Everyone is wrong about everything

I read this story several months ago and it's been sticking in my craw ever since.
My belief is that it says something much larger about our society and attitudes and "that something" is not necessarily a good thing.


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CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- A U.S. Marine was set to face court martial Wednesday for urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and then posing for photos with the corpses.

Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola is accused of the desecration of remains and posing for unofficial photographs with human casualties. He also is accused of failing to properly supervise junior Marines and not reporting the misconduct.

Deptola and another Marine based at Camp LeJeune were charged last year after video surfaced showing four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead Afghans in July 2011. In the video, one of the Marines looked down at the bodies and quipped, "Have a good day, buddy."

Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin pleaded guilty to similar charges last month. Under a deal reached with a military judge before his court-martial, he lost $500 in pay and was reduced in rank to sergeant. Three other Marines were given administrative punishments for their roles.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/marine-charged-urinating-dead-taliban-fighters-article-1.1241138

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After reading that story, read this speech General Patton gave the troops just before a key battle of WWII.

Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle.

You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self-respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, every one of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American.

You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he’s not, he’s a liar. Some men are cowards, but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being He-Men, and they are He-Men.

Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper-hanging son of a bitch Hitler. Just like I’d shoot a snake!

When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don’t dig foxholes. I don’t want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don’t give the enemy time to dig one either.

We’ll win this war, but we’ll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we’ve got more guts than they have, or ever will have. We’re not going to just shoot the sons of bitches, we’re going to rip out their living goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket.
War is a bloody, killing business. You’ve got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you, and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it’s the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you’ll know what to do!

I don’t want to get any messages saying, “I am holding my position.” We are not holding a goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly, and we are not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy’s balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose, like shit through a tin horn!

From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I don’t give a good goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that.

There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now, when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won’t have to cough, shift him to the other knee, and say, “Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.” No sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, “Son, your granddaddy rode with the great Third Army and a son of a goddamned bitch named Georgie Patton!” That is all.

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Excuse my French, but it seems like we've turned into a nation of sissies over the last 3 generations.
We can train young men to be warriors.
We can send them to the far side of the globe to fight and die.
But God forbid they're not gender neutral, environmentally sensitive, not to mention Gluten Free.

Good Grief!
Think of the outrage we would hear if, (and it's worth noting that it has already happened) once captured on the battlefield, a member of Al Quaeda or the Taliban weren't immediately given a fresh new copy of the book that they used to justify their actions on the battlefield in the first place.

Horrors.

I happen to think the world would be a safer place if the message we sent as a nation was:

"If you even think about pointing a weapon at an American soldier, or even an American citizen, we will kill you a lot, all the time.
Then we'll not only make peepee on your lifeless body but we'll literally dance a quick two step on it before leaving it to rot under the open sky where, with any luck, it'll be picked apart by wolves and badgers.
Then we'll kill your parents for raising such a stupid SOB that he thought it a good idea to point a gun at a US citizen.
Ditto your kids.
Cousins.
Half-brothers.

Step-families.
People who vaguely look like you.
People you've done business with.
People you may have passed on the street and said "Hi" to....

The message should be: We'll go Kaizer Soze on your ass until you run like a scared little girl.
Then we'll kick you in the vagina and steal your lollipop."


But that won't happen.
We're too concerned about being "nice".
Or at least appearing nice.
And by nice I mean being tolerant of all religions, races, tribes, genders, creeds, peoples, thoughts, and actions, until you have no opinions of your own or at the very least can make no rational judgement about what is reasonable behaviour in a polite society without consulting a committee of your peers.

Phooey.

I'm not sure if you heard the news yet, but Margaret Thatcher died a couple days ago.
Thatcher achieved a lot in her career as a politician, and at a time when there weren't many women doing it so you would think she would have had a bit more support from other women and minorities, if for no other reason.
You'd be wrong.
It took NPR less that 24 hours to do a story on how she was a racist who supported apartheid.
Of course the real story is that she opposed the violent, militant group who was backed by the communists who was the voice of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa at the time.

http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/04/09/NPR-Tries-Tarnishing-Thatcher-as-Racist

It should be entirely expected.

Can you think of any icon, particularly American icon that hasn't been rebranded as racist/bigoted etc?

It's a pretty easy test:  if the American icon in question tends to more of a conservative icon, then we'll find something ugly about that persons life to comment on.
Or we'll just keep calling that person stupid until most people believe it, ala Reagan.
The attacks on Reagan during his life were vicious and unrelenting.
But of course now it's clear he was absolutely right in calling The Soviet Union an "evil empire".
Still, he was a dummy and just an actor, an empty suit, who didn't care for the poor.
Except that his economic policies gave new life and spirit to the American economy and his tough stance on communism improved world opinion of the U.S.

Thank God we won't have that to deal with anymore.