every frakking month.
You want the military to stop wasting money? Shut the hell up and grow a pair every once and a while. Some of us actually know what we're doing, and you can't stop every bad apple. We deal with them well enough, despite what the news agencies make it look like. Despite what people may think, the military is a fair representation of the country it's made of. Kind of happens when most people only serve 4 years and you replace them.
So thanks for being so frakking sensitive that you have to butt in where you're not only unwanted, but the job is already getting done, just because you have to make yourself known. It's getting taken care of, believe it or not.
Yeah, society sucks. Fix it where it's not getting killed. Everyone is to blame.
Not just the military.
Try teaching your kids to be good people. Blame the parents.
By the time it's gotten to the 18-to-50 year-olds in the military, the damage has been done. It's like watching someone eat your hamburger and not waiting until they are done to tell them, 'Oh wait, I actually did want that.'
TL;DR
You don't walk up to someone mopping the floor and tell them the floor is dirty. They've got it.
All anyone is doing is making a global stink of the issue and forcing the military to waste millions of dollars just so they can actually keep up recruiting numbers.
And costing lives because of it.
Thanks. I sure do love knowing I could die just because someone can't grow a pair or think for a second.
